Posted on 01/19/2008 2:57:40 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
>While more lawmakers are going hybrid-green, the Capitol's most powerful Democrat was rolling candy-apple red in a $38,600 Dodge Charger with 22-inch rims, yo. Turns out Perata, D-Oakland, was far from alone among state lawmakers -- and not even in the top 10 -- in his taste for gas-slurping automotive luxury at mostly taxpayer expense.
More than half the senators who use state-leased cars opt for traditional gas vehicles that get 20 combined city/highway miles or less per gallon...
The Assembly, which offers a lease break for members who choose hybrids, fares greener. Nearly two-thirds of the 72 members with state-bought cars now drive hybrids. All told, 13 senators and 14 Assembly members drive state vehicles that cost $40,000 or more.
Most of those are Toyota Highlander SUV hybrids like the one Guy Houston, R-Livermore, now drives after the Assembly asked him to get rid of the Chevy Tahoe that got 15 miles per gallon, which placed Houston among the Assembly's foremost gas guzzlers. The Toyota gets 26 mpg.
The chairman of the Senate's Environmental Quality Committee, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, drives a 2005 Chrysler 300 that gets a combined 20 mpg.
"You'll find I'm always in the middle to low end of the price spectrum. In terms of fuel economy, I think I'm right in the middle," said Simitian. "I am 6-foot-1 and 200-plus pounds," he added, "so the smaller Prius is really probably not going to work for me."
Dan Kalb, California policy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said he favors minimum fuel efficiency standards for all state vehicles, but more important was how lawmakers vote on vehicle-related bills.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Looking down his nose..."I instruct, no DEMAND, you LITTLE PEOPLE to drive econobucket deathtraps that get 35 mpg. Me? Of course not! I'm too big to fit into those tinfoil cars. I need a real car. Now move along, you filthy masses."
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