I recently received the latest per diem records for our state senators. There are some interesting figures in this list. First, lets start with the members of the Rules Committee. They are responsible for the 45% increase to their own per diem. They did this without a senate vote! They are privileged enough to do this on their own!
Larry Pogemiller, DFL Minneapolis
Per Diem, $15,894.00
Mileage $677.91
Other $1500.00
Total $18,071.91
Tarryl Clark, DFL St Cloud
Per Diem, $16,436.00
Mileage, $3,142.09
Other $9,667.20
Total $29,245.29
David Senjem, Republican Rochester
Per Diem, $13,440.00
Mileage, $1907.02
Other, $11,353.04
Total, $26,700.06
Thomas Bakk, DFL Virginia This man has taken more from us taxpayers than any other senator!
Per Diem, $17,406.00
Mileage, $10,375.61 Number two! My boss pays me forty cents per mile. At that rate Tom Bakk has claimed close to 26,000 miles. Divide that by 60 miles per hour and you get over 433 hours of driving. That is close to 11 working weeks of driving time! If he is doing all that driving, when is he at the capitol? If he is driving back and forth to home, why is he claiming so much "Other" expenses such as housing allowance?
Other, $15,255.66
Total, $43,037.27 Number One!
Linda Berglin, DFL Minneapolis
Per Diem, $18,144.00
Mileage, $167.83
Other, $3520.81
Total, $21,832.64
Richard Cohen, DFL St Paul
Per Diem, $11,687.50
Mileage, $0.00
Other, $1,575.00
Total, $13,262.50
Dennis Frederickson, Republican New Ulm
Per Diem, $14,400.00
Mileage, $5,117.69
Other, $11,439.72
Total, $30,957.41
Keith Langseth, DFL Glyndon
Per Diem, $16,236.00
Mileage, $10,829.35 Number One! See Thomas Bakk! Above
Other, $11,903.43
Total, $38,968.78
Jim Metzen, DFL South St Paul This man claims a 15 mile round trip to the capitol. Mileage information is available in the Senate Journal
Per Diem, $14,784.00
Mileage, $321.08 What for? His round trip to work and back?
Other, $725.00
Total, $15,830.08
Gen Olson, Republican Minnetrista
Per Diem, $14,688.00
Mileage, $443.29 She lives in Minnetrista. This is quite a bit further than South Saint Paul!
Other, $1,868.69
Total, $16,999.98
Mee Moua, DFL St Paul is the number one taxpayer gouger in per diem. And she lives on Saint Paul's east side! She probably lives closer to the capitol than any other senator! She could easily set a fine example to all of us and ride a bike to session!
Per Diem, $19,266.00 Number One!
Mileage, $0.00
Other, $4,105.24 What is this for? I am quite sure she does not receive any housing allowance.
Total, $23,371.24
Ray Vandeveer, Republican Forest Lake This man is responsible for bringing attention to the Rules Committee's behavior and causing our senators to declare on the senate floor whether they will be taking the full $96.00 per day.
Per Diem, $9,174.00
Mileage, $0.00
Other, $1,200.00
Total, $10,374.00
Other Notables,
Richard Day, Republican Owatonna He has taken the least amount of per diem than any other senator!
Per Diem, $8,844.00
Mileage, $3,729.25
Other, $8,934.13
Total, $21,507.38
Pat Pariseau, Republican Farmington Senator Pariseau lives quite a bit further than our own Senator Metzen. Just look at how much more money Senator Metzen feels he is entitled too!
Per Diem, $9,732.00
Mileage, $31.04
Other, $2,357.28
Total, $12,120.32
Leroy Stumpf, DFL Plummer
Per Diem, $14,610.00
Mileage, $10,029.85 Number four on the mileage list! See Thomas Bakk!
Other, $11,912.33
Total, $36,552.18 Number four overall!
David Tomassoni, DFL Chisholm
Per Diem, $17,700.00 Fourth in per diem!
Mileage, $10,152.13 Third in mileage!
Other, $12,824.12
Total, $40,676.25 Number two!
Those who have claimed zero mileage.
Don Betzold, DFL Fridley
Jim Carlson, DFL Eagan
Richard Cohen, DFL St. Paul
Tony Lourey, DFL Kerrick
Geoff Michel, Republican Edina
Mee Moua, DFL St Paul
Julianne Ortman, Republican Chanhassen
Those that have claimed less than $100.00 in mileage. All of these senators live further away from the capitol than our own Senator Metzen yet he claims more mileage than any of them.
D. Scott Dibble, DFL Minneapolis $63.05
John Doll, DFL Burnsville $91.18
David Hann, Republican Eden Prairie $54.32
Linda Higgins, DFL Minneapolis $11.64
Debbie J. Johnson, Republican Ham Lake $58.20
Dan Larson, DFL Bloomington $95.06
Ron Latz, DFL St. Louis Park $15.52
Pat Pariseau, Republican Farmington $31.04
Patricia Ray, DFL Minneapolis $40.74
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Senate Per Diem
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4 comments:
The figures without explanation given in your post are just that.
Why does your boss only give you $0.40/mile when the IRS allows for 48.5 cents? Sounds like you're making your boss money on every mile you drive.
It's good to hear from you again, Ed. It's been a while.
Of course I am making my boss money. How do you think he stays in business? My driving time must be accounted for. If he did not make a profit, how long do you think my coworkers and I would be employed?
My boss is not the IRS. The IRS could declare $75.00 per mile. That does not mean I will get that. I am a carpenter. Many in my field do not get 40 cents per mile. Some I have talked to get 30 cents, some get 35. What it all comes down to is when I do my taxes, I claim the difference. So I take my business miles and multiply by .085 and that is my deduction.
If you get 48.5 cents per mile, good for you! I drive a beat up 1988 GMC van that was paid for a long, long time ago. It has 175,000 miles on it and I do all my own repairs. So what I get is still profitable to me. I plan on driving it until it dies.
Your comment has no bearing on Thomas Bakk and his mileage claim. As well as those others who claim the big mileage. Let us speculate that he gets 48.5 cents per mile. Now that I think about it, I bet he is getting 48.5 cents per mile. After all, it is our tax money and the government we are talking about here. That means that he claimed over 21,250 miles and at 60 miles per hour that equals about 354 hours of driving time. That is almost 9 full work weeks. Again, is he at the capitol or on the road?
Why do you link to the racist Anti-Strib website? This is the site that called Native Americans "dirt-worshiping heathens." Is that what you think of Native Americans Jungbauer? Nice folks to pal around with.
http://anti-strib.blogspot.com/2007/10/dirt-worshipping-heathens.html
I have read the article you provided the link to and I want you to know that the writer at anti-strib.com and I do not agree on what he wrote. I think it was a bad thing to post.
I placed that link a couple of years ago and have not visited it since. I posted it because it was funny.
Let me point out that I am not racist and I do not agree with the post you mention. As a libertarian, I believe in freedom to everyone, and that we should all adhere to the golden rule. As a constitutionalist, I believe in free speech. Despite the disgusting, racial remarks of that site, I will not be removing thew link. I will keep an eye on it. If I see any more posts like that I will pull the link.
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