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Debate turns to campaign conduct: junkets, speaking fees and debate availability
Summary
The candidates sparred over lobbyist‑paid trips, speaking fees and whether the incumbent would continue televised debates; Burns defended his travel as constituent and industry outreach, while Mudd criticized campaign spending and closeness to lobbyists.
Campaign conduct and outside funding were central to exchanges in Billings, with Jack Mudd criticizing incumbent U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns for taking numerous lobbyist‑paid trips and Burns defending the trips as constituent and industry outreach that helped Montana.
“Half of those trips… It took a hundred and 3 days to make it. That's 1.7 per trip,” Burns said, responding to claims he took “more than 60 trips paid for by lobbyists.” He said many trips were to telecommunications groups and that he had “not spent 1 dime of the…
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