State car's mileage and fueling reports
lead to questions
Star Ledger
May 31, 2005
DEBORAH HOWLETT
Secretary of State Regena Thomas' state-owned car was driven
nearly 8,000 miles last year during three months when she spent
most of her time on vacation or on leave, state records show.
The mileage records, obtained by The Star-Ledger through the
Open Public Records Act, covered a period when Thomas took five
weeks of vacation to "recharge her batteries" and
four weeks of unpaid personal leave to work on the presidential
campaign of Democratic Sen. John Kerry.
Thomas, however, said she does not drive her state car at all,
and said the records, which include monthly mileage reports
her office filed with the state, are "incorrect."
As proof, Thomas permitted a reporter to check the odometer
on the dark green 2000 Ford Crown Victoria. It read 61,067.
That's about 3,500 miles fewer than indicated in two separate
sets of records -- a "display meter change journal"
and a monthly mileage report -- kept by the state.
Thomas, during an interview late last week, said she could
not explain the discrepancy, except to attribute it to human
error or glitches in the record-keeping system at the Central
Motor Pool.
"We're investigating. The troopers are investigating,"
she said.
State police would not comment.
If the records were off by 3,500 miles -- as the odometer
indicated -- the car still would have been driven nearly 5,400
miles since last August, a nine-month period that included
Thomas' nine weeks off. That compares with 2,358 miles the
car was driven in the nine previous months, all of which Thomas
worked.
Records filed by her office, however, show the car was driven
6,275 miles in September, a month in which Thomas took four
days off. Her monthly mileage report also shows the car was
driven 1,107 miles during October, a month she took off as
unpaid personal leave.
Fuel transaction reports that track refueling at state-run
depots show the car was gassed up only once in September,
when Thomas was at work. In October, when she was off, the
records showed that the car was refueled four times at state
depots. Three of the four fill- ups were made at the Hamilton
Township Department of Transportation facility near Thomas'
home.
The state cars provided to Thomas and the other 16 department
heads are meant to be used for business purposes, which include
commuting to and from work. It is illegal for any state worker,
including Cabinet officers, to use state cars for personal
business. The State Police Executive Protection Unit also
assigns to the secretary of state a State Police car and a
trooper who serves as a driver and bodyguard.
Thomas dismissed questions about the records by saying the
monthly mileage reports were "estimates." She said
she was stumped by the fuel transaction records.
"I haven't ever fueled it up, period. I don't drive it,"
she said. "The primary use of that car is by the trooper."
Assemblyman Joseph Malone III (R-Burlington), one of Thomas'
harshest critics in the Statehouse, questioned that explanation.
"Either she was driving and paying for the gas herself
or somebody else was," he said.
