Lawmakers Pocketed Mileage for Railroad Passes They Rode Free
A Tacoma editor accuses Washington legislators of charging the state for travel they never paid for — and then shouting for reform.
The Tacoma Ledger prints the following:
Representative Linger, editor of the Puyallup Sun, writes thus flippantly of the mileage matter in this week's issue of his paper:
"The editor of the Sun feels greatly flattered at the Ledger's notice of him. Coming from such a well-known reform journal it is doubly appreciated. The railroads have taken away our passes, but we don't know how soon they may return them."
Mr. Linger and his paper colleagues not only used railroad passes while sitting the session of the legislature, but they drew $1,000 out of the state treasury for using them. For this neither he nor they rendered any service. They were not out in expenses. The whole game was a steal, as absolute as if they had broken into the treasury and taken the money. And yet Mr. Linger and his confederates in this mileage business see nothing more serious in it than that they used the passes and rendered the railroads no return for them. They ignore the fact that they gave the state absolutely nothing for the $1,000 they took and now have in their pockets. But Mr. Linger is still busily shouting for reform. He wants everything reformed — unless it costs the Populists a graft.
“The whole game was a steal, as absolute as if they had broken into the treasury and taken the money.”
Travel per diems and mileage remain a staple of legislative ethics stories; the accusation here is not that lawmakers traveled, but that they billed the public for free passes. The Ledger's indignation echoes modern fights over perks, disclosure and who pays for officials' travel.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.