Oink, oink, politicians using your money for personal gain
Posted by Jim Sack in PoliticsBy Jim Sack
Interesting. The Wall Street Journal reports on page A3, column one, paragraph seven, line four that our guy, Mark Souder, has, at least once, taken taxpayer money and used it for his personal gain.
Read the story. He is not alone and the let us call him just one more poor victim of a system that fails to keep close tabs on your tax dollars. Poor Mark. Victim. I am sure he is suffering.
According to interviews with 20 current and former members of Congress, lawmakers use the excess cash for shopping or to defray spouses’ travel expenses. Sometimes they give it away; sometimes they pocket it. Many lawmakers said they didn’t know the rules demand repayment.
“If that was the policy, you could never get many members traveling,” said Rep. Solomon Ortiz, a Texas Democrat. Mr. Ortiz said he had never returned any money.
The article is about foreign fact finding missions, as congressmen and women are likely to describe them. Trips to Paris, London, Rome, Kabul and Vilnius to get a first hand look at a problem they may have to deal with, vote on, where your interests are at stake. Make sense.
The abuse comes when per diems are handed out. Each trip, depending on the destination, has a daily expense calculation. Paris is expensive; hotels, baguettes, the Moulin Rouge, whereas Kabul is not quite the tourist destination, therefore prices are somewhat more depressed. Flak jacket, anyone?
So, congressmen and women receive a specific per diem for each trip. Those who do not spend the full amount of the per diem pocket the money. Of course, they are supposed to give it back. Many congress members did. The story details both Republicans and Democrats who reimbursed the treasury, your treasury, with tax dollars, your tax dollars, for money not spent. We can assume some of their dinners were paid for by contractors, can’t we…
But one congresswoman said there is a “tacit” (don’t ask, don’t tell) understanding that congress members can pocket what they do not spend. So, here is where our fiscally conservative member of congress comes in. He is quoted as saying he bought a painting in Turkey, of a bucolic landscape, and hung it in his office. You paid for it, $200, small change, then he took it home. Home.
Rep. Mark Souder (R., Ind.) said he dipped into his funds to buy a $200 painting of an estuary in Turkey, which hung in his office for a while and was now in his house.
[...]
“You are all concerned about nickels and dimes, and I’m not,” said Rep. Alcee Hastings (D., Fla.). “You know, in a taxicab in Kazakhstan, I don’t have time to get a receipt—I don’t speak Kazakh.”
In a subsequent interview, Mr. Hastings said he had time to gather receipts, but didn’t.
Seems that many, many congress members take advantage of the per diem. Seems Mark Souder has taken advantage of it at least once and makes you wonder how many more paintings, how many crystal vases, how many souvenirs of tough fact finding trips hang on Mark’s walls, at home.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) said he once tried to return surplus cash to the State Department, but “they wouldn’t take it. They said, ‘We don’t have a way to handle that.’ ” Mr. Coburn said he sent a personal check to the U.S. Treasury.
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i dislkie souder and this doesnt surprise me….however ive done the same thing with company money when i worked for a company.
Given that the government is an unruly beast, processing the return of that money would most likely cost tax payers more money than was returned.
The WSJ must be hard up for news stories. Sounds petty to me.
I have never liked Souder, and this comment:
“You are all concerned about nickels and dimes, and I’m not,” said Rep. Alcee Hastings (D., Fla.). “You know, in a taxicab in Kazakhstan, I don’t have time to get a receipt—I don’t speak Kazakh.”
Is incredibly heinous…
Taking advantage of a per diem is common. It's money budgeted already, an expense built into the cost of travel. There's a line, however fine, between a corporate entity and a government entity. It's not really ok in either place. If you dont give your excess per diem back and you are a Poltician you are 'stealing' from taxpayers. If you are a corporate exec, you are stealing from yourself.
Per diem is an allowance. It saves the accounting office the time of handling expense reports, receipts, etc. It's designed to eliminate that function and the associated expenses.
The allowable per diem an employer can issue for mileage reimbursement in 2010 is .50 cents per mile. You drive 500 miles, you get $250. If you only spent $100, you don't payback the balance. Same scenario works for hotels, meals, and other miscellanea.
pez
your worried about a 200 dollar painting? do you have any idea how much this man and his compatriots spend every day? have you read how much pork hes brought to us since being elected? if your getting upset over this you fail to see the forest through the tree.
also corporate management are not the only ones that take trips average joes also get per deims its not a class thing and it definatly isnt a washington thing. it may be wrong but i doubt you could find someone who has taken more than one trip who hasnt fudged something ere or there. yeah its wrong but its very very very common
I paid for expenses, turned in receipts and received reimbursement. The point is that our congressman converted your tax money into personal gain. Small amount, you betcha, compared to all the "pork" he has brought to us… Someone might do a comparison of pork compared to seniority, clout compared to seniority. The point is that Congressman Souder should have turned the money in. There is a mechanism. Perhaps it costs more than the value of the reimbursement, so apply that to everything they do, and to all contracts, and the rest of federal spending. Might just be talking real money, then. If he is truly a fiscal conservative it should be in practice as well as theory.
