POLITICAL CORRUPTION: NOT JUST ABOUT ABRAMOFF

From the Houston Chronicle editorial board:

A state commission to curb homebuilder
abuses proves to be a deck stacked in favor
of the industry it is supposed to regulate

When Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn issued a report last week criticizing the Texas Residential Construction Commission as a shield for politically-connected homebuilders, she could have been reading from a column the Chronicle's Clay Robison wrote last March.

Headlined "No place like home for this cuddly Austin lapdog," Robison's piece characterized the creation of the TRCC as a boon for homebuilders who had contributed millions of dollars to state lawmakers. In return, the law creating the commission required aggrieved homeowners to go through a costly, time-consuming arbitration before they could take legal action against contractors. It also limited damages that plaintiffs could receive.

The commission itself has no enforcement powers to discipline industry violators. Law requires the nine-member body to include four industry representatives and two "public" gubernatorial appointees. Gov. Rick Perry chose to appoint as a public member an executive of Perry Homes, owned by Houston megabuilder Bob Perry. He's not related to Gov. Perry by blood but linked through a $100,000 campaign contribution he gave the state's top executive less than a month before the TRCC appointment.

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And from the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Millions in Iraq aid squandered

Iraqi money gambled away in the Philippines. Thousands spent on a swimming pool that was never used. An elevator repaired so poorly that it crashed, killing people.

A U.S. government audit found American-led occupation authorities squandered tens of millions of dollars that were supposed to be used to rebuild Iraq through undocumented spending and outright fraud.

In some cases, auditors recommend criminal charges be filed against the perpetrators. In others, it asks the U.S. ambassador to Iraq to recoup the money.

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From the local level, to the state level, to national and international issues, our political leaders are wildly corrupt. That is, the nation's business is now such an enormous criminal enterprise that it would make Vito Corleone blush. The homebuilder regulatory board in Texas is par for the course. Across the board, across the country. For the last thirty years or so, businesses have made it their business to buy their way into the agencies that are supposed to watch over them, not only making them useless from a regulatory standpoint, but turning them into cash bonanzas for the very industries they are supposed to regulate. Insurance, health care and pharmaceuticals, music, film, cars, oil, you name it, all of them have more governmental power over what they do than voters, and, lest I offend any libertarians with such a statement, I'm talking about the power to rip people off, to sell them unsafe products, to pollute the environment. The wasted millions in Iraq is no surprise either. From the moment the Pentagon started handing out no-bid contracts immediately after the illegal invasion of Iraq to White House friends and cronies, it was utterly clear that the US had no intention of actually rebuilding the war devastated nation. No, this was all about the spoils of war. Unfortunately, innocent Iraqis weren't the only victims; the American taxpayer has also been conquered, raped and pillaged. Just think about how many billions have gone to well connected interests when you're doing your taxes next month. That's your money. Our vaunted "democracy" is a total joke, and we're all the punchline.

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