UPDATE: Drago's campaign says Drago found some "discrepancies" and "trips she actually canceled" on the list; Drago was in a meeting this afternoon, but said she'd get back to us with specific examples soon.

Since 2006, City Council member and mayoral candidate Jan Drago has traveled to at least a dozen countries—including China, India, Iceland, the United Arab Emirates, and Finland—at a total cost to city taxpayers of $43,288.59, city records reveal. In addition to the 44 days Drago spent on city-funded trips outside Seattle between August 2008 and January 2009, which I reported here, Drago traveled to:

• India, between November 12 and November 24, 2006, on a business trade mission. Total cost to taxpayers: $7,272.

• Brazil, on a sustainability trade trip between October 7 and October 16, 2006. Total cost to taxpayers: $4,146.

• Japan, on an international study mission between May 11 and May 19, 2007. Total cost to taxpayers: $5,255.

• Austin, Texas, on an inter-city study mission between March 26 and March 28, 2008. Total cost to taxpayers: $2,556.

• Uzbekistan, on the 35th Anniversary Sister Cities Trip, between August 22 and September 2, 2008. Total cost to taxpayers: $1,645.

• Iceland, on a sister city visit to Reykjavik between May 24 and May 31, 2008. Total cost to taxpayers: $1,710.

Drago has not yet responded to calls and emails for comment about her travel expenses. However, in response to my earlier public records request, a Drago staffer asserted that her 33-day sojourn in China was "invaluable" in obtaining a multi-million-dollar contract for a Kent-based company that creates deep-bore tunnels like the one proposed to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Mayor Greg Nickels has criticized Drago's extensive travel schedule, accusing her in a May press release of "spen[ding] thousands of taxpayer dollars in recent months acting as Seattle's self-appointed ambassador to the world." Nickels's own schedule, obtained through a public disclosure request, reveals that the mayor was out of town only around 24 days during the six months beginning in December 2008 (compared to Drago's 44 days out of town during the six months beginning in August 2008). More significantly, Nickels was only out of the country for five of those days—on an intercity study mission to Montreal in May 2009.