Thursday, July 29, 2010
Arkansas Politics A modest proposal on freebie state cars UPDATE
Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 6:55 AM
The Democrat-Gazette today quotes Gov. Mike Beebe as saying he doesn't see broad abuses in the number of free cars provided to state employees or the extent to which they are used for personal purposes, particularly commuting.
The Democrat-Gazette has done an admirable job of compiling a database of information it has collected so far on the vehicle question. But, because the information is so fractured, it's incomplete.
Apparently some 1,000 employees are allowed to use vehicles for commuting. This is the heart of any question about unjustified use. On-call employees — certain law officers and maintenance workers come readily to mind — deserve the cars. Desk-bound bureaucrats and legislative factotums whose main work drives entail taking a bunch to lunch? Not so much.
Surely the governor has the clout, even over independent agencies, from the administrative office of the Supreme Court to the exalted levels of University of Arkansas, Highway Department and Game and Fish administration, to put together a searchable computer database of the names of ALL state employees with commute privileges and the cars they drive. It is a pay enhancement, no more or less. Let's make it readily disclosable just like pay itself. (Actually, the state should do some work on a publicly accessible computer database of on public employee pay as well.)
Just a thought.
Noted (corrected from original post): State vehicle growth exploded under Republican Mike Huckabee's watch — from 7,700 in 2001 to 8,508 vehicles in 2006, an average of more than 160 a year. The number rose over Beebe's four years by 145 (by one measure in the story; 311 by another and I can't readily resolve the difference). Where was Republican candidate and chief car critic Jim Keet during the Huckabee years? Florida, I think. I've now taken figures back to 1998. Vehicle numbers grew on Huck's watch from 7,465 in 1998 to 8,508 when he left office in 206. That's a 1,043 gain, or 130 a year.
UPDATE: I asked for more car information, farther back into the Huckabee era. The state can't produce data farther back than 1998. But this summary sheet gives you a little idea of how this issue is perhaps the slightest bit overblown, at least as something to drop wholly at the feet of whoever is governor.
CURRENT VEHICLE COUNT
8,653 Total Vehicles
3,003 Game and Fish/Highway Departments
1,492 Colleges and Universities
Subtotal: 4,495 (51.9% of fleet)
1,823 Law Enforcement Agencies
775 Natural Resource Agencies
570 Departments of Health and Human Services
108 Constitutional Officials and Elected Officials
882 vehicles for 52 agencies, boards and commissions. Nearly all of these will be pool vehicles.
1,896 (21.9%) are 1-ton or greater in size.
Dump trucks, buses, garbage trucks, 1-ton crew cabs, fire trucks, ambulances, cherry pickers, truck driver training vehicles.
Fleet size:
1998 — 7465
1999 — 7543
2000 — 7768
2001 — 7770
2002 — 7426
2003 — 7426
2004 — 7723
2005 — 8152
2006 — 8508
2007 — 8342
2008 — 8667
2009 — 8709
2010 — 8653
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Monday, Monday
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Comments (18)
Showing 1-18 of 18
I'm so sick of this diversion. We need to be focused on the perks and freebies state employees and officials get from LOBBYISTS.
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I couldn't agree more. Who gives a shit. This is nothing but and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette created story. More tax money is wasted as a result of legislation and contracts secured by lobbyists than this. Can't we at least get a coffee cup rule? One candidate has already promised to take nothing from lobbyists. Why isn't the press asking the others why they haven't? Why hasn't legislation been passed to do this already. Lobbyists already have an advantage because they are paid to lobby. The least we could do is prohibit them from giving freebies to state employees and elected officials.
Another thing that is needed is a prohibition on the state giving grants to non-governmetal bodies. Our local chamber gets more grant money than our local cities. Once they get the money, we taxpayers have no oversight. The same is true of Arkansas Capital Corporation, Connect Arkansas and others. Why give non-profits our money unless it's to escape the FOIA?
Good points, insider and need.
So let's clean it all up. Sure, much of the commuting issue is comparatively small change -- even most of those blustering state officials' joy rides. But why give anyone, big boys and girls included, a freebie?
After all, it's our money they're using and I sure haven't gotten any freebies lately.
Fact of the matter is I had to pay a penalty to get my license renewal "replaced" at the local revenue office when it went astray somewhere between the point when my credit card was charged and my mail box. When I complained to the clerk, her response was, "Well, somebody has to pay for it." Snarl.
Not only is this a smoke screen of the worst kind, after Huckabee and the plane it is one more great example of people who have NO SHAME and very little common sense. How Rethug voters buy into this mess is beyond me.
Max: Your math is a little fuzzy. According to my Demo-Gaz, the fleet has grown by 311 under Beebe's watch, for an annual average of almost 77.75 cars per year. That's assuming no more cars are added for the remaining 5 months of 2010.
Article says there were "8,508 by the time Huckabee left office in 2006" versus 8,653 now. I should note that I did err in saying Huckabee's growth was over 10 years, it was actually over 5 years. The article also said there were 8,342 vehicles in 2007, an increase of 311 to 8,653 now. I can't explain the difference between the higher figure at the end of Huckabee's tenure and the dip later in 2007. I suspect there's a lot of fuzz on all these numbers because of a lack of central accounting.
