THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180016
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
No wonder taxpayers think it's time congressmen and government honchos come down to Earth. As if they weren't galled enough by footing the bills for international junkets - sometimes of more personal interest than national concern - taxpayers now get the tab for domestic flights, sometimes for distances traversed as quickly by the common man's automobile as royalty's aircraft.
In February, for instance, four Democratic congressmen from Washington state boarded an Army helicopter at a hospital in Tacoma for the 25-mile ride to Seattle to join Vice President Al Gore in announcing Boeing Co.'s $6 billion sale in civilian aircraft to Saudi Arabia. The flight, taking about as long it would have taken a car ride, cost $1,599, the Army estimates.
Had the helicopter not been transporting the dignitaries, a spokesman for one of the congressmen explained, the aircraft might have been involved in something such as training, which would have cost just as much. That's hardly the point.
Indeed, the explanation illustrates the condescension many Americans perceive when their leaders are called to task. It's the same cavalier attitude encountered when taxpayers question congressional health-care benefits not available to average Americans, check kiting at the now-defunct House bank and junkets such as the ground breaking for an addition to a hotel in Hawaii.
The Associated Press, in a review of Pentagon records, found that congressmen and their staffs have taken more than 500 trips aboard military aircraft since early 1993. Defense Department regulations make the aircraft available when the travel is ``of primary interest to (military programs) or activities'' or for certain non-military purposes authorized by congressional leaders.
The requirements are so easily fudged it's ridiculous. Rep. Cleo Fields, Democrat of Louisiana, used an Army plane in May 1993 for speaking engagements at universities and before farm and civic groups in Louisiana and Mississippi. The cost: $2,277.
When no military aircraft is available, the Pentagon pays for commercial aircraft tickets for the VIPs; thus, congressmen avoid having to pay out of their office budgets.
Still, military travel may be much more comfortable and impressive, what with an escort, often a car and driver to pick up congressmen at home, and attention to such details as desired food, drinks and magazines. As for the military, nothing quite like schmoozing with budget-setters.
The Pentagon needs to review its congressional-transportation policies, assuring that its military mission is the top consideration for all of its aircraft.
As for congressmen, they should take off their crowns and come down to Earth. They're taxpayers' representatives, not royalty with special, very expensive privileges. by CNB