PORK, POLITICIANS & THE PUBLIC

Just when everyone was hoping against hope that our professional politicians had learned the obvious lessons of the Congressional elections of 2006 the story that follows emerges into the light of day.

Voters ran Republicans out of the majority because they were spending like the proverbial 'drunken sailors', using so many earmarks to pass out the pork that Americans were appalled (something relatively hard to achieve given the track record of Congress).

The Democrats came to power swearing on their honor (think about that for a minute) that the massive pork barrel spending would come to a screeching halt because, after all, the public could trust them to do the right thing as opposed to those sneaky Republicans.

Well, it turns out that the Dem's can be trusted about as far as we can throw them. Knowing how the voters felt they worked their magic out of the public view so that they could have their pork and eat it to.

So who can really be trusted? Answer: not politicians since they always consistently do what ever is required to bilk taxpayers. And they could care less about what we think as long as they get what they want and continue to be reelected so that they can always feed at the publicly financed trough.

No wonder Congress is rated lower in all the polls, by a meaningful amount, than is the President.

What to do? The immediate and direct solution is to do away with career politicians and our supposed "political class". How? Easy: never again vote for an incumbent regardless of party, endorsements, faux political expertise or perceived 'value' to your local area. Radical yes but our system was intended to be populated by citizen legislators, not career political hacks. We need to return to the intent of the founders and stop this madness.


Earmarks After Dark

Remember those Congressional pledges of earmark reform? Democrats are hoping you don't, as they try to pull a fast one and evade President Bush's pledge to block these special-interest spending projects slipped into legislation without scrutiny.

The battle is over the $601 billion defense authorization bill, which the House passed last week, 384-23. Earmarks are supposed to be included in the text of legislation. Instead, the Members have "airdropped," in Beltway parlance, a huge number of them into the conference report that accompanies the bill. And, to ensure that the money is spent on these dark-of-night additions, the Members have included language insisting that federal agencies do so.

This is a blatant attempt to override Mr. Bush's executive order earlier this year on earmarks. That order took direct aim at "airdropped" earmarks on grounds that they lack the force of law. If Members think their projects are defensible, then put them into actual legislation and vote on them. But because this can be politically embarrassing – think "bridge to nowhere" – Members prefer to slip their pork into the conference reports that offer instructions on implementation. These reports are written by staff members, aren't debated or voted on by Members, and aren't signed by the President.

In theory, federal agencies could ignore these earmarks. In practice, agencies go along for fear of retribution in the next round of budgeting. Mr. Bush's executive order was intended to stop this Congressional intimidation and force more spending transparency.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats rode to the majority in 2006 in part on their pledge to reform runaway earmarking. They've since backtracked, instituting weak rules on transparency, and refusing a challenge to join Republicans in a one-year earmark moratorium. Now that Democrats run the show, they are as eager as Tom DeLay to spend and re-elect. Democrats are so determined to keep on earmarking that they refused even to allow a vote on an amendment by Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) to kill the provision overriding the President's order.

The White House says Mr. Bush will veto the bill if it includes this new Democratic license for secret earmarking. If House Republicans want to improve their standing with the voting public this election year, they'll also take on this Beltway business as usual.

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