13 May 2009

So Much For Transparancy

The message is clear - 'We run the government and have no duty to show you regular slobs how we play the game.'

An extra layer of earmark transparency established by the House Appropriations Committee will not be adopted by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for the massive transportation authorization bill the panel plans to take up later this year.

Transportation Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) will not require Members to post their earmark wish lists at the time their requests are made, his spokesman said, which was a new Appropriations requirement this year. In a letter sent May 4, (Transportation ranking member John) Mica and Oberstar merely asked Members to “please post requests for projects” on their Web sites.

Oh yea, 'please voluntarily post your own earmark requests on you own site.' I'll bet that'll work great in Washington DC.

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said following basic House rules was no longer enough. “The bar has been moved higher by another Democratic chairman,” he said. “The most infamous earmark of all came from this committee, and they aren’t going to be completely transparent. The Appropriations Committee has proven Members can do it — nobody died,” Ellis said.
Oberstar has been mucking up the works for 34 years; turning him out is so overdue.

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