Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock long ago established himself as one of Sacramento's most articulate promoters of a cheaper, smaller, community-based government whose leaders are disciplined by term limits.
But an examination of McClintock's expenses and other records shows some contradictions between his words and actions.
The longtime legislator says he is the Capitol's leading crusader for cutting the budget. His own office payroll, however, is the 11th highest in the 40-member Senate, at about $42,400 a month. (The biggest is $47,800; the smallest $29,400.)
McClintock said his 10 employees have many years of experience and are paid accordingly.
He is more frugal elsewhere. In 2001, the last year for which complete figures are available, his total expenditures -- on everything from salaries to copy machines -- were 12th from the bottom in the Senate, at $613,000.
His field-office expenses ranged near the Senate's lowest in 2001, as did his bills for air travel to his district.
The 19th Senate District encompasses most of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and part of the Santa Clarita Valley in Los Angeles County. McClintock's lone field office is in Thousand Oaks, on the eastern edge of Ventura County, about 100 miles from the outer reaches of the district.
About half the Senate's members maintain two field offices, typically because the senators represent multiple counties.
McClintock's Republican predecessor, Cathie Wright, who retired because of term limits, also had a single field office. But she said that, unlike McClintock, she lived in her district and returned there every week of the legislative session.
"He's never down here," Wright said of McClintock, with whom she has feuded for years.
For the last decade, McClintock has lived year-round in the Sacramento area, even during his 1992-96 break from the Legislature.
McClintock said he visits his district every other week. Senate billing records show that he averages less than one airline trip per month, but campaign aide John Stoos said McClintock frequently drives the 390 miles.
Senators receive an allowance to fly to their districts four times a month, when the Legislature is in session. They can charge the state for out-of-session flights.
McClintock owns a condominium in Thousand Oaks. The two-story stucco building on Alessandro Drive is his official address. But several Alessandro residents were surprised to learn that their senator was a neighbor.
