Congresswoman, Bono widow claims Reps can't afford college

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Congresswoman_Bono_widow_claims_Reps_cant_0504.html

Mary Bono (R-CA), California Congresswoman and widow of entertainer Sonny Bono, has claimed before a House committee that a congressional salary won't pay for college, according to today's issue of Roll Call.

Excerpts of the Roll Call column follow:

Maybe Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) voted for that pay raise last year because her annual salary of $165,200 just won’t be enough to pay for her 18-year-old son Chesare, better known as Chez, to attend college this fall.

In a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection Wednesday afternoon, Bono said, “I could not afford college for my son if Sonny’s royalties were not paying for it.” That would be the royalties from her late husband, the singer and former Congressman.

College isn’t her only expense. Bono mentioned that she recently bought new cars for herself and Chez, both of which needed satellite radio and Bluetooth capabilities.

Cry me a river you f'ing Repukes. How do you think we peons send our kids to college on far less! Former Homeland shill Tom "Rocky" Ridge had the same whine - he couldn't afford his kid's college on the pittance we taxpayers give him!

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

On edit I corrected the snippet from article in 2nd reference that had her listed as Dem - I know for certain that she is a Repub

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Please, someone!!!

Pry the gluebag off this woman's nose!

[pnwmom]

68. It's easy to say that she's out of touch, but would we rather the

legislature be populated by people who couldn't care less how much of a salary they make -- because of all their outside supplements? How out of touch are the trust fund babies? How out of touch are the ones who take bribes to supplement their salaries?

Mary Bono acknowledges that she can afford things others cannot, because of her husband's estate. But do we only want the wealthy to feel they can afford to be legislators?

[Demobrat]

2. I wonder

how much her house cost?

[jrw14125]

3. "R" or "D"? article says both

[w4rma]

6. Her website says she's a Repug.

Official web site for Representative Mary Bono (R - CA)
http://www.house.gov/bono/

[Cha]

12. Oh, she's puke from

Palm Springs, Ca.

[w4rma]

4. That expains why Roll Call attacked a Republican. They thought she was

a Democrat.

[northzax]

5. well, she has a point, actually

let's say her son goes to say, Stanford. Tuition and fees at Stanford next year will be in the neighborhood of $45,000. Yes, that's only a quarter of her salary, but she doesn't even come close to the limits for federal aid in the form of subsidized loans. She'll never get financial aid. So what, with the expensive vacations, the houses in DC and OC (two of the most expensive real estate markets in the country) the new cars, she's barely scraping by.

ok fine, so no one is crying a river, but it really isn't all that lucrative to be a congressperson these days, especially one from an affluent, expensive district. You are required by law to maintain a residence in your home district, and by practicality to maintain one in DC as well. MY girlfriend and I make a combined $150 grand, (she makes most of it) and we can't afford to buy a two bedroom condo in DC in a place where I'd raise kids. Let alone a place in California as well. and kids.

course the soludion isn't to raise salaries, but increase sustainable housing and education. but that's too darn tough for the republicans to bother with.

[yellowcanine]

23. Well she could take out a home equity loan like the rest of us peons do

who have failed to save for our kid's college education. Or she could tell the kid he has to go to a state university where he can pay in-state tuition. Since when do we owe our kids a Stanford education? That should run about $16,000 more or less, room and board included, depending on the state. If that is still too much money there are some pretty good community colleges where tuition is quite cheap and it is possible for a student to get two solid years of a college degree and live cheaply at home before transferring to the more expensive state university. And maybe the kid could "gasp" work in the summers to earn some of the money himself, the way I and most of my generation did. Yes, college costs more now, but keep in mind that I started at $1.50 an hour for my first summer job.

[EC]

27. Haven't looked up her votes, but I'll just bet she voted to

cut Pell Grants for those that need help with college...Karma...

