Community Corner

Your Take: People Magazine Initially Paid For Malloy Trip To D.C.

The magazine covered the air, hotel and dinner costs for the governor — about $1,000. But the governor has since paid it back.

This article was written and reported by Senior Regional Editor Elissa Bass. It was posted by Jason Vallee.

President Obama and Conan O'Brien were hilarious at last weekend's annual White House Correspondents' Dinner. They both killed it.

One person in the audience enjoying the jokes and the meal was Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy. WTNH-TV and other media outlets in the state are reporting that the governor's trip was paid for by People Magazine, a total cost of about $1,000.

But the governor has since paid it back.

The magazine told News 8 "with all eyes on the tragedy in Newtown, a story that People readers care deeply about, and that People has been covering intensively, we saw Governor Malloy as someone suddenly playing on a larger stage, someone interesting to our readers, our editors and other guests."

WTNH quotes the governor as saying "The Governor's office says it was okay to have the magazine pick up the tab because 'People Magazine' is not a lobbyist or state contractor, and the Governor cannot benefit personally financially from the gift.

"I could do it with state dollars, or I could do it with someone else's dollars. I thought doing it with somebody else's dollars made a lot of sense," Malloy said earlier in the week.

Malloy has since reimbursed the magazine "to remove a needless distraction when there are far more important public policy issues to deal with," according to the Associated Press.

Should the governor have accepted the magazine's offer? Did he do the right thing in paying it back? What's your take? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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