Ex-Presidents' Benefits

Tidbits from yesterday's Toledo Blade story on the cost to taxpayers of supporting former presidents:

• Ex-presidents’ personal allowances (including Secret Service protection) totaled $370 million from 1977 to 2000.
• Presidential pensions, which are are tied to salaries of Cabinet officers, will reach $188,000 per year in 2007.
• Before his death in late December, Gerald Ford spent more than any other former president on office supplies in 2006: $17,000.
• Bill Clinton's phone bill last year was $75,000 -- more than any of the other ex-presidents by $60,000.
• The federal government provides office space and staff to former presidents for as long as they live. Staff salaries are capped at $96,000 per year. The staffers are not official federal employees, but are eligible for federal health and retirement benefits.