Information released on Leath’s plane use for doctor visits

Photographer: Alec J Giljohann

Iowa State President Steven Leath addresses the student government over concerns regarding his use of a University owned aircraft Oct. 5. 

Alex Connor

Iowa State has released revised information about President Steven Leath’s use of a university airplane to travel to personal medical appointments in Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.

Following an internal audit by the Board of Regents in December, Leath announced that he would reimburse the university for $3,800 for using the plane to go to doctors’ visits at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

The internal audit was in response to news reports of Leath’s mixed business and personal use of university-owned aircraft, which at the time included a single-engine Cirrus SR22, King Air 200 and King Air 350. Leath had damaged the Cirrus in July 2015.

The internal audit conducted by regent Chief Audit Executive Todd Stewart, stated that “between May 2013 and August 2016, a university-owned aircraft or university resources were utilized to transport” Leath to Rochester seven times.

“The University President stated that on three occasions the sole purpose of the trip was a medical appointment, but the use of Flight Service was necessary for him to return to campus to meet university obligations,” the audit states.

However, according to the audit, Leath’s employment contract does not address the necessity of an annual physical, nor does it address whether the associated travel expenses would be covered by Iowa State.

The Associated Press reported that Leath didn’t specify then which of his seven trips to Rochester would be reimbursed, however, spokeswoman Megan Landolt said at the time they involved flights in July 2015.

However, Landolt said Thursday that the date was incorrect and apologized for releasing inaccurate information. Leath’s reimbursement actually covered three roundtrip flights, in which university pilots took Leath to two medical appointments in October 2015 and March 2016.

Each roundtrip to Rochester, which is a three-hour drive from Iowa State, involved two university pilots and cost donors $1,265, the AP reported.

Leath has reimbursed the university for 52 flights that were for his personal flight training, along with transporting his brother and sister-in-law to an NCAA tournament basketball game.

He has held steady that while he “did not violate any policies or break any ls,” he realizes that it is “not enough to simply apologize” and that he did use the university planes more that he “absolutely had to.”