Dems say fleet of SUVs for DNC week are hybrids

Answer to critic: Convention SUVs are hybrids

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Photo by Darin McGregor

A fleet of hybrid vehicles, some bearing tags for the Democratic National Convention, sits parked Tuesday in the storage lot of a former rental car company at Denver International Airport.

The greenest political convention in history will apparently also be the SUV-est.

Although organizers of the Democratic National Convention acknowledged their fleet of General Motors vehicles is rife with Yukons, Tahoes and Avalanches, they said they aren't gas guzzlers.

That's because all of the SUVs are hybrids. Even the Avalanches - sort of a collision between an SUV and a pickup - are flex-fuel vehicles that can burn either regular gasoline or a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol.

In January, when the DNC announced that GM - maker of the Hummer - would be the official vehicle supplier of the convention, it touted the automaker's line of hybrid and alternate-fuel automobiles. At the time, however, the exact makeup of the fleet was not disclosed.

General Motors agreed to provide about 400 vehicles for use by delegates, members of the news media and convention staffers.

In July, after Denver officials announced plans, since abandoned, to let the DNC's organizers fuel up at city pumps, Jon Caldara, president of the right-leaning Independence Institute, filed a request for documents under Colorado's open records law. The city turned over a list of 166 vehicles, supplied by the DNC's organizers, that had been put in service.

Among them were 65 SUVs.

Caldara, who is also a radio talk show host, found the irony "delicious" - that organizers of a convention bent on being environmentally friendly have in their fleet dozens of sport utility vehicles.

"I thought it was absolutely wonderful and delicious that the DNC would use more SUVs than I would," Caldara said Tuesday. "This is terrific. Seeing as how this is supposed to be the greenest convention around, it's just wonderful to see that they're driving Yukons around."

Natalie Wyeth, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Convention Committee, said the SUVs are "typically" used when staffers need to transport a number of people.

After Caldara was told that the SUVs at the DNC are hybrids, he didn't relent on his position that the Democrats are being hypocritical. In the eyes of many, an SUV of any stripe is a symbol of a lack of concern for the environment.

"As long as they're carrying on the spirit of ruining the environment, that's good enough for me," Caldara said. "Now that I know they're driving around in Avalanches, I might actually consider voting Democrat."

And Caldara's mode of transportation: A 1992 Toyota 4Runner with more than 200,000 miles on it. Why does he drive that?

"It's because I know what the women like," he said.

SUVs for the DNC

A list of 166 vehicles in the fleet being used for the Democratic National Convention showed 65 are sport utility vehicles. The breakdown is:

* 30 GMC Yukons

* 19 Chevrolet Tahoes

* 13 Saturn Vues

* 3 Chevrolet Avalanches

• August 11, 2008

  8:06 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  WFU writes:

  Hybrid???

  A hybrid vehicle is defined as one which uses two or more power sources, such as combustion engine and electric. The suv's they are speaking of are flex-fueled.

  The "Dems" are greenwashing the public! don't beleive that this will be the greenest convenction ever...