Rep. Matheson, big spender; Rep. Goode, not so much

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) is Congress’s biggest spender while Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) is the thriftiest, according to a report on congressional office expenses released yesterday by the National Taxpayers Union (NTU).

The report analyzes how lawmakers spent their 2005 Members’ Representational Account (MRA), the average $1.2 million allotted to each lawmaker to cover the salaries of 18 full-time aides, travel, mass mailings, leased cars, bottled water, coffee and everything else needed to run a modern office.

{mosads} A lawmaker’s overall budget varies based on the distance between his district and Washington, D.C., and the rate at which the General Services Administration (GSA) charges for leasing office space.

The Rand McNally Standard Highway Mileage Guide is used to determine distances from Washington.

For the first time, the lawmakers’ total expenditures surged past the half-billion mark: Lawmakers spent $525 million in 2005, a 20 percent increase over 2001 numbers.

Matheson spent $1,311,878 in 2005, but it is unclear why he nearly exhausted his MRA — in 2004, Matheson ranked 134th on the list. He spent most of his allotment on salaries ($953,000), and $106,000 on franked mail. The remaining expenditures showed nothing extraordinary.

“Congressman Matheson is living within the budget allotment that he received. His district is large and diverse and he wants to communicate and serve all of his constituents efficiently and effectively,” Matheson’s spokeswoman, Alyson Heyrend, said.

The top 10 spenders are all Democrats. Reps. Corrine Brown (Fla.), Allen Boyd (Fla.), Brad Miller (N.C.), Diane Watson (Calif.), John Murtha (Pa.), Joseph Crowley (N.Y.), Alcee Hastings (Fla.), Barney Frank (Mass.) and Brad Sherman (Calif.) trail Matheson.

Like any list, this one can be misleading. Sherman, for example, spent more money than Matheson, but he had more left over, too. Sherman was allotted $1,352,391 and had $1,743 remaining.

Goode, however, spent just $699,000 of the more than $1.12 million he was allocated. He directed the bulk of that spending, $593,000, to paying his staffers’ salaries.

After Goode, the smallest spenders were Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), James Walsh (R-N.Y.), Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), William Jenkins (R-Tenn.), George Radanovich (R-Calif.), and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.).
Hefley and Jenkins are no longer in Congress. Hunter, at the time, was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

NTU also reported that Rep. Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.) spent more on postage than did any of his colleagues. He spent $164,897 on mass mailings and $174,587 on postage.  

Kuhl’s spokesman did not return a request for comment.

Aside from Kuhl, Reps. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), Henry Brown Jr. (R-S.C.), Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), David Obey (D-Wis.), Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), David Dreier (R-Calif.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), and Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) spent the most money on postage.

Bob Van Wicklin, Kuhl’s spokesman, said Kuhl tries to hold a town meeting in all 145 towns across his district, which requires every registered voter to get an invitation in the mail. In 2006, Kuhl defeated Democrat Eric Massa by four points.