MI $36m plan to buy iPods comes under a cloud of suspicion

A trip two Michigan lawmakers took to Cupertino is coming under increased scrutiny as the public is wondering whether the trip was a junket paid for by Apple or a fact-finding mission paid for by taxpayers, reports Ars Technica.

Democratic Rep. Matt Gillard and House speaker Andy Dillon came back from California with a $36 million proposal to buy an iPod for every schoolchild - a proposal that garnered plenty of criticism in a state with a $600 million budge crisis.

Gillard reportedly told the Detroit Free Press that he thought Apple may have covered a portion of the travel costs, while Dillon's office did not release any details of the trip.

Gillard tried to take the focus away from the iPod issue and move it to overall education technology benefits.

"I don't know that it has to be iPod-specific technology," he told the Detroit Free Press.

Michigan's disclosure laws for lobbyists do not require them to report on travel expenses.

All in all, it's hard to believe that a couple of thousand dollars in airline tickets would tip the scales in Apple's favor. More likely the two were pulled into Cupertino's reality distortion field and bought the iPod pitch hook, line and sinker.