KGET Community

Welcome to KGET Community Sign in | Join | Help
in
back to KGET.com Home Blogs Forums Photos Calendar

Kiyoshi Tomono's Blog

Lawmaker vehicles under fire for not being 'green'

An amendment to last year's energy bill may force lawmakers like Congressman Kevin McCarthy to select a more fuel-efficient vehicle.

The LA Times reports Mccarthy drives a 2007 Chevy Trailblazer leased at taxpayer expense.

The paper reports the vehicle is near the bottom of the list of vehicles leased by California's house members because it gets about 16 miles to the gallon and releases relatively large amounts of carbon dioxide.

The new law requires house members who lease vehicles through their office budgets to drive cars that emit low levels of greenhouse gases, like the hybrid Toyota Prius.

But the law has some lawmakers up in arms, who say the Prius isn't even built in the US.

For the LA Times story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-na-cars1-2008may01,0,5368045.story

What do you think?  Will this make a difference by setting an example, or is it a waste of money?

Published Thursday, May 01, 2008 7:22 AM by Kiyoshi Tomono

Comments

 

catpaw said:

There's really not a whole lot of info to make an impression. I am assuming McCarthy pays for the gas (ouch!) for this truck. Maybe he got a deal on the lease that is economical. Maybe he needs the room the vehicle has for hauling passengers and baggage. I assume McCarthy has a staff. I'd rather hear the congressman's comment before jumping to conclusions.
Why should public servants be restricted to a hybrid? There are gas miser models that are not hybrids. All too often we hear a slanted partial presentation of facts that lead us to think the worst of elected officials. Kind of like me saying my neighbor beats his wife--she loses every time they play gin rummy.  
May 1, 2008 11:04 AM
 

Kiyoshi Tomono said:

An update--Congressman McCarthy's spokesman said his 'boss' had looked at hybirds but they were too expensive...$700 more or so.  He says when the lease is up at the end of the year the congressman has every intention of complying with the law.  But he says McCathy was trying to be fiscally responsible.  He did note that McCathy doesn't have an issue with the law: walking the talk, so to speak.
May 1, 2008 3:11 PM
 

bakomom said:

I drive a hybrid Highlander.  I did not buy it with any gas savings in mind but because of the lower emissions that it produces.  It did cost more than a "normal" Highlander.  However, I  am willing to spend extra of my hard earned money to help improve the air quality in the valley.  Some things are just more important than the bottom line.  About Toyotas not beeing built in the US,  I'm not so sure those lawmakers are correct.  There a quite a few Toyota Manufactoring  plants in the US.   According to the Toyota Website there are manufactoring plants in Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, and Alabama.  Toyota also employees Americans in Arizona, California, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, and New Jersey.  Then there are no doubt Toyota Dealerships in every state of the US.  Saying we should not buy Toyotas because they are not built in the US or because Toyota is not an American Company are (in my opnion) not  valid arguments.  Anyone can look up information about Toyota at their website  www.toyota.com.
May 8, 2008 12:40 PM
 

jmabbott888 said:

I see no one has mentioned the H1 that Arnold has
May 28, 2008 3:10 PM
Anonymous comments are disabled

About Kiyoshi Tomono

Kiyoshi Tomono joined the 17 News team in March of 2004. He currently anchors 17 News at Sunrise and reports for other newscasts. Kiyoshi has won two Golden Mike Awards and an Associated Press Mark Twain award for his investigative and feature reporting. He is also the recipient of the 2008 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for investigating reporting on Crisp and Cole Real Estate that ended in an FBI raid of the company

This Blog

Post Calendar

<May 2008>
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
27282930123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
1234567

Syndication

Inergize Digital Media This site powered by Inergize Digital Media. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of this station.