Crony Government

Carol Platt Liebau | February 08, 2012 1:51 PM

How often do people get to use other people's money -- taken from them by force of law -- to benefit (directly or indirectly) the places where their relatives work? The answer would be "never" . . . unless you're a member of Congress.

The Washington Post reports on a disgusting practice of senators and congressmen directing public funds to entities where family members work or sit on boards. Interestingly, all the examples it provides (except for one Republican, Rob Burke) are Democrats: Senator Tim Johnson; Rep. Ed Pastor; Rep. Joe Andrews; Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee; Rep. Dan Lipinski and Rep. Corrine Brown.

Any candidate aiming to portray himself as the "outside the Beltway" contender should certainly be talking about these abuses -- and linking them to a Capitol culture of entitlement, which springs from a too-powerful government taking too much taxpayer money to do too many "good" things with money that isn't theirs.