Democrats Challenge Rep. Pombo's Expenses

Pombo spokesman Brian Kennedy said the congressman considered the accusations by Democrats "nothing more than a baseless, partisan, election-year potshot." Pombo was unavailable for comment.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has issued a statement and posted video commercials on its website questioning Pombo's "taxpayer-funded vacation" to several national parks in August 2003, the year he became chairman of the influential House Resources Committee.

The Democrats said that Pombo billed taxpayers $4,935 for an RV rental, but basically turned the trip into a family vacation.

Steve Filson, a Democrat running for Pombo's seat in this fall's congressional election, has asked the House Administration Committee to investigate. If that panel finds a problem, it could refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee.

Pombo has said that the trip he took with his family included business because he met with park officials. As chairman of the resources panel, his responsibilities include national parks and forests. He has called the RV rental a legitimate taxpayers' expense.

However, officials at two of the national parks Pombo said he visited -- Joshua Tree in California and Badlands in South Dakota -- said the congressman never met with them.

"We had set up camping for him and gone to a lot of work and then he did not show," Pam Livermont, secretary for the park superintendent at Badlands National Park, said Tuesday. "He did not alert any personnel that he wasn't coming, and we never heard another word from him. We were disappointed."

The Tracy Press, Pombo's hometown newspaper, reported that officials at Joshua Tree did not recall him visiting there either.

Kennedy insisted that Pombo had shown up at Joshua Tree for his meeting but "they were not there," something the congressman later mentioned to National Park Service Director Fran P. Mainella. And Kennedy said Pombo was certain he was at the Badlands and met with a group of Native American tribal leaders nearby.