"Actually, the state should do some work on a publicly accessible computer database of on public employee pay as well."
Good point, Max. I think school employee's salaries are posted on the website of the schools where they teach. Surely state government employee's salaries can be posted somewhere on the web, too, whether in one central location or in each department's section of the arkansas.gov website.
Just sayin!
Arky
How about a public database on all the tax money given to private non-profits and private contractors?
As we try to find out how our taxes are being spent, we should note that many state employees are paid with federal tax dollars for administering federal programs. We could substantially reduce the size of state government by refusing to accept federal funds. The cars bought with federal program funds could be sold and removed from the list of cars operated by the state.
Need and insider,
$9 million a year to buy state vehicles, $17 million a year to service, gas and insure them, $16 million a year to pay employees for using their own vehicles on state biz = $42 million a year x 10 years = $420 million and you think this is small potatoes?
You live on a different plane than the one I occupy.
Timeandchance: Do you have any idea how large the state budget is and what percentage unnecessary cars are? I don't know where you are getting your numbers but they don't add up.
From today's AD-G article:
What do the vehicles cost to buy?
The finance department said the average per-year purchasing cost during the past five years was $9 million for an average of 518 vehicles.
From April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010, it cost $17.3 million to maintain, repair, fuel and insure the state fleet.
Or what about an online checkbook to show where every tax dollar is being spent?
Question: does Jim Keet own a car dealership? If elected he plans to lease his plane to Arkansas taxpayers so I wonder if he has a plan to make money off the cars too.
Jim Keet really is amazing with this stuff. It's one thing to throw out baseless attacks, saying that Beebe is wasting money when the State Police already figured out it was cheaper to buy the plane. But to put out a plan where he could actually make money off the taxpayers by having them pay for his personal plane if elected? That's a whole new level of disgusting.
I drive my personal vehicle a couple miles to work because I bought a house a couple miles from my office, a state agency. At least a dozen of my coworkers have state cars because of their high and mighty positions, and use them to commute daily to/from their homes (and most are over 50 miles away from the office). They get paid much more than the average state employee, and they get a free ride to work. On top of that, their vehicles get replaced every couple years. How does that logic work?
Meanwhile, we can't get equipment to do our jobs adequately, not to mention the state "can't afford" to give all the lowly regular state employees the lame 2.5% cost of living raise which is all we ever have to look forward to. They literally "cancelled" it. I basically took a pay cut this year, my utility companies didn't give me a break on my bills because my state can't manage it's money on a high school level. I have to make up the difference.
Cut the waste, cut it all, and embarass by name those who abuse this.
PS: someone report on a comparison of those with commuter privileges to the names that are on the Disaster Recovery Response teams that are supposed to be the only ones to actually have commuter privileges.
PSS: anyone ever heard of a motor pool?
PSSS: it's time some examples were made to scare people from trying to scam the government. It seems to be a free-for-all as long as you can get away with it then no one ever gets punished. Enough jawing, roll some heads. Unemployment is up, I'm sure lots of folks looking for jobs would work without a state car.
And lastly, these "highly qualified veteran" senior state staff are all stuck in the stone age and couldn't program a VCR, won't listen to reason, and would rather waste money than open up to new ideas that could save the state millions a year. Some new blood that wasn't trying to double dip might be just what the doctor (and the AAPERS fund) ordered.
The Democrat Gazette did a great job at rooting out a problem. Which, by the way, is being addressed. But the snarky editorials, opinion columns, and cartoons are beginning to make it clear that it is summertime and there's not a whole lot else to report on. And it's getting more and more clear that Jim Keet has no issue other than he disagrees with Mike Beebe on the principal that he must disagree to get votes, regardless of the issue. Where was Keet when Huckabee was using the state plane to attend out of state political events in preparation for running for president? Or when Janet was using state money to campaign for Secretary of State? Oh, he must have been in Florida avoiding state taxes. Ah, but that was then and this is now. Just like when Bobby Tullis came under fire for offering Gus Wingfield a $1.8 million gig along with a "liberal" expense account and cars for him and his wife to drop out of the auditor's race. Hmmm. Yeah. That's exactly who I want to have as my governor and state treasurer.
Regardless of Huckabee's vehicle use, which was a continuation of the policies of Tucker, Clinton, et al., multiple past wrongs don't excuse or justify the current policy. I also think if you double checked, Huckabee was issued a POS car when he assumed the Lt. Gov. (check with your kids if you don't know what POS means.)
Also, when times are good, people tend to be more generous. Times ain't so good now, and people are P****d off about waste in government when government keeps wanting more from them.
Author Archives
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The morning roundup
Odds and ends around Arkansas this morning: * THE BRYANT FOLLIES: Bryant Mayor Jill "Republican" Dabbs called in TV stations — not all print media that I can tell — and held forth for about an hour Monday about how she's a victim of obstructionist council members.
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Friday night line begins with horseplay
The line is open. That photo? Farm Bureau strikes again.
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Event Calendar
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Re: Thank goodness, it's Friday
tax exemptions are gov't benefits.
Include drug tests that look for scotch and we…- on February 11, 2012
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Re: Thank goodness, it's Friday
Thanks elwood. Love Mother Jones.
Travel safe, outlier.- on February 11, 2012
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Re: Thank goodness, it's Friday
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