It never occured to me, though I should have thought of it, but US Rep's can lease a car on the taxpayer's dime, or get a per mile reimbursement for official government business. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but, as you might imagine, some people take advantage. Charles Rangel (D -NY) has a $1,000 a month lease. And that doesn't even make it into the list of the seven most expensive. At the other extreme, John Carter's (R-TX) lease is $210.65 a month. Locals on the program include Mike Fitzpatrick who drives a Ford Five Hundred for $483.29 per month. Curt Weldon drives a Ford Expedition for around $713 per month. Read the whole story in today's Inky here.
I can understand the need to have a vehicle that can seat staff or transport cargo between here and DC or around a congressional district. I also note that the van in my driveway can seat 7 or hold a lot of stuff, depending on whether or not the 3rd seat is up. And it runs us about $250.00 a month for the basic payment plus interest. I also note that vehicles leased by the government for congressional representatives are not to be used for campaign purposes. During campaign season, when an elected official running for re-election is likely to make several stops in a day, how do they make that distinction?
It's a tricky subject.
ALL federal employees, that includes congresscritters, are allowed mileage, if you drive your own car, or cost of a rental car if you travel on government business with official
ReplyDeletetravel orders.
Generally, the GSA has a contract, which are competitively bid, with
the major rental car companies for below market rates.
How do they make the distinction? They don't.
ReplyDeleteA common tactic (and this is across the political board) is to start the morning with an official event (since you're already en route), hit a couple political events ON THE WAY to your eventing political event.
It's sneaky. It's also why the President, when he flies in for a major fundraiser on AF-1, always meets with the mayor or smoebody to discuss local-federal cooperation. It therefore becomes an "official trip," meaning that the campaign does not have to reimburse the government.
I think that the article on Sunday mentioned that Fattah chose to pay his own lease for this very reason -- he seems to do a lot of campaigning...
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