Nearly 20 years ago, when state Sen. Ed Helfrick was asked why he thought it was appropriate to spend more than $600 of public money every month for his lease of a Mercedes-Benz ML 320, he revealed the fundamental problem when he responded: “I don’t think I should have to drive something less just because I’m a legislator.”

Most of his constituents and other Pennsylvanians had to drive something less, of course, while paying Helfrick’s lease to a grateful car dealer in his district.

In 2017, police in suburban Harrisburg stopped a since-retired representative in a state-leased vehicle and asked if he had been drinking. He said he had, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but that it was “part of my job.”

Some lawmakers over the years at least have recognized the bad optics inherent in a man of the people driving around in a people-funded car that the people can’t afford for themselves.

A former state representative from Scranton, for example, once acknowledged that he had a state-leased SUV for jaunts to Harrisburg, but had the good sense to leave it in his garage and use a lesser conveyance to go to political rallies, chicken dinners, fundraisers, civic events and funerals in the district.

That latent capacity for embarrassment, coupled with public pressure and changing economics, gradually has eroded legislators’ preference for state-leased vehicles. Almost all legislators used to have leases, but this year only 26 of 203 representatives and 11 of 50 senators have them.

Economics have changed in that taxpayers reimburse legislators for gas mileage when they use their own vehicles for public business. The state pays the IRS-allowed rate of 58.5 cents per mile, which means that some legislators would fare better financially driving their own vehicles rather than leasing.

In a vote that was a few decades late, the House voted 183-16 on Wednesday to eliminate state-funded car leases for legislators, which put Pennsylvania in league with 48 other states. That’s just one aspect of much broader expense reforms that lawmakers should enact, but it’s a start.

But the bill might not have such an easy drive through the Senate, where several top Republican committee chairman are among that chamber’s legislators that have state-funded leases.

— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre via TNS