End free gas for politicians

The Political Class is different from you and me.

They get paid more. They get top-of-the-line health insurance. They get hefty pensions. They get to ride around in taxpayer-paid vehicles. And they don't pay for gas.

This might be one of the reasons so many important issues like property tax relief and affordable health insurance don't get anywhere.

The people we send to Harrisburg or Washington don't have to deal with such mundane issues having to decided between putting food on the table or putting as in the car so you can get to work to earn a few dollars to put food on the table.

As you spend $50 to fill you tank up at the local gas station, you're probably not thinking about your state representative or your congressman.

John Baer, the political columnist for The Philadelphia Daily News, has been thinking about the current gas crunch and how there's no rush to do anything about it. That's because state and federal elected officials don't have to pay for their gas.

The gas to fill their taxpayer-supplied vehicles is paid by ... the taxpayers.

Baer offers an excellent suggestion: Force the Political Class to pay for their own gas. That might give them an idea of the pain the rest of us are feeling every time we pull into a gas station.

"Unless or until elected officials take action to bring down obscene (compared to oil company profits) gas prices, let's stop allowing elected officials to charge their gas to us," Baer writes. "Oh, you didn't know or maybe forgot that you pay your honorables' gas bills? You do. You pay for gas for members of Congress. You pay for gas for members of your Legislature."

Read the full column here.

On the national level, many members of Congress have figured out ways to rip off taxpayers with the free car/free gas scam.

"The U.S. House of Representatives lets members lease vehicles—including insurance and gas—with taxpayer dollars and many lawmakers abuse the program by picking luxury gas-guzzlers that can run up to nearly $1,000 a month, not including fuel and other maintenance costs," according to Corruption Chronicles, a blog published by Judicial Watch.