The Scandals of Special Interests & Exaggerated Reporting

The Washington Post has rightly exposed the inexcusable in government, and dragged some of the more defensible down with them

The majority of us in Britain despise our politicians. The record of broken promises, self-promotion and dodgy expenses has taken its toll and our Parliament is largely held in contempt. However, the loathing we feel towards our legislative body is as nothing to the seething hatred that Americans feel towards theirs.

Congressional job approval ratings currently sit at an average of 13.2%, whilst 82.4% disapprove. This is why you will constantly hear Republican candidates trying to distance themselves from Congress and Washington. Even Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address a fortnight ago, implicitly separated himself from the “Washington” machine and Congress.

Now, The Washington Post has uncovered a new scandal of special interests in the actions of 33 congressmen and women earmarking $300 million dollars of federal money to projects near to their homes. It also found 16 lawmakers who secured funds for various companies, institutions and projects to which they had a family connection.

The article makes some examples explicit:

“A congressman from Georgia [Jack Kingston, a Republican] secured $6.3 million in taxpayer funds to replenish the beach about 900 feet from his island vacation cottage. A representative from Michigan [Candice Miller, a Republican] earmarked $486,000 to add a bike lane to a bridge within walking distance of her home.”

Representative Shelia Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, secured millions of dollars for the University of Houston. Undoubtedly, it is a worthy cause like many others, all of which were not headed by her husband at the time. Did she make that decision with a balanced view of the needs of all her constituents? Could she have done so? Frank A. LoBiondo, a New Jersey Republican Representative, earmarked $4.68mn for “beach monitoring and nourishment” on a stretch of coast which includes his holiday home.

Corinne Brown, a Democrat Representative from Florida, supported $21.9mn for clients of a lobbying firm where her daughter worked. Representative Gary Miller, a Republican from California got $1.28mn dollars for a project which included the improvement of an access road leading to a residential and retail development he co-owns with a campaign donor. Certainly, there are some highly suspicious and dispiriting examples here.

However, not all of the examples are fair. For example, there are surely justifications for funding an urban regeneration project regardless of whether or not it is close to your office building or not. One can certainly understand outrage at the nepotism and self-beneficial policies that some have pursued, but one reads the article and begins to think that a lot of these have just been selected to be reduced to one line which looks more shocking than the whole story actually is. Take Candice Miller, who was referenced above; her defence was that she had done what her constituents had wanted. “Should I have told them, 'We can never have this bike path complete because I happen to live by one section of it'? They would have thrown me out of office,” she said. Her constituents will be the ultimate judges.

The Post’s article is an example of some of the best and worst of modern day journalism. Some of those in the report deserved to be brought to account, but some have been jumped upon and condemned with little consideration of all of the facts. The public deserve better reporting in order to make their own minds up.