Todd Spangler

Dec. 29, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) — WASHINGTON — Republicans taking control of the U.S. House in January say they’ll trim members’ office budgets by 5%, but Congress members will keep a few perks, including taxpayer-paid leases for vehicles — ranging from compacts to SUVs to offices on wheels — for their personal use.

Members of the House get an annual allowance and have discretion over how to spend it. As of September, 101 members — about a quarter of the 435-member House — had paid-for auto leases. Four were Michigan politicians.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Detroit Democrat, made news when word leaked that his son had been driving his 2010 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid that costs taxpayers $1,251.66 a month. Conyers said it was inappropriate and paid $5,682 to the Treasury to reimburse taxpayers.

The other Michiganders with leased cars:

–Detroit Democrat Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who is leaving office, had a lease of $1,229.96 a month. Her office didn’t return e-mails, but she told Politico this year that she drove a 2009 Chevy Tahoe.

–Holland Republican Pete Hoekstra, who also is leaving, had a 2009 Jeep Patriot used by his staff in his west Michigan district. It cost $630.14 a month.

–Harrison Township Republican Candice Miller had a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid used in her district. It cost $870.83 a month, but she got rid of it — and began using her own car, with a 50-cent per mile reimbursement — when the lease expired this month.

Now, less information available on Congress’ taxpayer-paid vehicle leases

WASHINGTON — It used to be a lot easier to find out which vehicles members of Congress leased at taxpayers’ expense, if you knew where to look.

Now that it’s all readily available online, the details — the make, model and year — have vanished, though you still can find out the price.

After it was learned that U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.’s son had been driving the Detroit Democratic congressman’s taxpayer-leased 2010 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid around the night before Thanksgiving, the Free Press reviewed congressional records on auto leases, finding that about a quarter of U.S. House members — 101 — had car leases as of September. The cost: $75,424 a month.

On an annual basis, that’s more than $900,000 a year.

The cost varies widely, records showed, from as much as $2,900 a month for Democratic Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver‘s van that runs on vegetable oil to the $200 a month Democratic New York Rep. Maurice Hinchey had been spending on a 2009 Nissan Altima used by a staffer making trips between the district and Washington, D.C.

In both of those cases, the congressmen’s offices were willing to tell the Free Press which vehicles they lease. (Hinchey’s office said the lease is ending and won’t be renewed.) Otherwise, it could be kept secret, since that information no longer appears on the quarterly Statement of Disbursements released by the House.

In the past, a reporter (or any citizen) would go into the basement of the Cannon House Office Building, near where an underground tunnel leads to the Capitol, and check the paper versions of the statement to learn details of the members’ rides. (Senate rules do not allow for vehicle leases.)

But ever since the document went online last year ( ), the entry for each of the 101 members who lease a vehicle with taxpayer money is simply “automobile leases.”

Even the paper versions now stored in the basement of the Cannon were changed to include only that detail.

Dan Weiser, a spokesman with the House’s Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, said the change was made “to bring a higher degree of consistency and accuracy” to the quarterly statement. And it does track similar changes — such as referring to payments for flowers or picture framing or an aquarium simply as “habitation expenses.”

Steve Ellis, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said it sounds to him like House officials wanted to make it harder to get the information.

“It’s shocking,” he said. “It went from being more information that was hard to get to less information that is easier to get. They really dumbed down some of the details.”

In the House, a member can choose from a taxpayer-paid vehicle lease or reimbursement of 50 cents per mile driven on a personal vehicle.

Rules for leases can make for more expensive monthly payments. For instance, a 2007 energy bill required leased vehicles to be more environmentally friendly, and hybrids typically cost more.

Another factor: Leases can’t be for longer than a member’s two-year term, which is shorter than the typical lease, so that can cost more.

Cleaver’s office proudly touts its vegetable-oil-powered vehicle used for constituent outreach.

But Democratic Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes‘ office didn’t get back to the Free Press about his lease of $1,628.47 a month. A story in Politico earlier this year said he spends that amount for a GMC Yukon used in his district.

Next on the list: Democrat Pedro Pierluisi, resident commissioner of Puerto Rico and, as such, a nonvoting member of the U.S. House. He has a GMC Yukon Hybrid his office said is used for “town visits, agency meetings and public activities” across the island, where vehicles are more expensive than in the continental U.S. It costs $1,400 a month

But the Free Press review found many less expensive leases, as well, such as Hinchey’s. (Taxpayers for Common Sense noted in a review two years ago that taxpayers also were paying $500 a month at that time for a BMW for Hinchey. That lease apparently is no longer paid for by taxpayers.)

Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., had a lease in September of $182 a month. His office didn’t get back to the Free Press about the make and model of the vehicle, but that’s a lot less than the $897 a month Taxpayers for Common Sense found his office was spending for a Yukon two years ago.

Often, the vehicles are used by staff in the members’ districts. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, had a Jeep Patriot used mainly by the district director to drive to meetings with constituents. It cost $630.14 a month.

Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, had a 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid that cost $870.83 a month. But she let the lease expire and has bought a personal vehicle — a 2011 Ford Escape. The leased vehicle, her office said, was used for constituent outreach in the five counties she represents.

With more scrutiny on federal budgets, it’s possible more members will let their leases lapse, though Jock Friedly, president and founder of LegiStorm ( ), a Web site devoted to congressional transparency, said, “Certainly, there are very legitimate reasons to have a car in your congressional district.”

For instance, a leased car with unlimited miles could come in handy getting around the single congressional district in, say, Michigan’s 1st District, which includes the Upper Peninsula and the northeastern Lower Peninsula.

“The problem is a lot of members of Congress blur the acceptable uses of such a car,” Friedly said. He added that letting people know which kind of cars are being leased — and there is no limit on how many vehicles a member may lease — is key to being transparent.

“That’s one of the things for voters to decide,” Friedly said of whether members should be allowed to lease vehicles at public expense. Voters “need the information about what the money is being spent on.”

Contact TODD SPANGLER: 202-906-8203 or

Newstex ID: KRTB-0048-52149516