Virginia Governor Rebuffs Requests To Release Travel Expenses

ICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia’s governor, who doubles as the national Democratic party chief, is refusing to turn over his travel records to Republicans in his state.

Kaine’s reply comes as a scandal unfolds over S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford’s trip to see a mistress. Virginia Republican Party chairman Pat Mullins used the state’s
Freedom of Information Act to ask for the documents.

Mullins contends Kaine has spent too much time on Democratic National Committee business and used taxpayer dollars for it.
   
Kaine’s communications director, Lynda Tran, wrote in a three-page reply to Mullins the state open records law exempts a “governor’s working papers.“ She also cited a 1991 state Supreme Court ruling that a Virgina governor need not turn over telephone records.