By Zachary Gorchow
President of Michigan Operations
Posted: April 13, 2018 7:10 PM

Well, there’s one photo House Speaker Tom Leonard surely wishes had not ended up on Facebook.

Mr. Leonard (R-DeWitt) is one of the foremost users of social media among the Legislature’s members. Legislative business, family, campaigns, some sports, Mr. Leonard usually posts something daily.

But one photo he did not post was of him and legislative leaders from other states last August in London as part of a trip paid for by the conservative GOPAC Education Fund’s Institute for Leadership Development, something that surfaced in the Cincinnati Enquirer’s reporting on the scandal that led to Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger’s surprise resignation this week. Mr. Rosenberger resigned as word broke he is under FBI investigation, and the news reports say federal authorities are looking into his travel.

A lobbyist on the trip posted the photo to her Facebook page that shows several of the legislative leaders, including Mr. Leonard and Mr. Rosenberger.

So now Mr. Leonard is getting some unwanted publicity as a result.

Leonard spokesperson Gideon D’Assandro said no one lobbied Mr. Leonard on the trip. One of the questions is whether lobbyists in the title lending industry, including one from Ohio, were trying to lobby Mr. Rosenberger during the trip because there is some legislation on that issue in the Ohio legislature.

To be clear, there’s no indication Mr. Leonard did anything wrong. Mr. D’Assandro further noted there is no title lending legislation before the House. That could change at any time of course.

Lobbyist/Organization-funded travel is one of the perks legislators have enjoyed for years that only becomes a problem when one of those unannounced trips slips into the public realm and requires some explaining. Travel on someone else’s dime to someplace warm or highly desirable, attend some meetings where some potentially useful information might be shared and otherwise enjoy the trip.

These travels, however, happen largely in the dark because of the state’s lax disclosure laws.

Facebook, for all its flaws, shed some light on this trip, however.