It's hard to keep a secret in the digital age.
In early July, The Hill's Twitter Room blog posted an item regarding Rep. Pete Roskam (R-Ill.) tweeting details of a trip to Israel. The story listed seven Republican lawmakers that accompanied Roskam, but had this to say about the other traveler:
The one Democratic lawmaker who traveled with the group did not want to be identified, said Roskam's spokesman, Gerrit Lansing.
The trip was sponsored by the
American Israel Education Foundation. The Democrat who didn't want it known he was touring Israel with his GOP colleagues? Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.). We learned this because he was required to file a
post-trip disclosure with the House and we have it on LegiStorm. Now everyone can see on our site whether there is any reason he wouldn't want it made public.
It was Lipinski's first Israel trip sponsored by AIEF, which frequently pays for large delegations of members of Congress and staffers to travel to Israel.
UPDATE 8/5/2010:
Rep. Roskam's office sent a statement to LegiStorm to clarify the line in the The Hill's original post:
"Rep. Lipinski's office requested that he be able to speak for himself on Israel and Middle East policy. However, it was a miscommunication from our office to indicate that he did not want to be identified as a trip participant. We understand that Rep. Lipinski made a full and appropriate public disclosure when filing post-travel documentation with the House Ethics Committee. This trip was a valuable opportunity for all members to learn first hand about the security challenges in Israel and their impact on U.S. national security." --Dean Thompson, Roskam spokesman
