Paying for BOG members and SBN staff and a plethora of judges to attend luxury conference in VAIL, CO and elsewhere on attorney members' dues is unacceptable. But the BOGS voting to pay for these out of state trips are the same people indulging these unnecessary vacations. Most members cannot afford to attend their own annual meeting, while paying for freeloaders to attend. As fiduciaries, the BOGs need to curtail this practice.

Most of the judges that go get a "scholarship" from the Administrative Office of Courts, so no my opinion doesn't change.

Just for the limited purpose of clearing the record, without taking a position on merits of the program. It is not technically a scholarship that the AOC grants the judges to attend the annual conference. Rather, each judge (at least District and above) is given an annual budget for judicial education (I think it is around $2000 per year) to spend on CLE related education expenses (reimbursement based). The individual judge(s) decide which programs they wish to use the money to attend. Many choose to attend the conventions for among the reasons stated.. they get a nice vacation in a desirable location as a byproduct of obtaining CLE credits, as well as, viewing it as an opportunity to network with influential bar leaders as a marketing/campaigning event (on someone else's dime).

This AOC education budget does not, of course, contemplate any other "scholarships", "gifts", "fee waivers", etc. that others may offer to entice them to attend a specific event. Those items are supposed to be disclosed in the judge's annual financial disclosures but in my experience rarely if ever are.