American Notes

President Bush's new travel policy, announced last week by White House counsel C. Boyden Gray, bars chief of staff John Sununu from taking personal trips on government aircraft except for "immediate and compelling need." Even though he outranks Gray, Sununu must get specific, advance clearance from him for official flights.

Prompted by nearly three weeks of embarrassing revelations in the press, the ban follows a seven-day investigation by Gray into Sununu's past excursions on military planes. A number of the more than 70 such trips that Sununu has taken since April 1989 appear to have been devoted mainly to personal or political pursuits -- including ski weekends in Colorado and his home state of New Hampshire. The cost to U.S. taxpayers is more than $500,000, only a fraction of which was reimbursed by Sununu, though some trips were bankrolled by ( private corporate interests in apparent violation of federal ethics laws. On the day the restriction went into effect, Sununu took a military jet to deliver a commencement address at the University of South Carolina, a flight the White House deemed appropriate.