|  The Advocate’s Capital News Bureau is reporting tonight that Brent Furer, the Vitter Staffer who was convicted of two DWI’s and plead out on charges relating to him assaulting his ex-girlfriend, had tax payer funded travel to and from his court appearances in Baton Rouge.
From The Advocate: Taxpayers footed the bill when a former aide to Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter traveled to Louisiana on trips coinciding with court-related activities involving the aide’s most recent DWI arrest. Vitter’s U.S. Senate office expense account records show two trips by Brent Furer from Washington, D.C., to Louisiana —one in 2007 and the other 2008. The dates of the trips match times Furer was scheduled to make appearances related to his Dec. 28, 2004 arrest for driving while intoxicated and other related charges, according to Baton Rouge City Court records.
Further into the story: The U.S. Senate’s expense records show Vitter’s office account was billed $634.20 for transportation for Furer leaving Washington, D.C., on Oct. 12, 2007 to New Orleans and returning on Oct. 18, 2007. Furer appeared in court on Oct. 17, 2007, according to Baton Rouge City Court records, then was referred to the probation division.The U.S. Senate records also show that Vitter’s office expense account was tapped for $746 for Furer’s transportation from Washington, D.C., to Baton Rouge and New Orleans leaving Aug. 5, 2008, and returning Aug. 14, 2008. Furer signed a probation agreement in Baton Rouge on Aug 7, 2008, attesting that he would fulfill the conditions of the sentence.
But in a seemingly new bit of information – David Vitter has on staff Rev. Malcolm Richard who is one of his regional directors. Richard is the one who certified that Furer fulfilled the first part of his sentence of 18 hours of community service. Isn’t this a conflict of interest? Was Richard working for Vitter at the time of this sentence and if so, who verified this. With this latest report it also seems logical to believe that Furer was also PAID for WORKING those 18 hours that were to be Community Service. Also it seems to me that Vitter can no longer claim that he didn’t know about these issues with Furer if senior members of his staff knew about it AND the office was paying for Furer’s travel. |
