politics

WASHINGTON - Vowing to focus on ethics in her first term, Democratic Sen.-elect Amy Klobuchar said on Monday that she will not accept gifts, meals or trips from private groups or individuals.

She said she'll abide by a personal gift ban regardless of what Congress does and that it will be styled after Minnesota's law, featuring few exceptions: She'll still be allowed to accept plaques, and "my husband is still going to give me a Christmas gift, I hope."

Quoting Teddy Roosevelt, Klobuchar said all Americans should be "on equal footing" and that special interests shouldn't have special access to Congress by providing members with free trips and gifts. She said congressional travel should be financed by taxpayers and that privately funded trips "tilt the playing field" against the middle class.

"These people who sent me to Washington from Minnesota, the middle-class people that are struggling to pay their college tuition, I don't think they can all get together and send me on a trip somewhere," Klobuchar said.

Members of Congress handle travel differently.

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., has accepted 47 privately financed trips since taking office in 2003. They're valued at more than $93,000, according to politicalmoneyline.com, which tracks congressional travel. Coleman says that private travel has educational benefits and that taxpayers should not pay for all travel.

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., accepted one free trip during his six-year term. It was worth $1,170. Like Klobuchar, Dayton has argued that if trips are important enough to take, they should be financed with public funds.

Democratic leaders are promising to make ethics the first order of business next month. The debate will include plans to ban conference committees from meeting in private; put an end to anonymous "earmarks," with which members secretly finance their pet projects; double the amount of time ex-lawmakers must wait before they can lobby Congress, and return to "pay-as-you-go" budget rules that would force members to find a way to pay for any new spending.

Klobuchar said she also will back the creation of an independent ethics watchdog agency. She noted that four members of Congress had to resign in 2006 because of criminal or unethical behavior.

As she prepares to take office on Jan. 4, Klobuchar said she has found a two-bedroom apartment in northern Virginia.

She also has hired a chief of staff, Sean Richardson, who held the same position for Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and a state director, Sara Grewing, who served as Klobuchar's policy director for the past year.

Rob Hotakainen is a correspondent in the Star Tribune Washington Bureau • 202-383-0009 • rhotakainen@startribune.com