Posted on 04/30/2008 11:06:48 PM PDT by neverdem
Representative Anthony D. Weiner, Democrat of Brooklyn and Queens, drives a 2008 Chevrolet Impala, leased for $219 a month. Representative Michael R. McNulty, a Democrat from the Albany area, gets around in a 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid, a sport utility vehicle, for $816 a month.
“It gets a little better than 25 miles a gallon,” Mr. McNulty said.
Charles B. Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is not so caught up in the question of gas mileage. He leases a 2004 Cadillac DeVille for $777.54 a month. The car is 17 feet long with a 300-horsepower engine and seats five comfortably.
“It’s one of the bigger Cadillacs,” Mr. Rangel, of Harlem, said cheerfully this week. “I’ve got a desk in it. It’s like an airplane.”
Modest or more luxurious, the cars are all paid for by taxpayers. The use of a car — gas included — is one of the benefits of being a member of the House of Representatives.
There are few restrictions on what kind of car the members can choose, and there is no limit on how much they can spend. But the benefit can be politically sensitive, given the growing concerns about automobile emissions and an economy that has left many people struggling to pay for the rapidly rising cost of gas, which was...
--snip--
Members have found themselves under fire in their districts for what their constituents may regard as extravagant tastes or for leasing foreign cars. Before the 2006 election, one Ithaca resident denounced Representative Maurice D. Hinchey’s lease of a BMW 530i to The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, saying that Mr. Hinchey, a Democrat, “sticks it to” the taxpayers and American workers. (Mr. Hinchey also leases a 2007 Nissan Altima for $200 a month for his chief of staff.)...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
SUVs famously roll over Interstate guardrails. Shouldn't that be rephrased a bit?
==8-O
“”...I would probably drive or ride in a SUV. Something like a Tahoe or Expedition. Something that four or more people can roll in...”
SUVs famously roll over Interstate guardrails. Shouldn’t that be rephrased a bit?
==8-O”
Are you being sarcastic? No SUVs don’t roll over anymore than any other car I have seen. Do you not know the term “rolling with my homies”?
I'd like someone to point to the section of the US Constitution that says we taxpayers are supposed to pay for the automobiles of members of Congress. Taxpayers sure didn't pay for horses and buggies for congresscritters back in the day.
This nation is trillions of dollars in debt, and that figure is growing daily. Meanwhile, these clowns continue to spend money like there is no end.
Everybody should think about that the next time they start talking about raising taxes, like Hillary or Obama in their stump speeches they are giving daily......
“Especially Congressman and Senators. President is one thing, but I think the Government should just buy a fleet of Tahoes one year and then after three years buy a fleet of Expeditions. Nothing fancy just mid range models. Should get a decent discount on quantity orders.”
They don’t even rate that, maybe when they actually start doing something useful and FIX something.
Until then, a fleet of leased vans to take them to and from home to the office should be FINE, just like the ones millions of Americans have to ride in.
Heck, I’d even allow them to get a discounted bus pass, but that’s it.
Stayed in a motel in Northern Michigan last week, and that motel just happened to be hosting some convention for state bureaucrats.
The parking lot was packed with brand new SUVs and pick-ups, bearing the logos for the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Transportation.
Government by pigs, for pigs and of pigs.
These Pig Articles make me very angry. Friggin’ Government needs a big overhaul with a lot of B-Crats swinging from the oaks! L&L time.
They forgot to mention that those tax payer paid for cars are also drive by a chauffeur also paid for by Uncle Sam.
I like your choice. My wife, a business associate, and myself were having this very discussion just two days ago. The premise was “if money was no object” what would you be driving? If money was no object applied to our money not someone else’s.
I would be driving a very hot Ferrari.
Charles B. Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is not so caught up in the question of gas mileage. He leases a 2004 Cadillac DeVille for $777.54 a month.
The heck with Rangel's pimp-mobile. I want to know who's paying for his hair straightening and gel.
[If you put his pillow cases through a refinery OPEC would be out of business.]
You seem to be describing the new Chevy Tahoe Hybrid or the GMC Yukon Hybrid. Check them out.
What the he!!????
Are these people all Democrats?
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