Blunt spends majority of nights in Springfield, not mansion

I guess little baby Blunt is gettin all homesick and shit....Hang on while I go puke! Wait...So it's OK to kill granny and take her Medicaid away from her, all in the name of cost savings...BUT we will foot the gasoline bill for hauling his lilly white Republican ass back and forth to Springfield aprox: 3 hour drive. HUM...Shame on you Baby Blunt, where the hell are your Christian values? OH SILLY ME, I saw them listed on ebay for sale to the richest lobbiest! Oh lovely home by the way, do the tax payers make your morgage payments too?

Story by AP David Lieb - Photo by Orlin Wagner

A bit of din rises as dozens of field-tripping fourth-graders and out-of-town tourists shuffle through the stately sitting and dining rooms of the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City -- right about the time the governor's baby typically is taking a nap.

But no need to worry. Gov. Matt Blunt and his family are gone -- again.

On this particular day, like many, the Blunts were in Springfield, staying in their private home while the governor was conducting a couple of hometown news conferences.

Since taking office in January, Blunt has spent more than half his nights in the comfort of his Springfield home and less than one-third of them in the governor's taxpayer-funded residence in Jefferson City.

"I think of the Governor's Mansion more as a public facility than a private home," Blunt explained in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't think Missourians expect you to hole up in the Governor's Mansion and remain in an ivory tower."

Taxpayers spend the same amount on the mansion whether the governor is there or not. The executive chef and housekeeper still work. The Capitol Police still guard the 134-year-old Renaissance revival-style home filled with artwork and antiques. And the Department of Natural Resources still keeps up the grounds.

But a couple of highway patrol officers assigned to the governor's 10-person security detail must travel with him on the roughly 140-mile trip to Springfield, as they do everywhere he goes. And the patrol, which chauffeurs the governor, must pay for the gasoline at prices above what its budget projected.

"I think the taxpayers of Missouri would feel better served if the governor spent more time in Jefferson City," said George Connor, a political scientist at Missouri State University in Springfield. And "I think this is more true as the governor in general has become more powerful in the state."

The state Democratic Party suggests Missourians should be alarmed at the Republican governor's tendency to travel home.

"The taxpayers are paying more and getting less," asserted Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti. "Having the state executive of Missouri driving back and forth between Jefferson City and Springfield multiple times a week is an inefficient use of our governor's time, especially when the taxpayers are footing that bill."

At the request of the AP, Blunt's office provided a list showing where he has traveled and slept every day since taking office Jan. 10. Through the end of September, Blunt had spent 140 nights in Springfield and 81 in Jefferson City. That translates to 53 percent of his nights in Springfield and less than 31 percent in the capital. The rest were spent traveling for work, politics or pleasure to places such as St. Louis, Boston and Montreal, Canada.

In the weeks before and after the March 9 birth of his son, Branch, the governor spent almost all of his nights in Springfield with his wife, Melanie. Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said the whole family moved into the Governor's Mansion in early May.

But since then, Blunt still has spent slightly more nights in Springfield than he has in Jefferson City. This past week, for example, Blunt spent every night at his Springfield home.

"The Governor's Mansion is a beautiful home, a beautiful building -- we're privileged to have a chance to live there," Blunt said. But "it certainly doesn't feel as comfortable as our home."

Although the mansion is huge, the Blunts essentially live in a 2,600-square-foot apartment on the second floor. In Springfield, they recently sold a smaller house to buy a 3,100-square-foot home.

Tabulating the public cost of Blunt's travels to Springfield is somewhat difficult. The patrol spent about $8,453 on Springfield hotel rooms for the governor's security detail from January through June. Based on the agency's daily meal allowance, it likely spent around $3,800 on Springfield food during that time.

But the patrol's overall expense for guarding Blunt -- $33,547 -- was just $46 higher than for Democratic Gov. Bob Holden during his first six months in office. That's because Holden's out-of-state travel expenses doubled Blunt's, while Blunt's in-state expenses doubled Holden's.

The cost of gas is another matter and is not included in those figures. Even at its discounted rate of $2 a gallon, the patrol pays about $28 for each one-way trip the governor makes between Springfield and Jefferson City. But Highway Patrol spokesman Capt. Chris Ricks said he was unable to provide a total for the governor's gas costs, because it was paid from a general agency account.

Blunt certainly is not the only governor to prefer his private home. Most recently, Govs. Mel Carnahan, a Democrat, and John Ashcroft, a Republican, both liked to leave the mansion on the weekends -- Carnahan to Rolla and Ashcroft to the Lake of the Ozarks. But a statistical comparison of their time at the mansion is not possible, because governors' daily schedules are not among the official documents saved at the State Archives.

In contrast to Blunt, Holden spent nearly every night at the mansion. The Holdens liked Jefferson City so much that they decided to stay there when Holden's term ended.

"The mansion was our home," Holden said. "You're in a fishbowl in the mansion, but the people in Jefferson City, by and large, see that as part of their community, and they were very, very hospitable to us."

But "every governor's got to do what they feel is comfortable," Holden added.

When in Springfield, Blunt keeps in regular contact with his staff at the Capitol. Computers, e-mail, cell phones and Blackberries have made it technologically possible to govern from almost anywhere.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, for example, has chosen to keep his family in Chicago instead of moving to the Governor's Mansion. Instead, he frequently commutes to the Capitol -- a practice that has irked some lawmakers and citizens, especially those living in Illinois' capital.

Blunt said he has no intention of moving out of the Governor's Mansion and turning it into a museum.

But he adds, "I bet I'm more productive in Springfield than I am in Jefferson City. There's just not as many distractions."