Gore Says O’Leary’s Travels Created Thousands of Jobs

Vice President Al Gore on Sunday defended Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary’s costly overseas trips, saying that her ventures had “created thousands of American jobs” even though a published account of her travels “doesn’t sound good.”

Gore was asked on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press” to respond to questions raised about O’Leary’s wide-ranging international missions and other executive actions by a story in Sunday editions of The Times.

“All that stuff doesn’t sound good, and she’s the first to want to correct any excesses that might be found there,” Gore said. But, he added: “This kind of thing really ought to be put in perspective.”

Gore noted that O’Leary had requested an investigation by the Energy Department’s inspector general, an agency watchdog, of the management practices of her office. She announced the investigation request Saturday in response to the story.

The Times reported that O’Leary travels overseas far more than her predecessors or other domestic Cabinet colleagues and in a grand style exceeding the usual government standards. Most of her foreign trips to date involved 10 or more staffers, and she often flew business class or first class, although she recently reimbursed the government $8,748 for seven upgrades that were not permitted under federal travel regulations.

In addition, she has led large-scale trade missions to India, China, Pakistan and South Africa, costing taxpayers $500,000 to $845,000. She was accompanied by scores of U.S. business executives, other private and government representatives and as many as 51 Energy Department staffers. On three of the occasions, a luxury charter jet was used.

Gore said the trips had “created thousands of American jobs and billions of dollars of contracts for companies in this country.”

Energy Department officials said Saturday that the ventures have led to $2.4 billion in contracts. They also claim they could eventually generate a total of $19.7 billion in deals. However, the genesis of some of the projects predated the trade missions and others involved other government agencies.