Actually, they (heated seats) aren't as much of a frivolous item as you might think, even in Louisiana. On cold days, even if only the 40s, the truck heater can take a while to come up to temperature, particularly with a big diesel. If you spend a lot of time in the saddle, running the heater can make the cab really stuffy. Turning down the heater, and just using the heated seats, can make a long trip much more tolerable. Is the truck a bit excessive? Maybe, but no more than the limos that other high officials use. I don't know what the Insurance Commissioner's duties are, but I'd rather see him drop $40k on a truck, than $40k on a Lincoln (besides, with the condition Ford is in right now, he probably got a pretty screamin' deal on that truck). Also, if I had a Ford Exploder, I'd dump it too, even if it was an Eddie Bauer edition.
Only two points here...
Why with only 30K miles on the odometer was the vehicle not satisfactory?
Why wasn't competitive bidding utilized?
More Thoughts:
If he is putting 30,000 miles on a vehicle in a year, he needs a good vehicle.
If the explorer went into the state motor pool for use by other agencies (or his agency), it is still a good deal. My bosses always drove the new vehicles, letting us peons use the 2-3 year old ones.
Much ado about nothing.
In the grand scheme of things, 40K for a truck is not that big of a deal. However Louisiana is so deep in debt they are proposing tax after tax this session, meanwhile the state's elected officials carry on with their spending.