Congressman Elton Gallegly (R-Thousand Oaks) refused a newspaper’s request to reveal his plans to add earmarks to the federal budget, but recently criticized others who keep their earmarks secret.
Gallegly, Reps. Jerry Lewis of Redlands, Howard “Buck” McKeon of Santa Clarita, and Gary Miller of Brea recently signed a petition calling for Democrats to do more to reveal the names of lawmakers adding earmarks to legislation.
However, each of these representatives declined to reveal their own pet projects.
According to the article in the L.A. Daily News, an aide from Gallegly’s office “noted the petition called for public disclosure of projects approved for funding, not those still under consideration.”
This is splitting hairs. What does Gallegly have to hide?
It is just another example of Republican hypocrisy at work.
But lest we get too smug, even some Democrats are guilty of the same sort of obfuscation. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena), for example, has been on record criticizing a Republican bill to match lawmakers with earmarks as not going far enough, but refuses to release his own list of earmarks.
“I strongly believe that all projects funded by Congress should be disclosed,” he told the Daily News.
The key here is the word “funded.” Many lawmakers feel that they need not disclose their earmarks until they receive funding.
The advantages of this strategy for lawmakers are that they do not offend constituents when their efforts to fund earmarks fail and that they do not appear to be favoring one earmark over another.
However, this lack of transparency indicates a shortage of courage on the part of these members of Congress. And courage is exactly the quality we need in our representatives, who make the vital decisions daily that we have to live with.
Earmarks, it should be noted, are not uniformly bad. Some, like efforts to fund improvements in the Los Angeles River, for example, help support noble efforts.
Others, like the infamous Alaskan “bridge to nowhere,” waste taxpayers’ money. These projects are rightly called pork. Even that is being generous.
“If they [members of Congress] are endorsing a project as a good expenditure for federal money, they have an obligation to tell their constituents, ‘This is what I’m supporting. This is what I think we should be spending our tax dollars on,’ ” said Steve Ellis, spokesman for Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Refusing to disclose earmarks in advance “shows at least some level of contempt for their constituents,” he said.
Amen to that.
Congressman Gallegly, we have a right to know what you’re up to. Release your plans for earmarks without delay.
