Model Politician

New York seems to be having a rough go of it lately. Just last week, the New York Times called several of the state’s Congressional Representatives out onto the carpet seeking public opinion on their use of tax-payer dollars to fund exorbitant vehicle leases. Now,we hear of another congressman who basically checks himself out of reality for….oh….THE LAST THREE YEARS!

According to an AP Article this afternoon, Vito Fossella has been playing family guy with well, two families. So on top of the long-term infidelity, (and it remains to be reported on whether or not his wife knows about his other family) Vito makes a move to ensure he makes the front page (and on to my blog) - he gets himself arrested on a DUI charge!

At this point, all the details of how the story broke matter not. You have another elected congressman making a fool out of all his constituents and voters who put him in office. In Vito’s only defense to those same folks who backed him nothing on his bio page claims or otherwise indicates he is a strong advocate for family values. However, while I am not intimately familiar with his campaign platform, I think it would be safe to guess that he portrayed himself as a value-oriented guy. So, while most of us will agree that Vito has qualified himself as a Not-So Model Politician. Yet, there is one more part to this story. (more…)

The New York Times published a story today that discussed a benefit enjoyed by many in the House of Representatives. In summary, the article described the rather large array of vehicles leased by Representatives under a program financed by tax payers. There were several examples given in the article, yet this list likely does not even scratch the surface of the complete story. Be that as it may, there are many not-so-model examples presented - not to mention a shocking overall message of hypocritical financial irresponsibility.

Right out of the gate, let’s take a look at the specific examples given in the story:

Let us examine the representation here:

1. 10 out of 11 Representatives discussed in this story are Democrats and of these 10, only 1 is confirmed as paying less than $715 per month (not counting insurance, gas, or maintenance) for their tax-payer provided conveyance! (Hats off to Anthony Weiner for saving us a little money, eh?).
2. The single Republican Representative is paying $310 per month
3. 7 of the 11 Representatives hail from the state of New York for a total of over $4500 per month in lease payments (avg of $647) - Seems like New York has a little problem with over spending, eh?
4. Only one Representative has a vehicle that averages over 30 MPG - not very good “representation” at $4 / gallon, eh?

Adding salt to the fiscal wound is the fact that tax payers also subsidize the gas, insurance and maintenance for these vehicles…(not to mention each Representative’s base salary of $162,500 per year - hard to fathom their uncanny ability to survive, eh?). I also want to point something else out: take a look at the monthly lease payments for Rep. McNulty’s 2007 Mercury Mariner Hybrid ($816) and Rep. Slaughter’s 2007 Buick Lucerne ($808). Seem a little ridiculous to you? These cars go for an MSRP of about $30K, at best. So, what gives with the $800+ monthly leases? If this is any indication of these politician’s ability to be financial responsible, I would like none of it, thank you…

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