[LiberalFighter]

34. Not all states have residency requirements in congressional district

[erpowers]

35. Not Struggling

She is not struggling she just wants an excuse to raise her pay. It is easy for this women to pay for the two houses, two cars, and college tution. First, I do not think she would be living in those districts if she could not afford to live in them. Most likely her house in CA. is paid for just like the house in D.C. Even if the houses are not paid for she could use her former husbands royalties to pay for the house and then use her salary to pay for college. If the house costs that much should could move to a cheaper house. There is no law saying how much a congress person has to pay for the residence they use in their home state. She could also live in an apartment. Her son will be going to USC and the tutition and other costs are $46,966 according to the schools website. So lets do the math now.

If we substract $46,966 from $165,200 we are left with $118, 234. Now lets say she is still paying on her cars and houses. So lets say she is paying $5,000 a month for both houses. That equals $60,000 per year. That would leave her $58,234. Now we move on to the cars. Lets say she pays $500 a month per car. I am putting $500 for each car in that I am assuming she both two luxury cars. I think you can get a BMW 7-series car for about that much a month. Maybe she would have to pay little more than that each month. That totals $12,000 yearly for both cars. After substracting the cars from her salary she had $46,234 of her salary left. So it is pretty easy to see that the woman is not really struggling to pay for her kids tutition. I know that I do not actually know what the costs of her cars and houses are, but I think I can make assumptions based on what a large number of houses and cars cost.

[dorktv]

44. You forget taxes of about 28-35%and then 6.2% for the first 90K plus Medi.

care. Depending on her tax breaks (housing, dependents, HSA, retirement funds...etc) she could have a tax liablity that is fairly high or not.

[northzax]

48. so subtract another $50 grand for federal and state taxes

including real estate taxes, if she owns something. Then another 5K for FICA/Medicare. and you're in the red.

[dorktv]

57. If she is smart, she just gets student loans and they are a tax deduction

too, at least I think some of them are.

[northzax]

75. not in her tax bracket

at about 65 grand AGI, the interest tax break for student loans begins to decline. I think it is phased out completely at around $110 grand. And that only counts on interest in the first place, not tuition (since the Lifetime Learning and Hope tax credits expire this year)

[pnwmom]

66. The issue isn't Mary Bono. The issue is whether we only want to have

Reps and Sens who happen to have large outside incomes, as she does. Or would we like our legislators, on the basis of their government salary alone, to be able to afford a living at least somewhat similar to what they could have on the "outside."

[Hippo_Tron]

40. They could take student loans and she can get a high paying job...

After she retires from congress. Former members of congress can easily get jobs that pay high six figure if not seven figure salaries. Unless of course their retirement from congress involves scandal and jail time like Duke Cunningham.

[laheina]

70. Or even better,

her kid can get a JOB to help pay for college--just like everyone else.

[Iowa]

63. Pfft...

Give me $165,000 plus congressional benefits. I'll get my kid through college, pay all the bills, and have money left over. I don't care where I live; I'll make it work. And anyone who can't make it work sure as hell shouldn't be elected to make laws for the rest of us.

We are becoming a country of doltish weenies.

[Stanchetalarooni]

7. Callous ignorance and greed. Someone, pray for us, please!

[meegbear]

8. Another reason not to like Bono ... go back to Ireland!

[400Years]

11. wrong one

[The Wielding Truth]

19. Silly . Not U2 but the Cher-Sonny Bono's wife.

[meegbear]

24. *psst* I was making a funny

[rucky]

53. We don't do that here. "make funnies". Save it for the lounge. n/t

GD is strictly for the literal minded and easily offended.

[jonnyblitz]

32. LMFAO

:rofl: :rofl: :hi:

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. And the average American parent with an average American salary?

What a priviledged, whining bitch she is.

[Semi_subversive]

10. Then she can do what I'm doing to send my son to college

Get a freaking home equity loan and apply for every grant and scholarship you can find. And I make about $90K less per year than she does. Repub POS!!

[RamboLiberal]

13. I want to add Ricky Santorum to my whining hypocrite list

Still mooching off his parents.

“In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might find they don’t both need to.”

