Today there’s good governmental news (yes, really). Also there’s bad governmental news (yes, really).
Good before bad, always … spoons full of sugar, and all that:
Following a series of articles in the Wall Street Journal (and expounded upon by our founding editor) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered Representatives’ expense reports to be posted online.
And so beginning August 31, the public will have “point and click” access to tax dollars spent by House members on their luxury car leases, free political mailings and what not.
Now, this is and isn’t as significant as it seems.
You see, the expense breakdowns have always been available for review – if you’re willing to hopscotch over to Capitol Hill to sift through the reams of paper records.
And so – double whammy – transparency meets accessibility.
That Pelosi – she’s quite the pioneer.
Snark aside, any move toward transparency is a step forward, obviously, even if, as in this case, it’s way past due.
So, good news.
Pelosi’s spokes-bot assures us that the speaker’s order is unrelated to the WSJ’s expenditure examination. Reading between the lines, founding editor and former spokes-bot Sic Willie assures us that it’s absolutely related to the Journal’s investigation.
Which means that the media really does make a difference every once in a while.
More good news.
The bad news?
The expenses on which these reports are based are too high. Way, way too high.
Members of Congress can spend up to $4.5 million dollars annually to manage their offices.
Excuse us? Real “change we can believe in” would have been a cut in that allowance. Frankly, transparency’s not all it’s cracked up to be when the reveal is bad. We’d rather not know that Pelosi spent, say, $16,000 on fresh-cut flowers … in a nine-month period, no less.
The way we see it, if ignorance is bliss then apathy is ecstasy. In which case, we’d be downright apathetic about transparency for transparency’s sake.
How’s about trim the fat, then show us what’s underneath.
