Former Leicestershire County Council leader David Parsons has been named a runner-up for the national title of Pinhead of the Year.
The award was set up by the TaxPayers' Alliance, which ran a public vote to find the politician who has shown the most disregard for the public's cash.
Coun Parsons was nominated after it emerged he could have saved more than £24,000 of public money had he taken the train on more than 200 trips to London rather than County Hall's chauffeur-driven car.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey took the title after receiving 42.4 per cent of the votes cast.
Lord Patten of Barnes, the chairman of the BBC Trust, and I'm a Celebrity MP Nadine Dorries were also runners-up.
Votes were cast online in the 10 days to Christmas Eve.
The TaxPayers' Alliance also ran a pin up of the year contest for those deemed to have saved public money.
The winner was Tory backbench MP Mark Reckless, who successfully tabled the amendment to a parliamentary motion which saw the House of Commons demand a cut in the European Union budget.
Jonathan Isaby, political director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, a right-of-centre campaign group, said: "We have always believed that as well as making examples of those who have shown a disregard for public money, it is important to recognise those who have sought to do the right thing by taxpayers.
"Our winners and the runners-up for these two awards all either acted in the best interests of taxpayers or showed a disregard for taxpayers' cash over the past 12 months.
The Mercury was unable to contact Councillor Parsons for comment.
Councillor Parsons was also named expenses fiddler of the year in Private Eye magazine's Rotten Borough Awards 2012.
