Vacation, all I ever wanted . . .

American Radio Works, in conjunction with Marketplace, has put together an index of sponsored travel by Congress members and the political parties in the last four years or so. Sadly, most of the top offenders are Democrats (proving there is much work still to be done on all sides). But, wouldn't you know it, our very own F. Jim is sitting at number 14 (the top 3%) on the list.

Here's what we know:

F. James Sensenbrenner, Republican Party
Total number of trips - 16
Total cost of trips - $126,424.65
Average cost per trip - $7,901.54
Total number of days spent traveling - 95 days
Rank of representative - 14 (Out of 582)

By comparison, Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold had a grand total of $1095 spent on him (this is why we love Russ).

Now, there's no guarantee that these paid-for trips affect F. Jim's ability to represent the good people of Wisconsin's fifth congressional district, but if he's regularly being wined and dined by, say, the National Association of Broadcasters every year or so, it, you know, looks bad for us.

F. Jim needs to spend more time actually listening to his constituents instead of jetting around on someone else's dime.