By Katherine Gregg By Jennifer Bogdan January 10. 2016 6:00PM Political Scene: Plenty of road trips for Raimondo in first year The R.I. governor has traveled out of state at least 18 days since taking office last January, at a net cost to taxpayers of $23,739.07 for hotel rooms, air fare and train tickets. Raimondo Governor Raimondo has been out of state on trips to New York City; Washington, D.C.; White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia; San Francisco and other points in between at least 18 days since taking office last January. And that does not count her occasional journeys to Boston, or the half-dozen or so road trips she made to Connecticut for Yale Corporation meetings, a New England governors' energy conference and a meeting at an undisclosed location on Thursday, July 30. "Economic Development." That was the explanation Raimondo’s communications director, Joy Fox, provided for the July trip, in the month after General Electric served notice that it was exploring a move of its headquarters and a potential 5,700 employees from Connecticut to another state with "a more pro-business environment." This weekday trip was one of several out-of-state ventures that did not appear on Raimondo’s public schedule. When pressed for details about this trip and others last week, Fox said: "As with everything she does, the governor's top priority is to jump-start our economy and create jobs. Every trip is taken with this primary goal in mind." The governor and/or her top staffers took more than two dozen out-of-state trips last year, at an overall cost of $31,512.97. Some of those expenses were reimbursed by the governor's "Friends of Gina Raimondo" campaign account, according to a summary report and related documents the governor’s office provided to The Journal. That included a mid-September trip that the governor and Fox took to New York City to do media interviews. The campaign paid the $147.98 Hampton Inn hotel tab for the state trooper assigned to her security detail to go down the night before, so he could meet her there. The governor’s husband, Andy Moffit, reimbursed the state for the $501.77 cost of his travel with her to Washington in February. Including reimbursements that the National Governors Association and the Center for American Progress provided for some staff trips, the net cost to the state for the governor’s-office travel this past year was $23,739.07 for hotel rooms, air fare and Amtrak tickets. (Fuel and mileage not included.) Where did they go? In early February, Raimondo and her new Commerce Secretary, Stefan Pryor, went to New York via Amtrak. Purpose: "economic development meetings ... I think it was mostly businesses, including with a real estate consultant to raise awareness about the vacant 195 land," said Fox. Between Feb. 20-23, the governor and several of her staffers — including Jason Natareno, Matt Bucci, and Stephen Neuman, her chief of staff, went to Washington for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. While there, she ruffled some feathers back home in Rhode Island with her remarks during a side visit to Politico's fifth annual State Solutions Conference. "For too long, what’s happened in Rhode Island — and it may happen in other statehouses — is the governor proposes a budget and then the General Assembly takes the budget and — often in the dark of night, in a quiet room — the lobbyists and the General Assembly get together and they hack it up every which way and out pops a budget. ... And that’s bad for everybody, as far as I can tell." (House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello responded: "I’m disappointed the governor provided an inaccurate depiction of the budget process to her Washington audience." They later made peace.) On Wednesday, March 25, Raimondo and the trooper who accompanies her on out-of-state trips returned to Washington. "She met with the U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker," Fox said. No other information was provided. On Thursday, April 23, Raimondo was in Hartford, Connecticut, to discuss regional energy issues with other New England governors. On May 28, Raimondo and staffer Gabe Amo were in Washington again, this time for meetings at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that is conducting a six-month privately financed analysis of potential economic development strategies in Rhode Island. (The $1.3-million project is being financed by a mix of foundations and private individuals. Recommendations for a "competitiveness strategy" are expected Jan. 19.) While the state paid for Amo's expenses, Fox said, Brookings paid for Raimondo's travel. "Governor Raimondo traveled to the Brookings International Advisory Council meeting to speak about the importance of advanced industries to building state’s economy." On a Friday in late June, there is a notation for a payment by Raimondo's campaign account for airfare to and from Nantucket for one of the troopers — Lt.Paul Sikorsky — who travels with her. While Raimondo clearly went, too, the reason is not evident. "It was a political trip," Fox said. In July, Raimondo and two of her staffers went to West Virginia for the National Governors Association's summer meeting. The governor's travel budget also paid roughly $924 to bring author/motivational speaker Geoffrey Smart to Rhode Island to lead a seminar for the governor's cabinet. His online bio describes him as "chairman & founder of ghSMART, a leadership consulting firm whose credo begins, 'We exist to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.' " In mid-September, the campaign paid for Raimondo, Fox and a trooper to travel to New York for a Fortune magazine interview. In mid-October, she went to Washington to take part in Fortune magazine's "2015 Most Powerful Women" conference, where she talked about her responses to public employees angry about her drive, as state treasurer, to rein in the cost of the state's endangered pension system. Among them: "I'd be angry if I were you too, but don't blame me. Blame all the people before me that weren't honest with you." (Asked what changed from her former life as a venture capitalist, she said: "The public element of it is very different. Every mistake is public. Every move you make is public. You just have to learn to maneuver around that. But I have loved it.") In November she went to San Francisco for some Rhode Island-boosting with tech companies, and a speech at RSTP, which describes itself as a "technology growth equity firm." Aide Matt Bucci and a state police trooper went with her at an overall cost of $4,057. "The purpose of the trip is to continue our efforts to build an innovation economy in R.I.," a spokeswoman said at the time. "To get that outcome, we have to meet with these companies and sell Rhode Island’s strategic location, world-class universities, and skilled workforce." On Monday, Dec. 14, Raimondo and Fox were in New York again. Purpose: "Media." Her public schedule for that day did not mention the trip. By way of comparison, the governor's office spent $27,420 on travel during then-Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee's first two years in office. He and his staff were out of the state 13 weekdays in 2011, 14 in 2012 and a total of 44 days, including Saturdays and Sundays, according to a summary provided by his office in 2012. Puerto Rico trip The Senate Presidents' Forum sponsored the expense-paid trip that Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed and at least one other state senator, Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin, took to Puerto Rico late last week. Details were still sketchy, but Senate spokesman Greg Pare said the organization plans an event in Newport in July 2017. Past financial backers of the organization included GTECH, which effectively runs the Rhode Island Lottery. Helping Hillary in N.H. The state Democratic Party is hosting weekly bus trips to New Hampshire to help get out the vote for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. "Rhode Island — bluest of the blue states — came out strong for the Clintons in the past and even gave her the Primary win back in [2008]. That said, we will also coordinate bus service for other Democratic presidential candidates if there is demand," Rep. Joseph McNamara, the state Democratic Party chairman, said last week. The buses will run on Saturdays from Jan. 23 through Feb. 6 and again on New Hampshire primary day, Feb. 9. Note: "A free box lunch will be provided." Primary deadlines McNamara, D-Warwick, also got the word out about the deadlines for Rhode Island's own April 26 presidential preference primary. Presidential candidates seeking to appear on the Rhode Island ballot must file their statements of intent with the Rhode Island secretary of state's office between Jan. 21-23. Those seeking to become state delegates need to file their declarations of candidacy between Feb. 24-25. Voters have until March 27 to register to vote in the presidential primary. April 5 is the last day to apply for a mail ballot. The deadline for a voter to disaffiliate from one party, in order to vote in another party's primary, is Jan. 27. — [email protected] And from the Boston Globe…. R.I. governor’s road show seeks to remake state economy JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF By 2018, Governor Gina Raimondo wants to create 6,000 to 10,000 new jobs that pay at least $50,000 a year.