-- U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, in his 2005 book, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good

The Santorums bought their oversized Shenstone “estate” even though his financial disclosure forms since 2001 have shown little family income beyond his Senate salary, now $162,100, and he admits that life hasn’t been financially easy. The senator made a startling remark to The New York Times Magazine last spring: “We live paycheck to paycheck, absolutely.” But he explained that his parents help out. “They’re by no means wealthy -- they’re two retired VA employees -- but they’ll send a check every now and then,” he said.

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11174

[sinkingfeeling]

15. Was this before or after his wife collected her $350,000 medical suit?

http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/19991211rick2.asp

[RamboLiberal]

22. This was after - the NY Times article was just a few months ago

but after he got caught using a small house he claimed as a PA residence (where he has relatives living) in a cash-strapped Penn Hills school district so his kids in VA could have the Penn Hills school district pay for their cyber-schooling.

And don't forget his PAC fund was apparently paying for a lot of Santorum's Starbucks coffee and Arby meals.

Freaking cheat!

[laheina]

69. That is just disgusting!

He should be sending *them* checks!!

These people have f-ed up priorities. :puke:

[truebrit71]

14. Gimme a friggin break you whiney maroon....

[hadrons]

16. work hard, bootstraps, stop whining .....

someone call Rush

[gasperc]

17. boo fucking hoo, imagine what the rest of us are going through

you stupid fucking bitch

[SouthPasadenaDem]

18. My father, who lives in Riverside county

refers to her as "my congressional representative whose only qualification is that she used to be married to the guy who used to be married to Cher."

[MurrayDelph]

20. Here's an idea, Mary:

have your kid ENLIST, and once he gets out he'll be eligible for all those
"cushy" veteran's benefits, you Republicans keep touting.



No, huh?

I didn't think so.

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

21. wow what a clueless

bitch!

[Blue_Tires]

25. i hate that ivory tower mentality

[gratuitous]

26. Where is the love, DU?

I'm so moved by poor Mary's plight that I sat right down and wrote out a check for her. My personal check, so that her daughter can go to Stanford and try to make something better out of her life. She can drop by anytime and pick it up. I made it out in the exact percentage of my annual income to hers: $0.29. It's all yours, Mare!

[Vinca]

28. Does this mean she won't contribute to my health insurance fund??

Poor Mary. I'm verklempt.

[SharonAnn]

54. Verklempt?

[leesa]

29. Well, she IS a Republican, therefore, she is really bad with money and

budgeting and all that stuff...

[Stinky The Clown]

30. I absolutely can NOT believe this is true .....

I trust the source, I trust the person posting this, I trust Roll Call, and having watched Mary Bono's beyond dismal performance during the Clinton impeachment hearings, and knowing that her training to be a Congressperson was being an aerobics instructor how married an aging former straight man to a rock star ... even after saying all that ... I simply cannot believe anyone ... ***any*** one .... could be

so

gawd

damned

ingorant.

[Stinky The Clown]

31. Memo to Bono's congressional challenger ......

Here's a campaign clue ..... tell this story and then ask the voters if they want **this** moron voting to manage **their** tax money.

[CPMaz]

45. No kidding...

It's almost like she WANTS to lose.

Of course, in her district, $165K is barely a teenager's clothing allowance. Maybe the one of the voters there will sympathize and offer to let her live on one of their yachts anchored on the Chesapeake or the Potomac while she's in D.C.

It worked out so well for Duke Cunningham. His housing costs are really low now.

[Orangepeel]

33. There are a lot of people who would do her job for less

If her job isn't paying enough, she should get another job. Maybe go back to school and learn a new skill. Isn't that republicans' usual recommendation?

[Hippo_Tron]

43. She doesn't even have to go back to school

She could retire any time she wants and get a high paying job as a lobbyist or sit on the board of some corporation. What these people don't mention when they are trying to get their pay raised is that former members of congress can get a job almost anywhere and at very high pay. They need to quit their bitching.

