What did you expect when you gave control of huge piles of money to a small number of people, and you made it your practice to stop in and check on them just once every two years?

A pair of news items in the Washington Post last week illustrate what might be called “the corruption in government.” That’s not corruption in government—an infection of illegal behavior making its way into an otherwise clean system. The corruption in government is the idea that having political leaders take control of wealth is naturally going to cause abuse. Abuse that’s 100% legal, even.

For the first story, the Post did an investigation turning up where members of Congress have directed aid to their home districts in ways that have benefited themselves personally. The story features Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), who directed funds to downtown Tuscaloosa, Alabama, directly adjacent to property he owns.

In addition, the Post looked into whether politicians’ relatives were benefiting from the aid they were sending home. Sure enough, members of Congress are sending federal dollars to organizations where their spouses and children work. Norm Dicks (D-WA) ranks atop this story, having delivered a $1.8 million earmark to the Washington state environmental agency where his son worked as executive director.

We’ve done so much work on earmarks here. It’s a shame to see them still having their corrosive effects.

What to do about all this?

Get mad? Waste of time and energy.

Campaign to get the baddies out of office? You could, but that’s a lot of work without much reward.

Around here, we think the way to fix this problem is to increase transparency. Make this kind of thing easier to figure out for more people and it will be harder for members of Congress to do themselves and their kin favors like this.

A report out of the Cato Institute last September (written by yours truly) discussed the things that Congress and the rest of the federal government to make information about their doings more available. It’s called “Publication Practices for Transparent Government.” Cato has also graded how well Congress publishes information (summary: poorly) and how well the government publishes information about budgeting, appropriating and spending (summary: also poorly).

Reading up on this will help you understand what transparency can do in this area, and we think it can do a lot.

Here on WashingtonWatch.com, we have a petition supporting transparency called “We Want an Orderly and Transparent Congress. Logged-in users can comment on the petition page, where we will begin organizing people when the time is right. The more people signed on to that petition, the better! Tell your friends! Once we reach critical mass, we’ll go to work on pressing Congress to change itself so that the corruption in government is at least minimized.

The site’s a little odd, but you’ll catch on quick: supposed fiscal conservatives who go hunting for money for special projects in their districts. The site is called The Pork Barrel.

A couple of interesting things have happened over the last few weeks that offer an insight into professional politics. It’s all about the spin, baby.

First, consider this: It is pretty much optional for a president to get involved in a weather event like Hurricane Irene. Oh, maybe there’s some political risk to not being out front, but if Hurricane Katrina is any lesson, it’s that getting out front can be a liability. Nobody thinks, “Good job, Bushy” when they recall the president at the time saying, “Good job, Brownie.”

Why do you suppose President Obama made such a point of involving himself and federal resources in battling a weather event that was well handled by states, localities, and people? Because it gave him a chance to be presidential. In a way that he wanted.

Hurricane Irene allowed everyone in the political-watching classes to take a day or two off from the economy and joblessness. President Obama got to reinforce his image as the president-not-presiding-over-a-continuing-bad-economy. And he made the most of it.

The economy is not going away, of course, and President Obama has planned for some time to address the economy in September. An interesting thing happened on the way to the speech, though. He doesn’t seem to have checked with the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives before scheduling his speech in the House chamber for tomorrow, September 7th.

Speaker Boehner said, “Mmmmm, no. Why don’t you come back on Thursday, a night on which there isn’t a Republican presidential debate.” Shorter version: “It’s MY House!”

Political watchers take that as either a notable gaffe on the part of the president and his team, or a notable thumbing-of-the-nose on the part of the House Speaker.

You don’t have to agree with the way we’ve told the story here. Doesn’t matter. All of this goes to the kabuki dance that dominates so much of politics. Who’s up? Who’s down? Who’s getting the best table at the fancy steak house?

When questions like that filter out to the public, it can make the difference. If people generally feel good about a president, he can command a lot more attention, he can move votes in the House and Senate, he can raise more funds. If he doesn’t look all that good, nothing goes as easily.

