Public servants with gas guzzlers? It doesn't add up

[Herschel]

All people have a right to make a choice about what they drive, even public officials.

[Loveable Lou]

Herschel wrote:

All people have a right to make a choice about what they drive, even public officials.

NOT WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS PAYING FOR IT.

[Old Curmudgeon]

BuckStripes wrote:

...Yes, Mike: "Why do we provide so many officials with take-home vehicles in the first place? Why can't they drive their own cars to work, just like the rest of us?"
...And the answer is (Tah Dah!): Because THEY are members of the Ruling Class, the local Lords and Ladies of that vast Barony which now owns the United States of America. Power and privilege is theirs, because we gave it to them, bit-by-bit. While the Fourth Estate either snoozed through the silent coup, or actually helped it along--by doing zip to crush it, when it wasn't encouraging it outright...
...For example: A Sentinel scribe recently suggested in his column that public officials ought to be paid even more lavishly than they are now--so that better people will fill the jobs...
...Indeed, that method has surely worked well over the last 50-plus years, which was when the Lords and Ladies of the realm got rich and richer parading around as our faux Public Servants...
...The Sentinel columnist musta been off jocking on the roads and rivers during that rising time of our Ruling Class. His name was (and still is) Mike Thomas...;-):-)

Well said! Instead of doing public service todays public servants are doing the public.

[FastJack]

Oh let they drive their big SUVs and F250s. . .let the city buy them, and the people to whom the vehicles are assigned pay for the gas - no gas/mileage allowance. City money is paying for the vehicle and the insurance - therefore the person should pay for the gas - a bit like my dad did when the kids in the family started driving - we were responsible for maintenance and gas -

[Woody Smith]

They can't fit in a Prius? What a load! I'm bigger than Buddy Dyer and I fit just fine in my Prius. So can four other people in comfort, even BIG people.

Why do people even WANT those monstrosities? It's something I never understood. They are far too clumsy on the road for my tastes, and parking them is an annoyance to themselves and others, as they slop over into adjacent spaces.

I guess some people are stupid and gullible enough to think that a bigger car implies a bigger d|ck. It's usually the reverse.

[Woody Smith]

Oh, and by the way, I urge everyone to boycott any product or service that advertises with pop-up advertising, like the Sentinel is so good at providing in a way that evades pop-up blocking.

[Bruce]

I have three solutions.#1--Mike, you ride around the Orlando area on a Vespa!#2--Drill for our own oil, which we have lots of.#3--Admit that you have been taken in by the global warming hoax. The last global warming event ended in 1998.

[Jim]

Dave wrote:

Generally speaking, no government vehicle gets replaced until it is seriously broken. Crotty drives a five-year-old SUV because Orange County has not allowed him to purchase a newer car. He does not drive a Prius because the County tries to buy American when possible.
If you work the math, there is no way to save the taxpayers money by buying a newer car. The difference in mileage would never cover the $25,000 difference in price.
The Sentinel needs to start talking about the real world.

Good point. Also, thinking "green" and buying into the "global warming" nonsense and the ethenol craze is actually the MOSTS expensive and economically/socially costly road we can be taken down. It is a boondogle that boggles the mind and amounts to nothing more than a transfer of power and transfer of wealth with the helping hand of GOVERNMENT.

[mosco]

It is now time to buy fuel efficient foreign designed vehicles. A nation that is in decline in manufacturing must give the taxpayer a break. It is obvious things are not going to change with American manufacturers. Let them die and whither away. Only the sucker loyalty has kept the domestics alive anyway. For decades I was one of them. But wait, the initial quality index says different...bwahhahaha...I believed it...time after time...after time...after time....On a good note...workers from America's greatest generation are collecting massive benefits, living the life of luxury for producing inferior vehicles. The luckiest generation in the history of mankind and born in America.

[Conservative Right Winger]

Kudos to the Sentinel for talking about how many top officials drive vehicles the tax payers foot the bill for. If someone is not a !st responder or untility worker or inspector who's job requires them to always be on the road, then no vehicle should be provided. As for allowance or miliage, if you look at how many miles per year Dyer or Crotty log for 'Official Bid-nez', it might be cheaper to buy them a vehicle they can drive home.

Most US government agencies from the dog catcher to the White House are required by some policy to by American made cars and trucks. Now that Ford and Saturn(and maybe others), have hybrid SUVs, that's what they should replace the older ones with when it is time.

Another consideration is th elarger agncies often do their own maintenance and repairs, maybe they do nit have the tools and equipmetn to maintain and service foriegn cars or hybrids???

Right now might not be the time in the vehicle life cycle to replace them from a budget standpoint. Hopefully they are being more careful with their driving with gas prices so high.

My company reimburses me fo rbiz travel and if I have to trravel over 50 miles one-way, they have a contract with a local rental agency instead of maintaining a fleet of cars.

