A trip to Rome for state officials. Paid for in part by companies they regulate.

A recent trip to Rome offers the most detailed evidence yet of the close access corporate powers gain from these events.

As thousands gathered to mourn the pope last month, a group of American state government officials were ushered past a lengthy line to a Vatican museum. They hadn’t come for a Pope Francis memorial, though. At the museum, Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor snapped photos surrounded by a scrum of lawyers and lobbyists. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill smiled as she stood next to an attorney from a firm representing a company her office is suing. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador chatted with the head of a corporate consultancy. Those attorneys general had all traveled to Rome for free – thanks to an association funded by some of the same companies whose representatives now chatted up the American officials. That group also organized the officials’ stay in an opulent, luxury hotel and their chauffeured sightseeing around the Eternal City. As CNN documented in March, companies have regularly paid to enjoy this kind of special access through the nonprofit Attorney General Alliance, which organizes trips to US resorts and foreign destinations. The AGA’s Rome trip offers the most detailed evidence yet of the close access corporate powers gain at these junkets – and of the potential conflicts of interest that come with that arrangement. Critics say that by accepting luxury trips funded by donations from corporate interests, attorneys general may undermine public trust in their actions, especially their mission to enforce the law against powerful interests.