Early this year Congressional Democrats made history by requiring all “earmarks” – the formerly secret pet projects that politicians love to attach stealthily to pending legislation – be publicly acknowledged. This was part of their campaign against what they called “the culture of corruption.”
The idea behind this exercise in open government was presumably to put the brakes on a process that was out of control, costing taxpayers billions of dollars and making pork appear to be the only meal that politicians seemed interested in serving. You might think that shining light on these shenanigans would shame our elected officials into slowing down.
Well, think again. According to a recent report in The New York Times, earmarks have exploded in 2007. Why? Competition – now that everyone can see how much their peers are bringing home to their districts, they want bigger pieces of the pie. “Everybody hates earmarks, but everybody loves earmarks,” New York Congressman Jose Serrano told The Times. “What’s happened is that the system is more open to the public, to the press and indeed to other members. Of course, when it becomes open to other members, everybody looks around and says, ‘Oh, I could have gotten that for myself.’”
Of course, what looks like the law of unintended consequences probably should have been obvious from the get go. Doing well for your constituents is the key to success. As Representative Nancy Boyda of Kansas said, “Democracy is a contact sport, and I’m not going to be shy about asking for money for my community.”
Whether this is what the founding fathers had in mind is another matter.
Sunshine and open records clearly lead to more open government. But do they lead to better government? Maybe the only real thing we have opened is a can of worms.
I don’t think so. It’s one thing for us to plead ignorance about things that are done in secret. But if we don’t like the way the government operates in full public view, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Transparency is essential to show us the kind of government we have. It is up to us to give ourselves the kind of government we want . . . because in an open democracy we are going to get the kind of government we deserve.
Maybe most of us want a government staffed by lawmakers who are, in the words of Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin, “A.T.M. machines for [their] districts.” I’m betting we have higher aspirations . . . and that watching our representatives make sausage may initially be painful, but it will ultimately lead to change.