Over the weekend the Courant reported on the state of affairs concerning constitutional officers and their driving habits. The gist of the report concerned how many miles were put on the official state vehicles supplied. The official state vehicle is the Ford Crown Victoria, a car, that symbolizes imho, all that’s wrong with American car manufacturers. Boxy and with a ride like a deep sea fishing pleasure trawler bouncing over potholes, the Crown Victoria achieves, at best, with its underpowerd V8, 12/17 MPG city/hwy, according to the auto sites, for the 2004 model year and it increases to the 17/25 MPG city/hwy by the 2007 model year.
In Norwalk, Mayor Moccia upon taking office in 2005, switched to a hybrid Ford Escape, which was a smart move considering hybrids really kick on fuel savings in city driving. State Rep Chris Perone, was an early adopter and drives a Prius. Legislative office holders do not get state vehicles, so for Perone it was a personal expenditure and choice.
Meanwhile, after the Courant reporters called to ask about driving habits, State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal said he’s switching. Funny how it never dawned on him to swtich before being asked, but then that is the bane of long time politicians.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a high-profile consumer and environmental advocate, has been putting nearly 7,000 miles a month on his state-owned sedan as gas prices top $4 per gallon.
State records show Blumenthal and his driver racked up 69,000 miles over the past 10 months on a state-owned Ford Crown Victoria, the vehicle assigned to nearly all the constitutional officers. Blumenthal travels daily between Hartford and Greenwich, where he lives, and all around Connecticut.
“I feel somewhat embarrassed about driving a car that is so fuel inefficient,” he said. “Here I am, one of the chief enforcers of our environmental laws. I consider it sort of untenable for any of us to be driving these vehicles.”
But that will soon change.
A day after being questioned by The Associated Press about his state vehicle, Blumenthal said he’s switching to a used, hybrid Honda Civic next week. He said he and his staff have asked for a more fuel-efficient car several times over the years, mostly recently 18 months ago, but their requests were rebuffed.
That account is disputed by Donna Micklus, spokeswoman for the Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the state’s fleet. She said neither Blumenthal nor any of the other five constitutional officers have ever requested different vehicles, in writing or verbally.
“We’d be happy to work with any of them,” she said, adding that the state has hybrid vehicles in its fleet.
Blumenthal didn’t want to speculate on the reasons for the discrepancy.
“The point is that, we’ll have a hybrid,” Blumenthal said. “Of all the distinctions that I have as a constitutional officer, the first to drive a hybrid will be a noteworthy one.”
Christopher Phelps, policy director for Environment Connecticut, said if the state has available hybrids and they can serve the needs of the constitutional officers, then it’s a “no-brainer” to make the switch. He said it will send a message to state residents about the importance of fuel efficiency and that politicians are “walking the walk.”
Connecticut provides state-owned vehicles to the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of the state, comptroller and treasurer. Everyone but Gov. M. Jodi Rell uses the Crown Victorias and typically someone drives the officials to and from home, and to various events.
Each said they try to fill up at state gas pumps, where the average for a gallon of unleaded regular this year has been about $2.46 per gallon. But they often have to buy fuel using credit cards at more expensive public gas stations.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s web site, www.fueleconomy.gov, a 2007 Crown Victoria gets an estimated 15 miles per gallon in the city, 23 miles per gallon on the highway. If the car is a flex fuel vehicle, like some state vehicles, and uses E85 - a mostly ethanol blend - the mileage is a little worse.
Rell is assigned a Lincoln Town Car and a GMC Yukon. While governors historically don’t file mileage reports with the Department of Administrative Services, a spokesman for Rell said maintenance records on the Town Car show it was driven 21,669 miles between mid-June 2007 and May 14, 2008. Mileage figures were not provided for the sport utility vehicle, which her staff said is mostly used during inclement weather.
If the state were to switch out all the Crown Victorias to the Ford Escape hybrid they would get 34/30 MPG city/hwy. Even with more highway driving than city dirving, its still a better choice.
source: Courant, Gas prices prompting some Conn. officials to rethink travel, By Susan Haigh Associated Press, May 17, 2008
