There has been much talk lately concerning House Majority Leader Tom Delay’s ethical slips. A great deal of the attention that has been directed towards Mr. Delay’s has had to do with trips that were paid for by lobbyists. Who knew that we had our very own version of Tom Delay right here in Minnesota?

One of the leaders in the recent uptick in privately funded travel is Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who ranks 15th in Congress in the number of free trips since 2000, even though he has only been in office since Jan. 2003. Coleman has taken 36 trips with a combined tab of $57,617.

Among Coleman's free travel: visits to Punta Mita, Mexico, and Barcelona, Spain, care of the Aspen Institute; a fact-finding trip to Maputo, Mozambique, paid for by World Vision, Inc.; and four trips to Las Vegas, two of them funded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., is at the bottom of the pack, listing one free trip: a March 2001, tour of Alaskan oil drilling sites funded by Alyeska Pipeline Services Co. and Era Aviation.

A spokesman for Coleman said his frequent privately paid travel is a reflection of his work on the Foreign Relations Committee, as well as his draw as a speaker after a dramatic 2002 election in the wake of the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone.