Say it ain’t so! State Senator Tom McClintock, who has sold himself as a paragon of fiscal conservatism throughout his long political career has been outed by the L.A. Times for what he really is – another double-talking Republican.
“McClintock and his family live year-round in Elk Grove, 14 miles from the state Capitol. He moved to the Sacramento suburb in 1996, when he was elected to the state Assembly, and he bought a five-bedroom, 4,090-square-foot home in 2004. His children attend Elk Grove schools and his wife works at a Baptist church there,” according to the L.A. Times.
But McClintock maintains a home in Thousand Oaks in order to qualify for the per diem – and in order to say that he lives in his legislative district, even though he really doesn’t.
“Overall, McClintock has received $306,000 in per diem while living in Elk Grove during his eight years in the Senate and previous four years in the Assembly. Last year, the senator collected $36,012 in per diem, a record amount for him.”
Here are a few more damning excerpts from the L.A. Times:
Most legislators whose year-round homes are near the Capitol, including state Sen. Darrell Steinberg and Assemblyman Dave Jones, both Democrats from Sacramento, do not accept per diem payments. Republican Sen. Dave Cox of Fair Oaks, about 25 miles from the Capitol, accepts per diem payments but pays taxes on them.
State records show that McClintock flew at state expense to Southern California 14 times last year for a total of 36 days spent in the district.
McClintock said he deducts the mortgage interest on his Elk Grove house on his federal tax returns. The Thousand Oaks house, where he grew up, is owned by a family trust controlled by his mother, who lives there, he said.
I wonder if Assemblyman Van Tran is guilty of this too? I know he lives with his wife in West Sacramento. I bet he is also maintaining a house in his district that he does not live in – and he is probably taking the per diem too.
This is what bothers me about so many GOP politicians. They talk a good game but they sure don’t live up to their words.
Van uses his Mom’s residence for his house in Westminster.
#1,
Why am I not surprised? I bet he has been taking those per diems too…
Art, here are some points about McClintock’s per diem issue in the LA Times article that I think are relevant to this discussion and that I think you skated very lightly over in your blog post in order to paint him in a negative light.
The flat rate per diem is paid to legislators that live far from the state capitol. It’s meant to defray their costs of living so far away so that they may participate in the full time Legislature for 8 months out of the year. If Thousand Oaks, CA (the district that McClintock is from) is 400 miles away from Sacramento, CA then why is there an issue with his taking the per diem? There’s no doubt that he qualifies for one.
Who is to say that that money can’t be used to maintain a second residence closer to Sacramento in order for him to do his job without leaving his family behind for weeks at a time (which is the reason he gave in the LA Times for why he takes the per diem in the first place)? Is he supposed to spend the per diem instead on gas for an impractical 800 mile round trip to work each day? Is he only to see his family on weekends (and burn jet fuel 4 times a month)? Why isn’t spending the allotted per diem on housing costs near Sacramento considered the best and most reasonable balance between dedication to his job as well as to his family. Don’t you believe in “family reunification” Art? I guess not for American citizens.
Yeah, the Times talks about other “Democrat” lawmakers that aren’t taking a per diem or are paying taxes on the ones they take, but they both live closer to Sacramento too where commuting is more practical (even if they also maintain secondary residences within their districts). If McClintock lived closer, his story would be much like theirs and this wouldn’t even be an issue.