[Friend]

Conservative Right Winger wrote:

Kudos to the Sentinel for talking about how many top officials drive vehicles the tax payers foot the bill for. If someone is not a !st responder or untility worker or inspector who's job requires them to always be on the road, then no vehicle should be provided. As for allowance or miliage, if you look at how many miles per year Dyer or Crotty log for 'Official Bid-nez', it might be cheaper to buy them a vehicle they can drive home.
Most US government agencies from the dog catcher to the White House are required by some policy to by American made cars and trucks. Now that Ford and Saturn(and maybe others), have hybrid SUVs, that's what they should replace the older ones with when it is time.
Another consideration is th elarger agncies often do their own maintenance and repairs, maybe they do nit have the tools and equipmetn to maintain and service foriegn cars or hybrids???
Right now might not be the time in the vehicle life cycle to replace them from a budget standpoint. Hopefully they are being more careful with their driving with gas prices so high.
My company reimburses me fo rbiz travel and if I have to trravel over 50 miles one-way, they have a contract with a local rental agency instead of maintaining a fleet of cars.

Hondas and Toyotas are made in the USA. No one really knows who owns the auto companies. Chrysler was owned by the Germans. I would file the government parking lots with reliable 4 cylinder hondas and toyotas.

[mosco]

The only thing we need currently with American companies is the survival of one of them to make military vehicles. For them to survive in a competitive world, they would have to build most of their cars outside the United States. With a huge investment in small engine and transmission technologies. Ironically, the unions born in the last depression will have an impact in the next one.

[ROCKET SCIENTIST]

Amazing this column attracted more than your pro-FCAT! Mike-my advice (as a teacher) lay off of education.

[Ugh]

Friend wrote:

This story has legs because it is about hypocrisy, lying and greed. No one who is a truly concerned about the environment shows up for a meeting to protect the environment in a two ton vehicle. Please, give us all a break. If you tailed our public officials you would find out two things. First, seldom if ever is there more than one person in the truck. Second, if you looked at how much personal use they declared you would find they lied their buts off. No public official who does not need a heavy vehicle to do his job has a right to ask some little old lady who lives on social security and has trouble coming up with the money for her light bill to pay for his $34,000 SUV. We need to start a fund to buy the mayors toyata prius. Maybe we could get a dealer to donate two for the cause.

Now, now...in all fairness, there are usually at least two people in these vehicles. Surely you don't think these guys drive themselves around?

[Ugh]

What the heck wrote:

All of the Orange County idiots including the Sheriff and his underlings are driving gas guzzlers.
In fact the pork chop Beary is allowing his underlings to drive gas guzzlers into other counties and at the taxpayers expense. We as taxpayers are also paying for the tolls.
These holy than hell politicians NEED to remember that their excesses will get them out of office!
ALSO GET RID OF THE ILLEGALS!

Actually, you are not paying for tolls. Emergency services are exempt from those...as they should be for the frequent trips they make through toll booths. Remember, that's not the county or city's budget being padded...that's the EXPRESSWAY AUTHORITY budget and we all know they can do without the added tax dollars that would be paid in tolls by the emergency service vehicles.

I bet you would be shocked to know that commercial and lease vehicles are not required to pay tolls. Commercial businesses who already do far better than the rest of us with the ridiculous tax incentives and breaks they receive can run toll after toll. It's against state law for them to be ticketed. Personally, I take far greater offense to that type of bureaucratic nonsense. Just one more example of the big businesses being taken care of while the average person pays a small fortune simple to get to and from work everyday.

[Ugh]

What the heck wrote:

... We as taxpayers are also paying for the tolls...

I should clarify...of government vehicles, the "free" tolls previously mentioned ONLY apply to emergency vehicles. All other government vehicles DO pay tolls. I thought I should clarify that I only singled out emergency service vehicles because you used this article as a means of attacking Sheriff Beary instead of addressing the overall issue at hand. Taking pot shots at a single individual (who, in this case, wasn't even referenced in the story) always leaves the reader with the impression that you're a bitter criminal who wound up on the wrong end of the law. Address these issues as legitimate concerns within our local government and politics so that they're given the consideration they deserve.

Now, with that said, I don't know which category the Mayors' SUV's fall into but it wouldn't matter. Not like they would be paying it out of pocket anyway.:)

[JohnP]

Great post!

Oboy wrote:

This is precisely why I voted FOR Amendment 1. There is no question that the local governments could not do what they need to do for our communities and "trim the fat" off of their budgets. Problem is that working within a tighter budget means thinking harder, being innovative,exploring new ways of doing things, occasionally saying no (to people who don't like to be told no), doing without perks that have become "expected" rather than appreciated, and generally doing more with less. Believe me, I know as do most working families these days. The only difference is we have nobody we can go out and charge any extra "fees" to help our monthly family budgets.
What is really disgusting is that while we all do the best we can, maybe take a 2nd part-time job, drive less, and spend less, the local governments seem to say "Don't touch our budgets or we will "fee" you to death!" I can't say that with the budget cuts I have heard one single brave soul in a local government stand up and say, "Times are tough for all of us and we will all work hard to get through them together." What I hear is more like, "Well, if we can't get your money out of your right pocket, we will figure out a way to get it out of your left!"
While your at it, why don't you check these same guys water bills and see if they are saving and check in their front yards on recycle pick up day and see how full their bins are....wanna take any bets....?