Incredible as it may seem, incumbent Democrat Congressman Bart Gordon (from Tennessee's Sixth Congressional District) appears to be actively concealing his taxpayer funded European vacation from his constituents.

Republican challenger, inactive Army Reserve Major General Dave Evans has brought this story to light in his recent blogpost.

The Washington Post reported on February 12 that Gordon would be accompanying Tennessee Congressman John Tanner, President of the NATO Parliamentarians, on a February 14-22 trip to the hotspots of Europe.

Included on the itinerary: Brussels, Vienna, Paris, and the Bavarian Alps.

The only problem is: Bart Gordon doesn't serve on any relevant committee that would give him an excuse to take this trip. 

The usually politically deft Gordon has compounded the problem by failing to provide any public communication about his trip to Europe. No statement from his office, no press release to the local press. And calls to his office have apparently yielded the obligatory "we have been instructed not to comment on the Congressman's schedule."

Congress apparently has some rules about this sort of thing. Apparently, it is legal for Congressman Gordon to accept gifts of travel from any Governmental entity without even having to file a travel report.

Arguably, he might try to claim this excellent European adventure is actually not a "gift" from the taxpayers but is in fact legitimate governmental business. Giving Gordon the benefit of the doubt, such an argument probably should have been made before he embarked on this trip earlier this month.

Gordon himself and his office have made no public comment about this purported trip to Europe. Other reports in the press have him in Europe now, but it's a fact that simply cannot be confirmed with the stonewalling Congressman's office. You would think that it would be in the Congressman's best interests to disclose the truth of his whereabouts and activities, no matter what that truth might be.

In any event, it's an embarassing lapse for the usually sure footed Gordon.

Transparency, you say? Transparency must apply to other members of Congress. By his own actions, it's pretty clear that it's not a virtue to which Mr. Gordon can lay claim.