I posted the other day about a new congressional expense report released for the 3rd Quarter of 2009. The complete report is here. I also have the numbers from the Maryland delegation below. The funding source is taxpayer dollars. Based on the Maryland delegation, Lockheed Martin Desktop Solutions and The Accurate Word LLC are really raking in the cash from all the members of Congress from the whole country.

The left column of figures is year to date (YTD) while the right column is for the 3rd Quarter. You can click on the thumbnails to get the full-sized image. I provided commentary on specific items below the general numbers. The commentary is just based on what looks unusual to me.

Frank Kratovil, Jr. (MD-01)

Kratovil spent approximately $15K in district office rent for the quarter. One large expenditure was over $18K in June to American Direct Mail. You can go to the PDF of the full report here to look at the itemized expenses yourself.

C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)

Ruppersberger is paying Onstar memberships in his expenses as well as a significant amount  (over $26K for just one quarter) of rent to COPT. There is also a new purchase of nearly $6700 in furniture for the quarter. You can go to the PDF of the full report here to look at the itemized expenses yourself.

John P. Sarbanes (MD-03)

District office rent payments to the H. Adams Limited Partnership are approaching $16K for the quarter. There is one large printing bill totaling over $25,000. There are home security system expenses itemized as well. One curious thing is a payment for web and email services to Liberty Concepts. As far as I know, the House has its own email servers and its own web servers for members to use. I’m curious what the $2,000 to them for this quarter actually went for. You can go to the PDF of the full report here to look at the itemized expenses yourself.

Donna Edwards (MD-04)

Edwards has probably the longest itemized list so it would take further research to find any patterns or trends. You can go to the PDF of the full report here to look at the itemized expenses yourself.

Steny Hoyer (MD-05)

Reports from earlier this week indicated Hoyer spent $1,561 on bottled water alone this quarter. Cities across the country have been banning purchases of bottled water since the U.S. Council of Mayors endorsed such measures in 2007 as away to limit the environmental impact the plastic bottles have. Maryland bans on bottled water include Takoma Park and the University of Maryland. I seem to remember a proposed ban in Baltimore City and/or Annapolis as well.

There are also over $25K in district office rental expenses for the quarter.

One example of where the money goes is in an August event. Hoyer spent $5379.66 on food and beverage expenses just to Middleton Hall. There was also $400 in space rentals paid to Middleton Hall. On August 28, Hoyer hosted a Women’s Equality Day Luncheon at the hall. The featured speaker was HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The number of attendees is not listed anywhere and other expenses itemized on the report are likely also associated with this event. The banquest menu for the venue indicates a basic price of $22.99 a person (not including taxes or gratuities.)

You can go to the PDF of the full report here to look at the itemized expenses yourself.

Roscoe Bartlett (MD-06)

Bartlett spent an estimated $16K+ in district office rent for the quarter. His office also used Fireside21 for web and internet services in addition to the in-house services provided on the Hill. You can go to the PDF of the full report here to look at the itemized expenses yourself.

Elijah Cummings (MD-07)

Cummings broke the $1 million mark for the year in just 3 quarters. Cummings spent just over $20K in the 3rd Quarter alone on district office rent. His largest food and beverage expense for 3rd quarter was approximately $3900 spent at Morgan State in June.

You can go to the PDF of the full report here to look at the itemized expenses yourself.

Chris Van Hollen (MD-08)

Van Hollen spent just under $22K in district office rent for the quarter. Fireside21 also has been paid by Van Hollen.You can go to the PDF of the full report here to look at the itemized expenses yourself.

UPDATE

Bryan Sears wrote on this topic and received a reply from Sarbanes’ office:

Makeda Scott, communications director for Rep. John Sarbanes called at 4:30 p.m. to explain the “home security expenses” referenced on Insidecharmcity.com.

“It’s actually for security for the front door of the district office in Towson,” Scott said.