Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a consumer and environmental advocate, has been putting nearly 7,000 miles a month on his state-owned sedan as gas prices top $4 per gallon.
State records show Blumenthal and his driver racked up 69,000 miles over the past 10 months on a state-owned Ford Crown Victoria, the vehicle assigned to nearly all the constitutional officers. Blumenthal travels daily between Hartford and Greenwich, where he lives, and all around Connecticut.
“I feel somewhat embarrassed about driving a car that is so fuel inefficient,” he said. “Here I am, one of the chief enforcers of our environmental laws. I consider it sort of untenable for any of us to be driving these vehicles.”
But that will soon change.
A day after being questioned by The Associated Press about his state vehicle, Blumenthal said he’s switching to a used, hybrid Honda Civic next week. He said he and his staff have asked for a more fuel-efficient car several times over the years, mostly recently 18 months ago, but their requests were rebuffed.
That account is disputed by Donna Micklus, spokeswoman for the Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the state’s fleet. She said neither Blumenthal nor any of the other five constitutional officers have ever requested different vehicles, in writing or verbally.
“We’d be happy to work with any of them,” she said, adding that the state has hybrid vehicles in its fleet.
Blumenthal didn’t want to speculate on the reasons for the discrepancy.
“The point is that, we’ll have a hybrid,” Blumenthal said. “Of all the distinctions that I have as a constitutional officer, the first to drive a hybrid will be a noteworthy one.”
Christopher Phelps, policy director for Environment Connecticut, said if the state has available hybrids and they can serve the needs of the constitutional officers, then it’s a “no-brainer” to make the switch. He said it will send a message to state residents about the importance of fuel efficiency and that politicians are “walking the walk.”
Connecticut provides state-owned vehicles to the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of the state, comptroller and treasurer. Everyone but Gov. M. Jodi Rell uses the Crown Victorias and typically someone drives the officials to and from home, and to various events.
Each said they try to fill up at state gas pumps, where the average for a gallon of unleaded regular this year has been about $2.46 per gallon. But they often have to buy fuel using credit cards at more expensive public gas stations.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s web site, www.fueleconomy.gov, a 2007 Crown Victoria gets an estimated 15 miles per gallon in the city, 23 miles per gallon on the highway. If the car is a flex fuel vehicle, like some state vehicles, and uses E85 _ a mostly ethanol blend _ the mileage is a little worse.
Rell is assigned a Lincoln Town Car and a GMC Yukon. While governors historically don’t file mileage reports with the Department of Administrative Services, a spokesman for Rell said maintenance records on the Town Car show it was driven 21,669 miles between mid-June 2007 and May 14, 2008. Mileage figures were not provided for the sport utility vehicle, which her staff said is mostly used during inclement weather.
When Rell succeeded then-Gov. John G. Rowland in 2004, she often commuted 54 miles from her Brookfield home to Hartford instead of staying at the official governor’s residence in Hartford.
Spokesman Christopher Cooper said Rell now spends more than half her time at the official residence to help reduce fuel consumption.
“She’s consolidating trips like everybody else is doing,” said Cooper, adding that Rell’s scheduler tries to coordinate the governor’s public events so they can be limited to one part of the state on a given day.
Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, who lives in Stamford, 81 miles by car from Hartford, said he has been cutting back on his trips to the capital city by about 10 to 20 percent and trying to arrange meetings in southwestern Connecticut. Also, he said he’s using video teleconferences and conference calls to get his work done, such as a recent search for a new transportation commissioner candidate.
State Treasurer Denise Nappier, who drove 13,151 miles over the past 10 months in her state car, has asked her staff to consolidate their trips using state vehicles. For example, if an employee needs to travel as part of an investigation into a worker’s compensation claim, they’re now look at other open files to see if any trips can be consolidated to one part of the state, Deputy Treasurer Howard Rifkin said.
Both State Comptroller Nancy Wyman, who drove 27,405 miles in the past 10 months, and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, who drove 25,174 miles, say they’re trying to cut back or consolidate their public appearances to save fuel.
“We try to keep only the stuff we need for that day in the car so we’re not carrying excess weight,” Bysiewicz said.
Blumenthal easily tops the list for vehicle mileage when compared to his five fellow constitutional officers, according to Department of Administrative Services records. He strongly defends his high mileage.
“I am in no way regretful or apologetic about my travels,” he said, adding how he rarely makes a direct trip home after work, often stopping off at evening events in the Waterbury area and elsewhere.
“All my travel is about seeing people, listening to them, speaking to constituents, learning about problems,” he said.
