Travel costs for Governor Brad Henry reach nearly $500,000

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Travel-related costs for Governor Brad Henry, his family and others have reached nearly $500,000 since Henry took office in January 2003. <br/><br/>Reported Sunday in the Tulsa World,

Sunday, November 6th 2005, 11:29 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Travel-related costs for Governor Brad Henry, his family and others have reached nearly $500,000 since Henry took office in January 2003.

Reported Sunday in the Tulsa World, the figures include travel costs billed to the state by Henry, plus state plane and travel-related security costs for Henry and his family.

Henry says he doesn't particularly enjoy all the travel, but that it's necessary in a global economy to help Oklahoma compete against other states in business recruiting.

In 2004, Henry was out of state more than 85 days for official, trade, political and personal purposes.

This tracks fairly evenly with Republican Frank Keating, Henry's immediate predecessor.

Keating averaged more than 80 days out of state during each of his final two years in office.