REP. JOHN LINDER

Taxpayer-funded expenses flagged by WSB-TV

$46,021 in direct mail 2004

2004 Lexus Lease - $508.41 a month

$5160 for Lexis/Nexis

Digital Agent.net - $8369.81

Linder’s written response:

Digital Agent

Digital Agent is an Atlanta-based telecommunications company, and it provides the telephone service and internet service for our Gwinnett Office. The charge that you see is a one time charge for providing one-year of communications services. Even though we purchased a number of new services from Digital Agent to allow us to serve constituents better, our telecommunications charges are roughly the same today with Digital Agent as they were before.

For example, in the third quarter of 2004 our total District Office telecommunications bill was $2711.29. In the third quarter of 2005 our total District Office telecommunications bill was $698.23. That $2000+ savings across four quarters is roughly the $8000+ that we paid Digital Agent.

Lexis/Nexis

We don’t use Lexis/Nexis to gather clippings. The AJC is the only newspaper in the district that Lexis/Nexis covers and we have an AJC subscription.

We use Lexis for research—both for legislation and for constituent inquiries. My office receives well over 100 inquiries every day. While some require a simple response, many are very complex and need a response with much detail. Experience has shown us that Lexis/Nexis is often the only resource with the answer to a constituent inquiry and is almost always the fastest resource for providing the answer.

Mass Mailing

$45,000 is actually a low number, and it is a low number precisely because of new technologies. Mr. Linder has always considered constituent communication to be the number one part of his job. As such, he annually has very high mailing costs both from responding to constituent concerns and keeping them up-to-date on issues that they care about. The lower cost last year, however, is attributable to using more electronic means which is utilized when the situation is appropriate.

Mr. Linder still believes in the power of a constituent letter. Rather than mass media approaches, he still tries to communicate with constituents one-by-one. Even so, we are receiving more and more inquires in the office and fewer and fewer of them are hand-signed letters in the office. I expect that the day will come when the volume is so high and the contact so impersonal that Mr. Linder will have to switch to emails and blast telephone calls, but for now he is still committed to his direct, personal, one-on-one letter writing approach.

Vehicle Lease

Members of Congress must maintain two homes, one in the district and one in Washington, D.C. While the law requires Congressman to pay their D.C. rent out of personal funds, it does allow them to lease an automobile for D.C. transportation from their MRA. Mr. Linder exercises this option while still returning on average more than 15% of his MRA year after year.

REP. JOHN LEWIS

Taxpayer-funded expenses flagged by WSB-TV

Hundreds and hundreds of dollars for food and beverage for meetings

Leased Pontiac Bonneville - $662.95 a month

$1900+ in website care from Soza and Co. from Oct.-Dec. 2004 (many offices handle websites internally)

$3289 for calendars from US Capitol Historical Society

$5895 – CQ in 2005 (some offices choose to spend less and rely instead on their paid staff to provide this type of info and briefings)

$ 1000 ' s of dollars for subscriptions to Washington Post, New York Times, and AJC

Lewis’ written response:

Thank you for your inquiry. Rep. Lewis is deeply committed to the democratic process, and he spends a great deal of his energy encouraging Americans to assert their power and engage more fully in our democracy. So he welcomes this opportunity to discuss spending with his constituents and appreciates this inquiry. He believes vigilant supervision of all kinds by the people can and would increase the accountability of all public officials and would raise the quality of public service throughout local, state, and federal government.

That said we would like it to be made clear to your viewers that all of the expenditures you have highlighted conform to the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, and we believe they are reasonable expenses in keeping with the responsibilities of a Member of Congress.

As an overview, we would like viewers to know that in the last six years alone, Congressman Lewis has returned an average of 21% of his MRA to the federal government, amounting to a $1.4 million return. In that time, he has never overspent his budget. And though the National Taxpayers Union, which rates the office spending of congressional members, has only delivered four reports in the last nine years (1997, 1999, 2000, 2001) three out of the four years the union consistently rated Congressman Lewis’s office in the top 20 spending savers among the 435 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Thus we want your viewers to know that Rep. Lewis has a very strong record of fiscal responsibility and careful management of the taxpayers dollars allotted to him.

Following are the responses to the specific questions you raised:

You cite hundreds of dollars for food and beverages for meetings and question whether holding a meeting is a reason to purchase catering services. Rep. Lewis hosts over 1000 meetings per year. Very few of those meetings are catered, and those that are benefit constituents directly. This year the Congressman held an open house at his new office in Atlanta for all his constituents, several meet-and-greet opportunities, four town hall meetings on relevant issues, a festival, and a dance among others. Nearly all of the catering expense you cite can be attributed to these kinds of special events, all of which occurred within the District and were catered with taxpayer dollars as a direct benefit to constituents who attended.

