A flashback from the land of the aurora borealis:

As some push for a fleet of jets to serve Congress, they might take a precautionary note from the career of Frank Murkowski, a former U.S. senator and governor of Alaska, whose 26-year elective career was ended – somewhat ignominiously–by Sarah Palin. His most visible faux pas, best understood by the electorate: buying a jet.
The voters didn’t like it. No matter that the vehicle doubled for transporting prisoners, perhaps more efficiently across Alaska’s expanse. No matter that the governor found the money, without a new appropriation, and could even argue he saved some. The voters threw him out. Palin put the jet up for sale–on EBay to begin with.
Congress needs a fleet of jets like a fish needs a bicycle. If auto executives, lectured by Congress for jetting in for bailout funds don’t need one, neither do they. Our representatives can ride the red-eyes like the rest of us, scramble for upgrades, too, use political-party funds to hit the hustings, and rely on what the Air Force has now, as is customary, when a trip abroad is necessary. In the meantime, if Congress weren’t trying to shovel so many trillions of dollars into the fire at once–for the stimulus, for health-care, for climate change, for daycare, Congress would go home and stay home. Then we could save a lot of money, starting with half a billion dollars for extra jets.