GOP Phony Earmarks Reform! Jack Calls House App. Comm. "FAVOR FACTORY"!

[Dems Will Win]

Great Op-Ed from USA Today (actually I heard there was $64 billion in earmarks in 2005!):

Our view on Capitol corruption: At Congress' 'favor factory,' revolving door keeps spinning


Lobbyists prosper and public loses; ‘earmarks’ rule change is fake reform.

...

In a Congress better known for corruption than legislating, earmarks are one of the seamiest parts of a broken process. Lobbyists channel campaign funds from their clients to lawmakers. And lawmakers earmark money to projects that benefit those clients.

The losers are companies that refuse to "pay to play" and the public, which gets stuck with the bills.

Earmarks themselves are nothing new. But they used to involve mostly pork-barrel public-works projects that lawmakers steered to their home districts. These days, they have become expensive favors for well-connected industries and companies. Earmarks topped $60 billion in this fiscal year's 11 regular spending bills, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, triple the total when Republicans took control of Congress in 1994.

At the beginning of this year, GOP congressional leaders vowed to curb influence-peddling, including the use of earmarks. Their zeal was fueled by the Abramoff scandal and a bribery case involving Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif. The latest chapter of the Abramoff scandal played out Friday, when Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. Ney accepted luxury trips and other benefits in return for helping Abramoff's clients.

While this latest criminal case underscores the need for wholesale lobbying reform, Congress has opted for minimalism.

Last week, the House took the tiniest step imaginable to deal with earmarks. One of the worst aspects of earmarking is that lawmakers often do it secretly. Under a new rule, hailed by Rep. Brian Bilbray and other sponsors as a big deal, members will have to own up to earmarks they sponsor.

Wow. It took nearly nine months for the House to make members do what they should have been doing all along. And even this rule is riddled with loopholes: It doesn't apply to 10 spending bills already passed by the House this year. Nor does it do anything to lock the revolving door that allows people like White to get rich selling access to the people they used to work for.

A spokesman for White says there is no reason to single her out from among the many Appropriations Committee staffers who become lobbyists, lobby their former committee and find financial rewards.

That is precisely the problem.


http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/09/post_13.html

Here's the favor factory quote: "Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., now chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff used to call the "favor factory."

Please RECOMMEND and write letters to the Editor. The DEMS need to play this GOP mistake on earmarks reform up BIG-TIME. Let's get the Echo chamber rolling!

FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY FAVOR FACTORY

[Dems Will Win]

1. Jack this up!

[The Deacon]

2. K & R n/t

[calimary]

3. I'll kick it.

Just another republi-CON scandal we should be trumpeting.

[Dems Will Win]

5. People need to keep this up at the top

Help me out - I have to work for a living!

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Me, too

!!