[Mz Pip]

36. Little Chez

can go to community college for 2 years then transfer to a public university and he won't bankrupt mom in the process.

Just like a large percentage of middle class kids do.

But her hubby was Sonny Bono for crissake. He must have been worth millions in royalies alone. WTF is her problem? We all should have that kind of money.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Synnical]

37. Chez has a MySpace.com site - Wow - he's a hottie

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/myspace/bonos-hot-171575.php

hey whats up, for all u who don’t know me my name is Chesare Bono, most people know me as Chez. Son of Mary and Sonny bono, i’ve been born and raised in Palm Springs Cali. I live life on the wild side, i love to party, kick it with the homies, and jam out on the guitar."



Chez Bono's myspace.com

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=12844900

Edit to change subject title

[erpowers]

47. Work Harder

Maybe she should make he study and work (job) harder. It seems like he may be spending too much time partying with friends and playing guitar and not enough time studying and doing other things like community service. Doing community service could help him get a scholarship or he could just do work study like most college student who do not have enough money to pay for college.

[Raster]

62. I hear Cruella Harris is looking for a new boy-toy. Prostitution DOES

run in the family.

[tenshi816]

74. "kick it with the homies"

How profound. Obviously great Stanford material. :rofl:

[FrenchieCat]

38. Has she ever heard of L-O-A-N-S?

I mean, if on her salary she doesn't feel that she can afford it.

My daughter is at Harvard.....and we pay some, and she borrows some.

It's those making under $100,000, especially if there are other kids in the pipeline that need assistance......

If she's making $162,000.....she should be able to "make ends meet".

[Hippo_Tron]

41. That's what I said

She could easily take student loans and then pay them back when she's making a seven figure income as a lobbyist after she retires from congress.

[Doctor_J]

49. Or public schools?

pass this around - it should make great campaign ads for this fall.

[kestrel91316]

39. Let's not anybody forget that this woman was RICH RICH RICH before she

was a Congressmember. Remember, she's SONNY BONO'S WIDOW.

Go cry me a river, sweetie. Then talk to your banker about a HELOC if you still need money. Better yet, send your kid to a PUBLIC UNIVERSITY. UCLA ain't half bad, I hear. Or maybe my old alma mater, Colorado State University.

[Hippo_Tron]

42. That's funny, Russ Feingold returns his pay raises to the treasury

And is worth considerably less than Mary Bono, yet he still somehow manages to make ends meet.

[DoYouEverWonder]

46. She fails to mention

how much her dear husband left her when he died.

I'm sure she's got plenty.

[Maine-ah]

50. *warning rant*

well you know what? FUCK THEM AND THEIR 165K PER FUCKING YEAR! when at fucking 50k per year (combined income with hubbie) with no fucking health insurance, I can bearly make my fucking house payment. I can't pay my fucking credit card that I had no choice but to live off of for a fucking year, and I can't pay my doctors fucking bills either. So they can all fucking bite me!

and on edit

a big fuck 'em for the folks that are way worse off than me, and don't have the voice to say it for themselves. nobody in this fucking country should have to live in poverty.


I say take away our rep's health insurance, and put them all on hourly wages at minium wage.

[Raster]

64. I'm with you. The halls of Congress are filled with PARASITES!

[MissB]

51. Cry me a fucking river, lady.

[UrbScotty]

52. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah (nt)

[Pacifist Patriot]

55. She can kiss my ass.

Single income family putting three kids through college has no sympathy for her plight. It can be done you selfish greedy !@%#^$&.

[caligirl]

56. we are sending two to college this year, one a sr and one a fr. on

a lot less than she is, we get very little in aid and have two older cars we maintain well. A 97 minivan and a 95 ford taurus which will need replacement soon. Bono has to maintain two residences, dc and Southern Cal, I think, but college finacial aid people aren't sympathetic to buying new cars when the kids tuition is on the line. Mary screwed up, its her own fault. finacial aid at 165,000 a year?

She was supposed to have saved some of that income over the past few years for college.

