More on Bud Phillips.

I posted this about Bud missing meetings. The Coalfield Progress has this:

• Phillips, D-Sandy Ridge, has missed 97 percent of the Appropriations committee interim meetings since 1998.
  According to the Appropriations committee attendance record, Phillips attended four out of seven interim meetings in 1997 and only two since then. He has missed 91 percent of interim meetings overall.

He has only attended 2 meetings since 1997. That is a shame for Bud and the folks here in SWVA. I dont care how you try to spin it, this sucks eggs.

• It is important for Southwest Virginia to have a representative at the interim meetings, Griffith said, comparing the meetings with football practice. Those who do not go to practice "will fumble the ball," he said. "When it comes to shaping the entire budget, he is handicapped." Griffith is not a member of the Appropriations committee, but attends the interim meetings. He said he does not know of any other members who have an attendance record of under 50 percent since he started attending the meetings in 2000. Phillips' absences affect other districts in Southwest Virginia that do not have a representative on the committee, said Griffith.

Ole Bud said this:

• Rather than spending $200 of the taxpayers' money to drive to Richmond for each meeting, Phillips said, he can receive information from those meetings through reports and other means.
  At that rate, the tab for having attended 70 meetings since 1997 could have been as much as $14,000. Tiller said it would not have been a wasted investment compared to the gains in getting funds for Southwest Virginia.
  Phillips, however, believes his participation and votes during the legislative session are more important than attending interim meetings, he said.
  
  Phillips could not be reached for further comment after Tiller's press conference.

Phillips could not be reached?? Indeed.