Government Officials Heart SUVs
The Buffalo News reports that its elected officials seem curiously reluctant to downsize from government-sponsored SUVs. “Lackawanna Mayor Norman Polanski started driving a taxpayer-funded Ford Escape after he blew the engine in his personal Plymouth Voyager after driving through the old Bethlehem Steel site on city time [of course]. He said his new vehicle was chosen for him from a state bid list. Asked if he would consider getting a vehicle that got higher gas mileage, he said those vehicles tend to have higher sticker prices than the $17,000 the city paid for his SUV.” So what about Lancaster Supervisor Robert Giza’s $27k, city-financed Chevrolet Tahoe? “Giza did not return phone calls for this column, but he earlier said his previous vehicle — also an SUV — had taken a beating during the October snowstorm two years ago and that he frequently drives in off-road conditions, such as quarries or railroad beds.” Hamburg Supervisor Steven Walters’ $18,000 Ford Explorer? “His last car was a Ford Crown Victoria, known for its massive engine and commonly used by police departments and that his new SUV is actually getting better gas mileage. Second, he noted that he lives in the Snow Belt, where four-wheel drive is almost considered a necessity. (He said his former vehicle got stuck in his driveway three times.) ‘In this job, you do have to get out when the roads are not plowed,’ he said. ‘It’s not extremely frequent, and I certainly don’t want to mislead anyone to think that this is happening every other day, but it does happen.'”
More by Robert Farago
Comments
Join the conversation
powerglide-Taxpayer-financed sports stadiums are certainly a much bigger waste of taxpayer dollars than government officials driving Explorers instead of Aveos.
It does snow more in Buffalo, but the roads are plowed religiously (lots of road salt too). In states such as Colorado, they rely on the sunlight to help melt snow on roads; the sun in Buffalo does not appear much in winter.
I don't see the problem with this. ANY I quote from above: DUH! And will also use some I've learned here and there: Meh, yawn. Don't understand the anti-SUV thing when in another analysis is being propped *coughexplorercough*