CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The director of the state Division of Motor Vehicles has billed the state $17,000 for travel over the past year-and-a-half, according to the Sunday Monitor.

Virginia Beecher, who has directed the DMV since 1995, is a board member of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and is serving her second term as president of the region that includes New England, the mid-Atlantic and several Canadian provinces.

She attended seven of the group’s events, including meetings sponsored by other regions in Keystone, Colo.; New Orleans; and Tucson, Ariz., according to DMV expense reports. She was often accompanied by Safety Commissioner Richard Flynn, her boss.

Such business trips aren’t unusual for state officials, but some of Beecher’s trips were made when former Gov. Craig Benson had frozen out-of-state travel for most state workers because of budget shortfalls.

Beecher also spent more on travel than other high-level state officials. For example, the Division of Travel and Tourism spent $8,500 sending employees to trade shows and seminars last year, while Environmental Services Commissioner Mike Nolan spent $5,600 traveling as chairman of an international board monitoring the Gulf of Maine.

Beecher and Flynn did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment. But a lawyer for the division, Sheri Kelloway, said Beecher plays a “vital role” in the national group and wants to compare notes with her colleagues in other states.

“These are things the director is very passionate about,” Kelloway said. “New Hampshire wants to be as modern as it can, and the only way to find out what’s out there is to meet new vendors.”

A trip by Beecher and Flynn to Colorado in early June 2004 included meetings on using DMV records to catch criminals, spotting fake documents and preventing odometer fraud. But it also included a day of recreation. The options: visiting a casino, taking a Jeep tour, playing golf or going river rafting.

Two weeks later, the pair went to New Orleans, where fraud prevention, grant writing, driver’s license databases and scooters were discussed. The schedule also included a Mardi Gras night, a golf tournament and an airboat swamp tour. Beecher submitted $3,400 in receipts.

And in mid-July 2004, Beecher, Flynn and four other DMV employees went to Toronto for an Eastern region event, at a total cost of $7,600. The association covered $2,000; the state paid for the rest.

This June, Beecher and Flynn flew to a conference in Tucson just after hosting a conference in New Hampshire. Beecher was criticized at the state event for diverting highway patrol officers from Motorcycle Week to act as chauffeurs, tour guides and – in one case – a translator for the French-speaking children of a Canadian participant, the Monitor reported.

Kelloway defended Beecher’s and Flynn’s travel.

“The general topics at all the conferences are going to be the same,” she said. “Except that there’s so many changes among the states within those specific areas.”

The Executive Council used to review and approve out-of-state travel, but for the past several years councilors have only had to approve trips requiring cash advances or long-distance ground travel.

“I think they should have left it the way it was,” said Councilor Peter Spaulding, R-Hopkinton. “Any travel that’s done by department heads, they ought to be able to defend why they’re doing it.”

Beecher was last reappointed by former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in 2002, and her current term expires next spring.

Pamela Walsh, spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. John Lynch, said he believes conferences can help state leaders update their skills.

“However,” Walsh said in an e-mail, “Gov. Lynch expects that all commissioners weigh the costs and benefits before deciding to attend any conference.”

AP-ES-09-25-05 1426EDT