Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is refusing to turn over to the Republican Party of Virginia records of his out-of-state travel as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
In a letter late yesterday afternoon to state GOP Chairman Pat Mullins, Kaine communications director Lynda Tran said Kaine has no legal obligation to make public such documents.
In a written statement, Republican spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the party will review Kaine's response over the weekend before commenting.
Last week, Mullins filed a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of the governor's schedule and expense and travel records for his state police bodyguard.
Against the backdrop of the campaign to decide Kaine's successor, the request is part of an increasingly aggressive stance against the departing governor by the state GOP.
Republican criticism of Kaine as DNC head contrasts sharply with Democrats' somewhat muted response eight years ago to the selection of the Gov. Jim Gilmore as chairman of the national GOP.
Tran said that Mullins can track Kaine's movements through the Democrat's public schedule, available online and sent to reporters each week.
That schedule does not include political events, such as fundraisers for state legislative candidates, or travel outside Virginia on behalf of the DNC.
Tran said that Kaine -- under state law and a 1991 ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court -- is free to keep confidential, as working papers, his detailed daily schedule.
Kaine, handpicked in January by President Barack Obama to lead the Democratic National Committee, says he is not hiding his travel as party boss.
On Tuesday, during an online chat at The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Kaine said that Virginians need only ask where he's going on national party business -- typically fundraising -- and he will tell them.
Megan Rhyne, executive director of the nonpartisan Virginia Coalition for Open Government told The Associated Press yesterday: "We have the perfect example of why it's important for people to know where a governor is traveling, and it's right down the road in South Carolina.
"With Governor Kaine, it's also important because if he does pledge to keep the expenses from DNC separate, there has to be a way for people to verify for themselves whether he's actually doing that."
Kaine acknowledged Thursday that the state has run up a bill on travel by the Executive Protection Unit, which keeps troopers at the governor's side wherever he goes.
But Kaine said the DNC will reimburse taxpayers for that expense; so far, less than $10,000.
Contact jschapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com.
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