House vote gives more scrutiny to pet projects

From the New York Times via the Houston Chronicle:

The House voted Friday to pull the shadowy tradition of congressional earmarking into the daylight, requiring lawmakers to attach their names to the pet items they slip into spending or tax bills and certify that they have no financial interest in the provisions.

More than any of several ethics rules adopted by the House this week, the earmark measure could prevent the kind of corruption that led to several big scandals in recent years, including former Rep. Randall Cunningham's sale of earmarks to government contractors for cash, gifts and campaign contributions.

The cost of congressional earmarks has tripled in the last 12 years, to more than $64 billion annually. Some lawmakers treated their share of that money as personal accounts to dole out to constituents or, in many cases, campaign contributors.

And

"I'm pleased that Democrat leaders agree with Republicans that earmark reform is a critical issue," said Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader.

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Hmm. If Republicans think this is "a critical issue," then why did this kind of spending triple over the twelve years they ran Congress? Just something to think about.

Anyway, whether it's called "earmarking" or the more old-school "pork barrel spending," it's straight out of the corrupt former Louisiana governor Huey Long's political play book: spend taxpayer money so lavishly on your own constituentcy that reelection is assured. And it's bullshit. Not only does it give an unfair advantage to incumbents, not only does it amount to a somewhat sophisticated form of vote-buying, or more simply bribery, but it is also a tremendous waste of tax dollars, which is why it's so damned funny that the practice got so wild under the supposedly money-smart GOP. At any rate, despite the fact that the practice will probably continue in some other form, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Now, what I want to know is how long the Dems will be able to resist keeping their hands out of the cookie jar. I give 'em two years, tops.

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