Symington Jet Trips Are Questioned

Fife Symington, then governor of Arizona, used a state plane to take his family on three California getaways during his fraud trial last summer, costing taxpayers at least $10,000, an Associated Press review has found.

The three trips in July and August were to Santa Barbara, the home of Symington’s in-laws, and marked a departure from his normal use of the plane. Records that date to July 1994 show he made only one other personal trip in the plane, also to Santa Barbara.

A state law requires the Arizona Department of Public Safety to provide the governor transportation and security, said DPS spokesman Pete Borquez. But the lawmaker who co-sponsored the measure in 1967 said it wasn’t intended to allow governors to vacation at taxpayer expense.

“It just goes without saying you don’t use government property in any way for private business,” said Tom Goodwin, a former Republican legislator. “I’d hope he wouldn’t fly over there for vacation at government expense.”

Symington was convicted Sept. 3 of defrauding lenders while he was a real estate developer, prompting him to resign. He is scheduled for sentencing in February.

Symington has an unlisted number and could not be reached for comment. But his former spokesman, Doug Cole, said the former governor “followed the law to the letter throughout his administration and conducted himself as his predecessors have done” with regard to the plane.

Use of the plane, Cole said, is one of the few perks of being Arizona governor. The state does not have an executive mansion, house staff or gardeners, as do many other states, Cole said.

Borquez said other governors have used the plane for personal trips but that he didn’t know how often. “That plane was at their disposal,” he said.

The trips were taken on weekends during Symington’s trial. Besides the governor, passengers included his wife, Ann, their five children and DPS officers.

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Symington’s successor, Gov. Jane Hull, won’t use the nine-passenger Beechcraft King Air B-200 for personal flights, said her spokeswoman, Francie Noyes. “She will use the plane for state business and only in state business. If she is going somewhere that is totally personal, she will fly commercially.”

Bart Turner, executive director of the Valley Citizens League, a government watchdog group, said legislators should rework the law to ban personal trips.

“It seems inappropriate to use government property for your own personal benefit regardless of whether the law allows it or fails to specifically prohibit it,” Turner said.

Symington’s attorney, John Dowd, said he would not make his client available for an interview.

“This is frivolous,” he said before hanging up on a reporter. “You’re not going to reach him, and you’re not going to talk to him. Go pick on the new governor, OK?”