[kskiska]

58. More than you ever wanted to know about Mary Bono in George Mag. article

http://www.rickross.com/reference/scientology/celebrities/celebrities2.html

(snip)

…"I don't have any regrets about the impeachment process. I'd do it again the same way," Bono says evenly but not entirely convincingly. Her vote to remove the president, she says, was "never about sex -- it was about perjury." It's an important distinction for her because she is notably skittish about inquiries into her own life. She rarely misses an opportunity to lament that her role in the impeachment saga has opened her up to the same kind of personal scrutiny Clinton has endured.

(snip)

The children lived in Washington, D.C., with their parents before Sonny died, and Jean (Sonny's mother) became "livid" when she learned the kids would move to Palm Springs with their nanny, while Mary stayed in D.C. "The night I told her not to leave the kids, they all turned against me," Jean says.

"She was angry at me before that," Bono says, challenging Jean's contention and adding that Jean has not seen her grandchildren in a year. "I don't want to get into this war with her. There's no way I can win this. The best thing is for me to let it alone and let her continue with her rage." But Jean's complaint about the children's separation from their mother has struck a chord with some conservative constituents, who have mused on local talk radio whether a mother who sees her children only during weekends and House recesses can be a role model of Republican family values. Still, friends like Marshall Gilbert, a Palm Springs radio talk-show host who was close to Sonny, defend her. "She's a wonderful mother," Gilbert says.

[NJ Democrats]

59. I saw this

and said Bullshit!!! She's making $165K which is a lot more than most make and they can afford to send their kids to college.

[PATRICK]

60. Porbably can't handle

the FAFSA form for getting a government laon.

[coffeenap]

61. I feel such pity--I think she should resign right away and go work for a

lobbyist where she could make real money! I am sure the progressives in her district would support a fine new Representative who would gladly take the figures.

[CPMaz]

71. She's from Palm Springs...

the district where a 'progressive' is someone who thinks diversity is having both a Mexican maid AND a Guatamalan gardener on staff.

In other words - she has job security.

[pnwmom]

65. She actually has enough, because of royalties, but she has a point:

do we want the House and Senate filled only with people with family trusts, etc., to cover these sort of costs? Or should members be paid enough to be able to afford private college on their own ? Without having to come from a rich family ? As they probably would have plenty if they went back into law practice or whatever.

I think it's an okay question to talk about. Given the level of talent and dedication that we would LIKE to see in our reps, and the fact that they have to keep two addresses, are the present salaries adequate to get those people?

[Progressive4Life]

67. Oh, give me a break!

Between my parents and the Federal Pell Grant, I was able to get through four years of undergraduate studies with no problem. Then again, this was during the Clinton years, so go figure.

Grad school, on the other hand, completely wiped me out because I studied in the UK.

[RedG1]

72. she's come a long way ....

Mary Bono, the fourth wife of Sonny Bono whined in a TV Guide interview about Sonny's abuse of painkillers and about their troubled marriage...she lives in a gracious Spanish-style home with a pool in an exclusive Palm Springs gated community...
she worked as a coat check girl for Bono, 27 years her senior, in 1984 at his West Hollywood eatery, 'Bono'...
in 1998, Sonny skidded into a tree and died...the grieving widow ran in a special election and won...
she was the only Republican woman on the House Judiciary Committee when it voted for Bill Clinton's impeachment...
she asked Clinton attorney Gregory Craig if he had small children. "How do you explain to them, she asked, that your President has lied and it's OK?"
"I don't know, Mary. What does your nanny tell them?"...she left her two kids with a nanny back in Palm Springs so she can play Congresswoman.

[OneTwentyoNine]

73. OMG...can we PLEASE set up a DU fund to help this poor woman??

SOAFB...so she's cash strapped at $162K PER YEAR plus perks? Uhhh... Mary, maybe you should haul your ASS out into your district and see what REAL PEOPLE are going though with this fucking administration that you support and applaud. No wage increase,$3-4.00 per gallon gas,high paying jobs swapped for low paying jobs.

My GOD......