Assembly Buys GOP Staff Chief $37,000 Car

After publicly criticizing former Speaker Willie Brown for purchasing three Cadillacs at taxpayers’ expense, the Republican leaders of the Assembly quietly bought a $37,000 sports utility vehicle for their chief of staff.

The heavily loaded GMC Yukon--equipped with soft leather interior, four-wheel drive, aluminum wheels and luggage rack--is being driven by Mark Watts, the $99,996-a-year chief of staff to Republican Speaker Curt Pringle. Records show that the state bought the car in late April for $34,388 plus $2,665 in tax.

That is almost identical to the average purchase price of the Cadillacs, which were acquired for Democrat Brown’s use in 1994.

Watts defended the purchase of the Yukon, saying he has been given a $400 monthly car allowance and that he pays an additional $270 a month out of his own pocket as his contribution to the full cost.

“It’s a $400 perk,” Watts said Tuesday. “That’s income, and I pay income tax on it.”

Brown’s purchase of the three Cadillacs was “a whole different thing,” he said. The Assembly picked up the full cost of those vehicles, he said, and also provided drivers for two of them.

The report of Watts’ perk follows a Times article that disclosed that Republican leaders have given hundreds of staff members pay increases averaging more than 30%. It also comes amid a controversy in Los Angeles over the use of cars by public officials.

Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams was recently taken to task for trading his city-owned $20,490 Crown Victoria for a new Chrysler New Yorker that cost $27,225. Williams in turn demanded to know what cars City Council members were driving at taxpayers’ expense.

For years, the Assembly has maintained a fleet of cars purchased at taxpayers’ expense--many more expensive than Williams’ Chrysler. Assembly members currently drive a broad variety of state-owned vehicles--from a 3-year-old Chevy Lumina driven by Martha M. Escutia (D-Huntington Park) that cost $14,967 to a 1995 Lincoln Town Car driven by Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) that cost $44,077. Some Assembly members, including Jim Cunneen (R-Cupertino), Howard Kaloogian (R-Carlsbad) and Susan Davis (D-San Diego), have no state-owned car at all.

The total cost to taxpayers of the Assembly’s fleet was $1.9 million, legislative records show.

After Republican leaders assumed full control of the Assembly in January, they have repeatedly flailed Brown for his extravagance. And the former speaker’s choice of state cars proved a prime target.

In January, a week after being elected the first Republican speaker in 25 years, Pringle (R-Garden Grove) said he would be selling the three Cadillacs that had been purchased for Brown’s use and were stationed in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

To make the point, one of Brown’s cars was put on public display outside the Capitol. Parked next to the sleek Cadillac Concours was the government-owned 1991 Dodge Spirit that Pringle said he would continue to drive. Unlike Brown, who had his own drivers, Pringle said in a press release at the time that he intended to do the driving himself. The release called the Cadillacs “three of the crown jewels of the imperial speakership.” And selling the cars, which had an estimated value of $82,500, would help provide funds to speed up a detailed audit of Assembly finances promised by the Republicans.

In a recent interview, Pringle said he had no problem with his own chief of staff’s choice of cars.

When asked why Watts wasn’t driving a Dodge Spirit like his boss, Pringle said, “I think he drives what he wants to drive and that’s fine.”

Until now, the chief of staff to the Assembly speaker did not receive a state-owned vehicle. The one Assembly staff member to get a car was the chief administrative officer of the Rules Committee--the person who oversees such nitty-gritty functions as payroll, personnel and supplies.

Pringle said he decided that Watts, as his chief of operations, should be the one to get a car instead.

“Mark’s the most valuable member on this staff, and he’s the one that needed a car,” he said.

Watts said he had driven a used car in the past, but there were “no old vehicles lying around,” because the Republican leadership had sold them off. Some revenue was used to purchase a van to haul legislators.

Watts also provided a list of “Assembly lease vehicles,” the cars purchased on behalf of Assembly members. Watts’ choice of car, the GMC Yukon, was less expensive than several vehicles on the list. Like Watts, all Assembly members are required to pay that part of a monthly lease fee that exceeds their $400 monthly car allowance.

In addition to Assemblywoman Boland’s Lincoln, other high-priced cars on the list are the 1995 Lincoln Continental driven by Bob Margett (R-Arcadia) costing $40,436, and the 1995 Corvette driven by Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles) costing $40,283.

In addition to the 1991 Dodge Spirit that Pringle drives around the capital, he has a state-owned 1995 Ford Explorer, with a purchase price of $30,027, which he drives in his district, records show.

Two of the Cadillacs used by ex-Speaker Brown were sold at auction for a total of $41,000. The third is now being used by Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-El Monte). The use fee is $387 a month--slightly less than the $400 monthly car allowance Gallegos receives.