In a word, yes. I'm actually worried about all the stuff you mention. Upset? I'm not sure that's the word for it. Disappointed is probably more correct. The truth is that no taxpayer signs on to buy souvenirs for our elected officials. They have a salary for that, and last I looked it was approximately $175,000 for a member of the house.
Finally, though I'm a centrist liberal, I found Hastings' tone more disappointing than the $200 painting. I'm of the idea that it's the attitude of 'not worrying about nickels and dimes' is likely an unfortunate metaphor for the way in which congress (as a body) cares about fiscal responsibility.
I never said a per diem was a class thing. You apparently interpreted my hypothetical anecdote as a generalization.
Weird… I had replied to zeakster and was told my comment was deleted.
Pez,
I don't delete comments, unless they violate the rules of engagement, which you've never done. Are you using an Intense Debate account?
I worked for the government for 20 years and traveled several times in the course of duty. We were given a certain amount of money for expenses and required to turn in receipts for every expense. If we didn't have receipts for everything "thats everything" we were required to repay the government immediately or we would face disciplinary action and/or prosecution. Why can't this rule apply to all government employees? Talk about saving tax payers money. That would be a huge savings alone.
Dan, Yes on the intense debate, and no worries… a bug or something… I took a screen shot so I could lambaste you for impugning my free speech, consider yourself duly lambasted
Zeakster – Yes, I'm worried about a $200 painting. Souder makes around $174,000 a year, and it's my opinion that someone taking home around $10,000 a month can buy his own souvenirs.
Also, I used the 'corporate exec' as an anecdote for someone who might receieve a per diem, rather than a generalization about it being a class thing.
Finally, I found Hastings' comment to be more disturbing. When taken somewhat generally, it can be said that the negligence surrounding 'nickels and dimes' becomes a $50,000 or $100,000 earmark on a defense appropriations bill (again hypothetical).
I have done years of corporate travel, and like Jim, I had to keep my receipts, submit my expenses and await reimbursement. I didnt find it that difficult, and I think a congressman is also allowed to have a staff of 12-14 people (cant remember the exact number), and surely one of these people would be able to take care of this.
I'm sorry. I should have added that the travel expense was just meant for government business at hand and not for personal use. Alcohol, entertainment and personal purchases were not permissible with government (tax payers) money.
Thank you, Charles W. My point exactly. Mr. Souder and too many other members of Congress think they are a bit better and more deserving, so they pocket the change. How aobut they find their own health care. Congressional perks insulate the members from the daily grind the rest of us face, so it makes you wonder.
And, Charles, how about charming scenes or Turkish estuaries?
And how about getting Souder and his type OFF the taxpayer-financed retirement plan – Government service was NEVER intended to be a life-time job – it's service not a vocation! Souder would NEVER make it in a private business (didn't he run the family business into chapter 11 before he ran for federal office? – seems like I had heard that from someone.
Why lambaste Souder over a decoration? This is a long way away from a controversy. Its just your excuse to try to take down a conservative.
The real problem is lack of accountability in the per diem system.
Where were you on Nancy Pelosi? That, by far, is a worse scandal.
i have been on the fence wether to vote again for souder, not now, he is done. that 200 is just a little less that the unemployment im now recieving for first time in my life, at 56.
Ruth, Zeak… I'm just asking both the liberal Hastings and the conservative Souder to perform the portion of their jobs that requires them to be effective stewards of their constituents' tax dollars. Souder maked 174,000 a year, which equates to a take home of 10,000 a month… I dont think it's too much to ask for them to buy their own souvenirs.
Anyone who considers Mark Souder as a fiscal conservative hasn't followed his actions in the House in DC (More "earmarks" than most representatives-and he is proud of it!). His coments (covered by Silvia Smith in this mornings JG) saying that insisting on following the House rules on this subject, "will result in House members taking less overseas trips" – hey, maybe he does have a little fiscal restraint in his blood! Stay home and "serve" more rather than take tax-paid junkets (with your spouse) !!
Well put, John. It was to be service, not a career. As has oft been discussed, and as Mark once supported when he was the challenger, there should be term limits. Four terms for congress and three terms for the senate would be fine with me.
Not a conservative vs the rest matter. Mr Rangel should also be encouraged to find other work based upon his tax evasion. I agree that accountability is the problem. It seems the Wall Street Journal did a job the government failed.
Point well taken.
I called for a comment from Mr. Souder's office and a PR woman called me, but unfortunately I was at council and focused on that. Nice, though, that she called me back. She invited me, via email, to pose a question.
Jerry Culbertson – Just remember that we need to vote Souder out IN THE PRIMARY in May. So ask for a "R" and vote accordingly then – don't wait for November.
The JG had a story on this thhat had some more details. It turns out house rules require that you return unused per diem, however that isnt practice.
I did find it interesting that Souder's response was to put up a straw man argument: that it would actually cost more to keep and document receipts. No one is really asking him to keep receipts, they are asking him to obey house rules and not spend his extra per diem.
John B., nice letter to the editor in the NS tonight. Sorry about the tree. I fought and lost on Calhoun, you are gain nothing on Ardmore, just noise and dust.