Corona, CA: Big Spender?

A new report on congressional spending placed Inland Rep. Ken Calvert among the top House members in terms of the amount of cash they shelled out last year for things such as staff salaries, travel expenses and official mailers.

Calvert's 2010 expenditures through his "Member Representational Allowance" totaled $1,474,444.48 -- more than the vast majority of the House's 435 members, according to the report issued by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan Washington-based group that promotes transparency in government.

Rebecca Rudman, a spokeswoman for Calvert, R-Corona, attributed the number to multiple factors. She noted that Calvert's district, which includes Corona, Riverside, Norco and part of Orange County, has grown faster than all but one California district since representational lines were last drawn 10 years ago.

The growth has left the district with roughly 140,000 too many people, which has resulted in "intensive constituent outreach," Rudman said. Also, she said, Calvert travels from Washington to the district virtually every week, racking up plenty of travel expenses. The long distance is one reason why several California lawmakers are near the top of the list.

Calvert has trimmed his office's budget by 5 percent, and he hasn't given his staff a raise in 2010 or 2011, Rudman said.