A More Ethical Congress? Yeah Right…

Last November the Democrats ran on the basis that the Republican’s were unethical and it was time to clean up the mess. Well, they might have been right on the first part, 14 years of power has a corrupting influence, but the second part was an outright lie.

Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify “earmarks” — lawmakers’ requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.
Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.

So they come in saying that earmarks, or legislation that provides huge amounts of pork to their district, will have to be announced and have the Congressman’s name on them for the media, then later on they go right back sneaking billions of dollars into the pockets of their supporters.

As Instapundit has said “Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss.”

Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., says those requests for dams, community grants and research contracts for favored universities or hospitals will be added to spending measures in the fall. That is when House and Senate negotiators assemble final bills.
Such requests total billions of dollars.
As a result, most lawmakers will not get a chance to oppose specific projects as wasteful or questionable when the spending bills for various agencies get their first votes in the full House in June. via  Yahoo! News.