The Congressman does lease a Pontiac Bonneville, an acceptable House expenditure according to the rules. This is a business expense, so a business lease is employed, which is charged at a different rate than a consumer lease. This expenditure is also offset by other savings that may not be so readily apparent in the report you are reading. The Congressman uses this car frequently to attend hundreds of meetings every year throughout the District. He often travels with a staffer, saving expenditures on taxi fares, car rental or the duplicate expenses that would be incurred by accompanying staff, if they could not travel with him. There is great demand, as should be expected, on congressional members to partake in a range of activities within their Districts. That is why the House allows Members to be repaid for the mileage used on their cars or to lease a car for District use. In light of the Congressman’s strong record of fiscal responsibility throughout his term as a Member and his ability to regularly return a significant amount of his MRA to the federal government every year, it seems fair to allow the Congressman the discretion to lease the American car of his choice, as long as it is not extravagant or unreasonable.

You question expenditures on website maintenance. The Congressman sees the website as an important constituent expense because it offers thousands of 5th District residents easier access to their representative. That is why we have made the website a top priority, but we have looked for other ways to make it more cost effective. For a couple of years we have inquired into the best way to begin overtaking the maintenance of the website ourselves in part to reduce costs but mainly to make the website even more user-friendly and informative to citizens of the District. We are currently involved in a website redesign process which should shortly produce a new website, and we are planning that the maintenance of the new site will be managed within our office. However, until that redesign is functional we will expend some resources on insuring the consistency of the website as an informational tool for constituents.

The U.S. Capitol Historical Society calendars are distributed entirely to constituents. The Congressman receives literally hundreds of constituent requests for calendars every year. Constituents frequently stop-in, call in, or write requesting Historical Society calendars. These calendars may also be distributed to schools within the District and at constituent meetings and gatherings. Constituents love their calendars, and the Congressman is glad to expend part of his congressional Member’s allowance to offer constituents this service. Constituents alone drive the cost of this expenditure, and since the MRA represents their taxpayer dollars, the Congressman is willing to utilize the funds given him to provide what constituents request.

Aristotle International provides email lists of constituents within congressional districts. Again, this is an extension of Congressman Lewis’s attempts to utilize modern technology to reach the residents of his District. We have only begun to explore the full capacity of the Internet and are mindful to respect the privacy of citizens, but we do hope to engage even more frequently with constituents who enjoy receiving emailed updates from the Congressman. This is another aspect of the website redesign process we are working on. We envision the ability to offer up-to-date issue oriented responses to constituents who indicate they would like to be in close touch with our office, so this expenditure will benefit interested constituents immeasurably. Further, though purchased in this fiscal year, it will benefit constituent outreach efforts for several years to come.

I’d like to combine the Congressional Quarterly inquiry with the one on newspaper and magazine subscriptions. The Congressman likes to be informed, and he likes for his staff to be well-versed in the issues of the day. CQ is an important print and online digest of Senate and House activities; it offers a recap of congressional decisions, and an analysis of some of those decisions. It is an important, commonly used news reporting source for Capitol Hill staffers and Members of Congress. So the Congressman sees fit to purchase it. Though the Congressman is frequently briefed by staffers and other Members, CQ provides a consistent, objective source of news that the Congressman relies upon. Further, though his staff does utilize online news resources, website access does not offer a full picture of the news of the day.

There are political ads, photographs and other news information that is not available online, making a print version of the newspaper necessary to be fully informed. Also, the Congressman is often traveling back and forth to the District or is in other secure places where online access may be untenable. Therefore, for a busy, mobile person like Congressman Lewis a print newspaper or magazine can be a valuable, comprehensive, portable information source. Beyond this, the Congressman always makes these same newspapers and magazines available to constituents who are waiting to meet with him or who stop by his offices in Washington or Atlanta. As mentioned above, he hosts over 1000 meetings a year, so hundreds of constituents are offered this service as well when they meet with the Congressman or stop by his office.

REP. JOHN BARROW

Taxpayer-funded expensese flagged by WSB-TV

Hundreds and Hundreds of dollars for food and beverage for meetings

$1299 camera on 1/31/05

Laptop computer (s) - $1378.00 each – 5/18/05

$2400+ - DirecTV service in 2005

Barrow’s written response:

Digital Camera

A high-quality digital camera saves our office money. With the camera, we rarely need to schedule and pay the per-appointment expenses of hiring the official House of Representatives photographer in order to shoot and process high quality photos for each and every press conference, committee hearing and requested constituent picture with the Congressman.

A high-quality digital camera has also allowed us to capture high resolution photos for our website and for our franked mail pieces. Without our own camera, we would have needed to pay for the services of a professional photographer. That expense alone would have exceeded the cost of the camera.

DirecTV Service

Congressman Barrow has three district offices covering three separate media markets (Atlanta, Savannah and Augusta). Two of our district offices use DirecTV to record and review their evening's local news. This provides another way for the Congressman to stay informed on what's happening in the District.

