Lentz Misleads Voters, Breaks Promise to Forgo Taxpayer-Funded Car
How can he reform Washington if he refused to do it in Harrisburg?
DREXEL HILL, PA – After criticizing his opponent in 2006 for using a taxpayer-funded car, Bryan Lentz flip-flopped in 2009 and began using a taxpayer-funded Ford Escape hybrid.
During Lentz’s 2006 campaign for the State Legislature, Lentz repeatedly voiced his opposition to the practice of representatives using taxpayer-funded vehicles and vowed never to use a government car. Lentz is quoted in a 2006 interview saying “I don’t need a car allowance. I’ll pay for my own car like everybody else in this district… I think I’m supposed to go out there and serve the people.” (Ed Mahon, “Tom Gannon, a 28-year legislator, faces challenger in 161st District”, News of Delaware County, 10/16/2006)
After the election, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported again on Lentz’s promise to pay for his own vehicle. “Lentz, who is driving his own vehicle, said he not only campaigned on changing Harrisburg but also vowed not to take a state car.” (Mario Cattabiani, “Calling for change, taking ‘free’ cars”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/17/2007)
But on January 27, 2009, Bryan Lentz flip-flopped and began using the very perk he campaigned against three years before.
“Actions speak louder than words, and Bryan Lentz’s tough rhetoric on the campaign trail in 2006 doesn’t match his actions in Harrisburg in 2009,” said Bryan Kendro, Meehan for Congress campaign manager. “This is just another instance of Lentz saying one thing when he’s searching for votes, but doing something completely different once he’s safely in office.”
But what’s worse is Lentz’s choice to take a state vehicle cost the taxpayers almost $4500.
A review of Lentz’s vehicle expenditures between February 2007 and January 2008 (when he used his own vehicle) show mileage reimbursements costing taxpayers $947.60.
And for the same amount of time between February 2009 and January 2010 after Lentz opted to take a taxpayer-funded vehicle with a monthly lease payment of $453, Bryan Lentz’s car cost taxpayers $5436 (exclusive of gas reimbursements).
“Lentz is a hypocrite. How can we expect him to reform Washington when he refused to do it in Harrisburg?” Kendro concluded.