The state budget impasse didn’t stop newly elected Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza from purchasing a $32,000 used SUV as part of her department’s fleet — paid in full by public dollars to a central Illinois dealership.
Mendoza campaigned on a pledge to prioritize state payments, but her office said the money for the SUV came from an office fund with no connection to the state’s massive bill backlog.
Mendoza’s office on Friday said the vehicle was purchased in January to replace an inoperable car — one of her offices’ nine cars — that was rejected as a trade-in and will be junked. And they noted various offices of state government have purchased more than $11 million in vehicles — excluding leases — over the last two years.
The purchase comes as she is under Republican scrutiny after defeating Leslie Munger, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s appointed pick for comptroller. Munger was recently appointed deputy governor.
With Mendoza’s name in the mix as a future Democratic candidate for higher office, every purchase, every trip, every speech is being watched with great interest.
This weekend, the Chicago-Sun Times broke the news that new Comptroller Susana Mendoza bought herself a $32,000 SUV just weeks into the job. Comptroller Mendoza not only prioritized her personal comfort by purchasing the SUV, she managed to find a way to fully pay off the vehicle while social service providers continue to wait months to get paid.
Even worse, the Comptroller’s office already had nine state vehicles. Apparently the vehicle fleet that was good enough for Comptroller Munger is not good enough for Comptroller Mendoza.
All this comes after Mendoza pledged “shared sacrifice” with social service providers, who Mendoza promised to put at the front of the line to receive state checks.
Instead, Mendoza put herself first, spending $32,000 in taxpayer money on an SUV.
Watch the ILGOP’s new video comparing the Mendoza scandal to the Giannoulias scandal here.
Munger left behind one completely junked car and another that bordered on junk. Looks almost like a setup to me. Even so, Mendoza walked right into it. But she did get rid of two cars and only replaced them with one.
* The official Mendoza response to the ILGOP press release…
We’re not surprised The Governor would try to change the subject from his failure for the third year in a row, to fulfill his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget.
Through the state party he funds, he pushes the hypocritical fantasy that The Comptroller’s small fleet of cars she has downsized from 9 to 8 in the past two months is a story, but not his much larger fleet of cars for him and his security detail – that costs taxpayers much more. The story is presented in a vacuum as though only one state office has state cars.
Every state vehicle is paid for with taxpayer funds, including the bigger fleet in which the Governor’s security detail drives him – and all the state agencies controlled by the Governor. The various offices of state government have purchased more than $11 million in vehicles, not counting leases, for use from The Governor on down during the last two years. Previous administrations in the Comptroller’s office replaced a used car with a new car roughly every two years. The Comptroller’s Administrative Fund paid for the car, not the General Revenue Fund which goes to education, social services, etc.
The Governor’s party’s phony outrage at one purchase of a used car instead of the state’s $11 billion dollar backlog of bills he refuses to address is a transparent attempt to silence the state office-holder who has been most vocal in holding the Governor accountable for his failure to do his job. Comptroller Mendoza has travelled from Chicago to Springfield to Carbondale to Peoria – across the state – to hear state resident’s complaints about not getting health services, not being able to pay their bills, etc., because of the state’s failure to pass a budget.
The Comptroller has not exercised her right to take a security detail and she has no access to a private plane to get around Illinois.
Upon taking office, Comptroller Mendoza inventoried the office’s nine cars, most of which are used to collect & distribute checks, W2s and other employee forms this office handles for all state offices. One was inoperable.
The vehicle assigned the Comptroller was a 2005 rear-wheel-drive Chrysler 300 luxury sedan with 104,000 miles in need of many expensive repairs before it would be safe to drive.
While driving her own car to Springfield at no expense to taxpayers for her first several weeks in office, the Comptroller instructed staff to find a used American-made car big enough to hold staff on the weekly trips to Springfield and around the state to replace the two unsafe cars. A used Ford Explorer with 16,436 miles was located in El Paso, Illinois, and purchased for $32,279 – about $15,000 less than equivalent new models are selling for. This pool car – not owned by the Comptroller but by the state, available for various comptroller staff – will serve the office for years to come. It was built at the Ford Assembly plant here in Illinois.
The Chrysler 300 was traded in for $1,500. The inoperable 2005 Chrysler Town & Country van was refused as a trade-in and will be junked.
Among the remaining 8 cars is a 1998 Ford Cargo van that only goes back and forth between the Capitol and the Comptroller’s office at 325 Adams St. in Springfield and carries a bold warning on the dashboard NOT to take it on the expressway.
Where is the state GOP’s outrage about The Governor failing for the third year in a row to fulfill his constitutional duty to propose a balanced budget? His responsibility for the state’s backlog of bills doubling to $12 billion on his watch? His responsibility for the six downgrades from the bond rating agencies for his failure to propose a balanced budget? His responsibility for the $700 million in late payment interest penalties the state owes?
They can try to silence Comptroller Mendoza with false controversies. But she will nevertheless persist.
