Kaine divulges travel details

After weeks of criticism from Republicans and questions from the press, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's office Tuesday shared a list of the places he's visited since Jan. 1.

Kaine's office had rejected requests for information about the political appearances the governor has made since being named Democratic National Committee chairman, citing legal precedent protecting such information.

Virginia Republican officials have highlighted Kaine's travels outside of the state and suggested that his second job is interefering with his work as governor. Kaine said his DNC duties would be largely conducted on weekends and off-hours when he took the job as chairman. But some of his political trips have occured on weekdays.

The five-page document released Tuesday covers Jan. 1-July 21. Many of the appearances it notes were in Virginia.

But it also lists visits to Aspen, Atlanta, Biloxi, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The document provides the dates of those and other trips, but does not specify their purpose.

In a statement accompanying the release, Kaine spokeswoman Lynda Tran said "the dates taken in aggregate represent a combination of state work, work in his role as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and personal time. The Governor is engaged in state work every day."

Going forward, Tran said a similar list of Kaine's trips will be released at the end of every month through the conclusion of the governor's term in early next year.

While Kaine has been needled over his DNC work, he isn't the first sitting Virginia governor to serve in that type of political role. Former Gov. Jim Gilmore was chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2001, his last year in office.

-- Julian Walker

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