DirecTV allows us to record the evening news without the added expense of buying VHS tapes to record each night's news on each of the three different TV stations.

Cable television was not available in two of our district offices, so DirecTV was the only available option to access cable news and receive clear reception of local news.

The lion's share of the $2400+ was spent on DirecTV's one time installation fees and set-up expenses.

Food and Beverage for meetings

The amounts in question come to roughly $700, which breaks down about $60 a month. These charges paid to provide food and beverages for events with constituents, held both in DC and in the District.

Laptop Computers

Georgia's 12th District spans over 240 miles north to south. Many of our staffers and case workers, including the Congressman himself, rely on the mobility of a laptop computer to complete their work while traveling through the district. Unlike Blackberries, which are limited to e-mail and cell phone use, laptop computers provide remote word processing capabilities and remote access to our office network. We strongly disagree with this notion that laptop computers are "an excessive expense."

REP. TOM PRICE

Taxpayer-funded expenses flagged by WSB-TV

Hundreds and Hundreds of dollars for food and beverage for meetings

Mid-Atlantic Coca-Cola ($230.25 in May 05)

$38,255 worth of Franked mail from 7/05-9/05

Price’s written response:

I will fax to you

(No fax received at air time)

REP. PHIL GINGREY

Taxpayer-funded expenses flagged by WSB-TV

Hundreds and Hundreds of dollars for food and beverage for meetings

$55,988 of franked mail in 2004

$1525 on Calenders from US Capitol Historical Society – 12/20/04

Leased 2003 Yukon - $738.91

3/07/05 - $1966 computer printer

Gingrey’s written response:

Congressman Gingrey uses his MRA to service his constituents, and all expenditures from the account are authorized by the U.S. House of Representatives for this purpose.

Congressman Gingrey's office receives a majority of constituent communications via the U.S. postal service, as many people in the district do not regularly use computers or fax machines. Responding to these letters is a top priority, and our franked mail budget reflects the importance of communicating with constituents in the 11th District.

The 11th District currently encompasses all or part of 17 counties - a four hour drive from top to bottom. Every year, Congressman Gingrey visits each of these counties multiple times, so transportation is an important component of his ability to serve his constituents. The vehicle is also used for staff transportation and hauling equipment for official use.

It is important to note Congressman Gingrey returned more than $100,000 of his MRA in 2005 - that's nearly 10 percent of his office's budget for the year.

REP. LYNN WESTMORELAND

Taxpayer-funded expenses flagged by WSB-TV

Cab fares – We noticed a *significantly* above average # of cab fares charged to the taxpayers

4/19/05 - $1638 for district office blinds

6/30/05 - $150.00 Clipping Service

Laptop Computer (s)

Westmoreland’s written response:

The cab fares result from the chief of staff commuting to Washington when Congress is in session. He lives in Georgia but travels here often for official business. While the fares add up, this actually reflects a money-saving effort – most of the time he stays, at no cost to the MRA, with a friend in Northern Virginia rather than staying in a hotel on the Hill. He also chooses not to rent an automobile. Hotel stays and Automobile rentals are reimbursable expenses to the MRA to a staff member that commutes on official business.

The office had to spend $1,638 on blinds for the Newnan District Office. New members often change the location of the district office(s) and House rules allow for the MRA to cover any start-up costs. Lynn’s district office is in a new complex and as part of the negotiations the landlord agreed to cover almost all of the estimated $35,000 “build-out” costs. Blinds were a one-time cost and were not included in the covered “build-out” expenses.

Aristotle International provides our office with up-to-date address information for our constituents. This service continuously updates address information – preventing loads of returned mail when we send voters franked mail pieces. This is the cost of the service. We receive unlimited updates on this file for a two year period. We use this file when we compile our data for mass mailings and phone calls.

Clipping service is widely used by Georgia offices with multiple counties in the districts. The clipping service faxes us any story in ANY paper in Georgia that mentions Lynn. Many, in fact almost all, of these papers do not have electronic sites that would show up on a search engine. The service saves us the cost of subscribing to all of the papers in our 18-county district. At a very reasonable price, it provides us a service that our staff simply isn’t capable of handling efficiently.

The laptop also stems from our chief of staff commuting between the district and the DC office. It also is used for PowerPoint presentations at town hall meetings throughout the district. Every piece of hardware in the offices is purchased with MRA money – the computers are not given by the government. In a freshman office, offices are only equipped with up to date computers and blackberries if the predecessor purchased them with his/her MRA. Many freshman offices had to allocate more than $50,000 of MRA money to computers that were not compliant with minimum standards of the House.

Rep. David Scott

No written response received by airtime.

Rep. Cynthia McKinney

No written response received by airtime.