2 replies to this topic

[Dave Burrell]

What Congress Bought Itself With Your $1 Billion

(July 21) -- Congress requires a lot of stuff to keep itself running. Like coffee. And plane tickets. And student loan payments.

That's the point underscored (and underscored again) by figures collated by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that uses technology to try to make government more transparent. In early June the organization released its latest massive data dump on the expenditures that House representatives make from their Members Representational Allowances, or MRAs. Separate from campaign accounts, which have to be filled through fundraising, these sums -- ranging from $1.3 million to $1.9 million in most cases -- come from taxpayers' dollars and are meant to cover a lawmaker's operating, rather than political, expenses. Paying for an attack ad with your MRA is a no-no, for instance.

Read the entire report here - it's an eye opener...

http://www.aolnews.c...itself/19522761

[Folsom Guy]

What Congress Bought Itself With Your $1 Billion

(July 21) -- Congress requires a lot of stuff to keep itself running. Like coffee. And plane tickets. And student loan payments.

That's the point underscored (and underscored again) by figures collated by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit that uses technology to try to make government more transparent. In early June the organization released its latest massive data dump on the expenditures that House representatives make from their Members Representational Allowances, or MRAs. Separate from campaign accounts, which have to be filled through fundraising, these sums -- ranging from $1.3 million to $1.9 million in most cases -- come from taxpayers' dollars and are meant to cover a lawmaker's operating, rather than political, expenses. Paying for an attack ad with your MRA is a no-no, for instance.

Read the entire report here - it's an eye opener...

http://www.aolnews.c...itself/19522761

It sure is aweful....now combine that with the state, county and city govt and legislature bodies and you have one huge mess. City of Dell in SoCal is a glaring example of such malfeasance and waste.

But, what I don't understand is the comment from Maxine who's blaming the current administration. Not sure if she knows or understands about our govt system and the difference between executive and legislature.

But, here's the nugget I picked up from the link:

$114,925
Amount the Democratic Caucus paid for its staff to have a getaway for the weekend to set the caucus' 2009 legislative agenda at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va.
$362,939
Amount that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert received to run an office for outstanding affairs from his tenure. Hastert hasn't been the speaker since early 2007 (or even been in Congress since late 2007)

The only connection Hastert has with the current administration is that he's from the great state of IL.

But, is it sane to blame the current administration for the shenanigans of a Republican ex-Speaker of the House?