Public pays millions for lawmaker car leases
Detroit Free Press -- For Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Detroit, it's a Cadillac DeVille. For Rep. David Camp of Midland, it's a GMC Envoy. For Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Holland, it's a Ford Escape Hybrid.
The three are among 136 U.S. House members who spent about $1.05 million last year in taxpayer dollars to lease vehicles, including dozens of gas-guzzling SUVs and expensive luxury cars, according to an analysis by the Kansas City Star. Gas and insurance, also paid for by taxpayers, cost hundreds of thousands more.
Some members of Congress use their office budgets to lease Lexuses, an Infiniti, even a BMW 530i, which one auto critic called "one of the world's best sport-luxury sedans." The lease prices of some cars topped $1,000 a month.
Taxpayers spent $9,792 for a 1-year lease for Kilpatrick's Cadillac -- ranking her among the top lease spenders. Tracy Walker, spokeswoman for the Democrat, offered a general response, saying all members of Congress have the option of leasing a car "for use in the district they represent."
But too often, critics say, members of Congress choose luxury.
"If they're telling everybody to tighten their belts and they're leasing these luxury cars, it just doesn't fly in Peoria," said Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington.
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SUVs can be leased through the GSA for as little as $300 a month, according to the GSA Web site. Four-door, midsize sedans cost $258 a month or $3,096 a year.
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House rules say leased cars can be used in members' districts so long as they're used primarily for official business, not for political or personal reasons.
Money for leases comes from the budgets that House members get to run their offices. The House Office of Administrative Counsel must approve a lease, which can't exceed the length of a member's term.
The most expensive vehicle leased was a Ford Expedition for Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., for $1,248.31 a month.
Ross, whose Arkansas district covers nearly 21,000 square miles, spent the most taxpayer money on cars in 2005: a total of $36,343.84 for an Expedition, a Ford 500 and a Ford Crown Victoria.
The practice knows no party lines: 72 Republicans leased vehicles last year, as did 64 Democrats.
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