The Times and Democrat - MONDAY EDITORIAL

~ the issue ~

Private use of government vehicles

~ Our opinion ~

While vacation use seems extreme, rational debate needed

over private use of vehicles by public officials

The private use of official vehicles by government officials never ceases to raise eyebrows, particularly when stories surface such as Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom’s driving his state car on a vacation trip to Minnesota.

Locally, the policy of allowing sheriff’s deputies to use their vehicles has been questioned over the years. Opponents periodically argue ceasing the practice of letting deputies drive their vehicles while off duty would save dollars in gas and prolong the life of the vehicles. Proponents of the policy say having sheriff’s vehicles out and about all the time is a good policy in a large county with too few deputies.

News of Eckstrom’s trip is likely to spark changes on the state level that could prompt local governments to consider their policies as well.

First, it is clear Eckstrom did not violate the law in using his vehicle for a private trip.

Nat Kaminski, his chief of staff, told The Associated Press that constitutional officers are free to use the state-owned vehicles issued to them any way they choose. They’re not required to reimburse the state for personal use.

“Constitutional officers use those vehicle for non-official use all the time,” Kaminski said. “They drive these cars as their personal vehicles. There’s no other way to do it.”

And they drive them pretty much anywhere on their agency’s tab and use state-issued credit cards when they can’t fill up at a state-owned pump, Kaminski said.

Eckstrom reimbursed the state for the gasoline expenses on his trip, but only just recently when Kaminski advised him the trip was about to become a political issue. Records of the trip were made public via a Freedom of Information Act request.

Eckstrom’s opponent, Drew Theodore, predictably is speaking out about the trip and the need for change.

“We can’t afford for our elected officials to waste our resources,” Theodore said. “This is an office that’s supposed to watch out for government waste.”

And Theodore is particularly surprised to find that it is legal for gasoline and other expenses to be billed to the state. “That’s absurd. I don’t see how that can be the case.”

Most South Carolinians would agree. If it is to be OK to use the vehicle, even with state-purchased gasoline, there certainly must be limits. It would be difficult to convince taxpayers its appropriate for the state to be buying gasoline for an official’s personal trip across country.

Joel Sawyer, Republican Gov. Mark Sanford’s spokesman, defended Eckstrom as a watchdog of the taxpayer but said the governor would be open to looking at regulations to better define appropriate use of state vehicles.

That’s exactly what the governor and state officials can expect to see from the Legislature. Before that, the issue is going to be a political one for the fall campaign.

Already, Clarendon Democratic Sen. John Land, a frequent critic of Sanford, is calling for change even as he keeps the Eckstrom story in the headlines.

He said uniform procedures for use of vehicles by constitutional officers are needed.

“I, like many South Carolina taxpayers, was appalled to learn that Dick Eckstrom took a state car for his personal vacation to Minnesota. I was also concerned to learn that there are little to no regulations regarding personal use of state vehicles by constitutional officers.

Why Land, after nearly 30 years in the Senate, hasn’t objected to policies regarding elected officials’ use of state vehicles is a question his critics could ask, but we agree with the senator’s plan to draft legislation that would require constitutional officers using state vehicles to maintain travel logs, as state employees must do now.

Beyond that, a plan to limit constitutional officers, unless exempted for personal protection and security reasons, to using state vehicles only for official travel cuts to the root of the longtime debate about whether such vehicles should be driven to and from residences and for general use.

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Comments:

Tax payer wrote on September 25, 2006 3:05 AM:"I really don't think that driving state and government issued vehicles for personal use , have anything to do with work. Use your saleries to support your families , just like everyone else has to. Society does not owe you anything for the job you chose. In other words you chose the job did not choose you !"

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