When The New York Times this month reported that House members are leasing $816-a-month SUVs and tooling around in 17-foot-long Cadillac DeVilles – at taxpayer expense – the question naturally arose:
Do the San Diego-area congressional members take advantage of this House perk, which allows lawmakers to spend public money on the cars they drive?
There is no limit on what House members can spend on these cars.
The House car privilege includes the cost of leasing a car, gas, general maintenance, insurance, registration fees and excess mileage charges.
For instance, Rep. Michael R. McNulty, a New York Democrat, drives a 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid, a sport utility vehicle, for $816 a month, the Times reports. Rep. Charles B. Rangel, another New York Democrat and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, leases a 17-foot, 300-horsepower 2004 Cadillac DeVille for $777.54 a month.
Not so your humble San Diego delegation. According to their offices, none of the area's representatives have taken advantage of this leasing benefit, though they still can get reimbursed for gas mileage.
Democrat Susan Davis of San Diego drives a used Toyota Camry. Among the Republicans, Brian Bilbray of Carlsbad drives his own 2005 Toyota pickup and Darrell Issa of Vista has a 2004 Toyota Prius hybrid and a 2001 Lexus LS 430.
Duncan Hunter of Alpine wins the “Living Frugally” award: he drives a gray Chevy Suburban – “antiquated” is the word spokesman Joe Kasper likes to use – with 200,000 miles on it.
FILNER ON FLAGS: MADE IN USA
Democrat Bob Filner didn't get back to us about his wheels. Perhaps that's because he's busy protecting domestic jobs.
Filner is all worked up that more American flags are being manufactured in China than in the United States.
“The American flag is much more than our national symbol – it embodies our courage, liberty and justice,” Filner said in a statement that might as well have come from Hunter, that U.S.-jobs-protecting skeptic of all things Chinese-made. “The flag reminds us each and every day of the sacrifices that were made for justice and freedom.”
In a bill introduced this month, Filner would require that all American flags flown over federal buildings and on federal property be manufactured in the United States.
An Internet search of American flag manufacturers turns up 101 places in China that make flags, 48 in the United States, 10 in Taiwan and five in India. The flags also are made in Canada, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Colombia, Indonesia, Tanzania, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
The very nice marketing manager at AGAS Manufacturing Group, the Philadelphia-based company that calls itself “the number one manufacturer and supplier of all flags,” insists no red-blooded American would fly a Chinese-made flag in front of his or her home.
“Americans have got a very high sense of pride, and we wouldn't fly a U.S. flag that isn't manufactured in the U.S.,” said the manager, Sean Hemi.
Filner appears to have facts on his side: the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the United States imported $5.3 million in American flags in 2006, mostly from China.
DIFI'S CAFETERIA CRUSADE
She has taken on the national gun lobby, unscrupulous lenders, the CIA and the Justice Department.
Now Sen. Dianne Feinstein is taking aim at Senate dining.
The Senate's restaurants and cafeterias are expected to post $2 million in losses this year. In her role as chairwoman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, the California Democrat has a bill that would bring in a private vendor to run things more efficiently.
Some senators say those who cook and serve meals worry about their job security, wages and their ability to unionize with a private company in charge.
Feinstein's fear is that rising losses for the food establishments will mean higher food prices for customers. As a money-making move, Feinstein said she might require that senators hire only the restaurants' caterers for their events. Right now, senators routinely win waivers from Feinstein's committee to bring in outside caterers.
Dana Wilkie is a Washington-based correspondent for the Union-Tribune and a longtime observer of California politics and social issues.
