A couple of weeks ago, I reported that council members Jan Drago and Richard McIver—both of whom are retiring this year—spent $14,000 from their office budgets (city dollars that can be used at a council member's discretion) to participate in an 85-person trade mission to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. (Dubai's economy is collapsing, and the country is one of the most expensive to visit in the world). This week, I got a copy of Drago's schedule. In the past six months, Drago has spent at least 44 days out of town—including 33 days in China, (August 20 through September 18), several days shortly thereafter on vacation (October 9-12), and eight days in Washington, D.C. for "inauguration activities." Thirty of those days were city work days. In addition, Drago's schedule was completely or mostly blank for the period between December 19 and January 4, when the council shuts down for the winter holiday.

In a memo attached to the schedule, obtained through a records request, an aide to Drago defends her travel to China, asserting that Drago had "proved invaluable" in obtaining a multi-million-dollar contract for a company that creates deep-bore tunnels like the one currently proposed to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. However, that company is based in Kent, not Seattle. The Dubai trade mission, which began March 4, will return to Seattle on March 14.