The region’s top elected officials continue to ride around in pricey sport utility vehicles despite tight budgets and a gloomy economic outlook.
D.C. Mayor Vince Gray gets the prize for driving the most costly vehicle, a “fully loaded” Lincoln Navigator, which has a sticker price of at least $10,000 more than both Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s Chevrolet Suburban. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has not one, but two SUVs. There’s the $47,698 Chevrolet Suburban driven by a part-time security guard that Leggett uses for official county business, and there’s also the $38,665 Jeep Cherokee Leggett uses when he drives himself.
| Who’s riding in what |
| D.C. Mayor Vince Gray: Lincoln Navigator, sticker price about $60,000 |
| Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett: Chevrolet Suburban, purchased for $47,698 and a Jeep Cherokee, purchased for $38,665 |
| Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker: Chevrolet Suburban, purchased for $47,312 |
| Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell: Chevrolet Suburban, sticker price $46,999, state paid $38,871 |
| Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley: Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, sticker price about $50,000 |
| Note: Top elected county officials in Virginia are limited by law from using county-owned vehicles. |
D.C. officials are preparing to close a $600 million budget gap, about 10 percent of the city’s operating expenditures – the biggest percentage deficit in the region. Montgomery County officials are working to fix a $300 million shortfall and at least one county councilman may want Leggett to get rid of a ride.
“The council should review the executive’s vehicle situation to determine if it should be scaled back during these difficult times,” said Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg. “We have a budget coming over soon, and we’ll be looking at a wide range of cuts and this is one of them.”
Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield said the county executive has one vehicle, the Jeep, and the other belongs to “county security.” He has the Jeep “for times when he does not need security and drives himself. It is easier and more cost effective for him not to pull [security members] off their duties,” Lacefield said.
In December, D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown ordered himself a fully loaded Lincoln Navigator, rejected it because he didn’t like the interior color, then ordered a second. The leases for both Navigators collectively cost $3,800 a month. The city is now returning both. The mayor, however, continues to be driven in a new Navigator.
“This goes back to the priorities of the city’s elected officials,” D.C. Republican Party director Paul Craney said after learning Gray’s Navigator has a higher sticker price than the vehicles used by O’Malley and McDonnell. “They don’t value taxpayer money and are more concerned with tickets to sporting events and what kind of cars they drive.”
Gray has said he didn’t chose the Navigator, it was chosen for him by the police department. A spokeswoman for the mayor did not respond to a request for comment. A police spokeswoman said, “this vehicle is comparable to the vehicles used by Mayors [Adrian] Fenty and [Anthony] Williams.”
In Virginia, top elected county officials don’t get cars. State law doesn’t allow it. The governor does. It costs an estimated $496 a month, including maintenance, said Richard Sliwoski, director of the Virginia Department of General Services. The monthly lease on Gray’s Navigator is $1,941, not including maintenance.
Virginia contracts with companies for a specific type of vehicle and uses that as leverage to drive down cost, Sliwoski said. The sticker price for McDonnell’s SUV was $46,999, but the commonwealth bought it for $38,871. The state will sell it in two years for about $30,000, Sliwoski said.
“There’s one thing that will put a story about the government above the fold and not in a good way and that’s problems with procurement,” Sliwoski said. “The most powerful tool is transparency.”
