Senate rules allow senators to hitch rides on cushy private airplanes if they reimburse their benefactor at the rate for a corresponding first-class ticket. Of course, if you or I were to try to hire a private jet by using the same rationale -- and wad of cash -- we'd get the jet door slammed in our faces. The private jet costs more to run than that.

So, even though they don't like to admit it, when politicians take these cushy rides, they're getting a subsidy from rich people who would like to influence policy.

This issue has been raised recently because shareholders of data company InfoUSA Inc. are suing executive Vinod Gupta because he's allegedly allowed the corporate jet to be used excessively by the Bill and Sen. Hillary Clinton -- to the tune of $900,000. Allegedly that's after taking into account the first-class equivalent ticket that the good senator has been reimbursing the company.

I note this story not because Clinton has done anything wrong per se, but because I want to take issue with this statement when she was asked about the issue:

``Those were the rules. You'll have to ask somebody else whether that's good policy,'' she said.

Why do I have to ask someone else. You're a senator. These are Senate policies made by ... President Bush? No, they're made by the Senate.

Senator Clinton, do you think it's a good policy?