Mayor Frank Melton used city money to pay for his bodyguards to stay in a $665-a-night luxury hotel while accompanying him on a business trip to south Florida in February.
The mayor is a board member for Broadcast Music Inc., a music publishing and performing rights organization, and attended its annual meeting at Key Biscayne, Fla., from Feb. 28 to March 1 with his two-man security team. Key Biscayne is an upscale community south of Miami.
Melton spent $3,385.50 – including hotel, airfare and food – of his budget on Jackson Police Department officers Michael Recio and Marcus Wright, according to documents obtained by The Clarion-Ledger through a public records request.
The expense reports of Melton’s bodyguards – as well as the mayor’s – have been scrutinized as far back as 2006. Melton regularly has attended BMI board meetings since he took office in 2005 and at one point was charging his own expenses to the city.
Magnolia Tribune