It’s interesting to watch the politics. We put more emphasis here on the policy. What actually gets into bills and into law matters more. But when that’s not available—and it is really hard, despite us, to follow what goes on—politics is good entertainment.

Unbelievable. With Congress failing to reach a deal that raises the debt ceiling and brings federal spending under control, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance reported this past week that members of Congress receive pay and benefits far in excess of what average working Americans receive.

Along with their $174,000 per year salary, members of Congress also receive generous fringe benefits that brings total compensation to around $285,000 per year. With the average full-time employee in the United States earning $50,875 annually, Members of Congress make 3.4 times more than the average American. Only one country—Japan—pays legislators such high salaries relative to the earnings of the people.

How do salaries get so high?

Well, in the United States, at least, they get so high because the people have failed to oversee the government. Over decades, a large and opaque government has concealed its workings from the people. Maintaining a government that is well-run and responsive to the people has fallen off the priority list. Wealthy, entitled politicians do a singularly bad job of managing the sprawling government they’ve built, and they reward themselves handsomely for the job they do.

There are no quick fixes, and there’s no use in getting mad about it. The people that are going to bring this problem under control are playing the long game. That means learning about government and politics. It means devoting a little time each week to following what is going on. It means organizing with others and contacting representatives regularly with informed opinions.

Here at WashingtonWatch.com, you may notice that we don’t really focus on the day-to-day in budget battles that have been playing out in recent weeks. If you’ve arrived at your interest in public policy just in time to watch a disaster like the debt ceiling debate going on in Washington now, you’ve already lost. There’s nothing you can do about it but scream and cry. And that’s not doing anything about it.

We’ve tried to create some tools to help players of the long game win. We have a free weekly newsletter that highlights what’s going on in Congress every week. We report regularly on the annual spending bills that are moving through Congress right now (see here, here, and here). Communications with your representatives about these bills and what you think of them might change a vote. If your representative isn’t good at responding to your comments and questions, then you know you’re not being served well. You can communicate this to your friends and neighbors, and you can support a different candidate in the next election.

It’s hard to do a good job of even these things, given the lack of good information available. That’s why we started a petition seeking a transparent and orderly Congress. Such a thing will make it easier for the American people to follow along. With a little over 140 signers at this point, that’s not enough interest to start a movement. Nobody except your humble webmaster has commented on the petition. So it awaits the day when 1,000—or 10,000 people—have called for a well-run Congress.

If the subject of this blog post interests you, the petition to prevent Congress getting automatic pay raises has just 35 signers at this point. Maybe the American people don’t care. When 1,000 or more people have signed that one, a campaign to actually do something in this area may actually be worth doing.

For all the anger in the country, we don’t see a lot of the work being done to actually change things. Congress has got your attention. Congress has got you angry. But Congress hasn’t got you committed to playing the long game, the game that will actually change things. And that’s just where they want you to be.

The commentator class is abuzz this week because the Senate is staying in session, cancelling a planned recess around the Fourth of July holiday. (Happy Fourth, everyone, by the way. The fireworks on the national mall were awesome.)

[Update: Daily negotiations continue the week following the cancelled Fourth-of-July-week recess. Here's a recently updated news report from Politico.]

When the Senate changes its schedule, it’s a big deal. Senators don’t like to change their plans. And while each and every one of them are talking to reporters about the importance of the debate in Washington (and the carelessness of the other party), more than a few of them are really angry about not getting to be in their home states—yes, to meet with constituents, but also to go to their lake houses, or to their beach houses, and other nice places that they own. Senators lean toward the wealthy side, you know.

What does staying in Washington mean on a political level? (Read the story at the link for more background.) It means that both parties think it’s a good time to fight about taxes, spending, and the debt limit. When both parties think they can win a fight, well, katy-bar the door, it’s time to fight!

(We’ve written about different aspects of this debate here and here and here.)

The outcome of this debate will steer the direction of the country as we move into the next presidential election. Will Democrats win the debate with their sensible argument that it is time to increase revenue and control debt? Or will Republicans win the debate with their principled argument that it is time to control spending? This really is a fascinating political moment. (It also has the quality of children fighting in the sandbox. The biggest debates always do.)

And if you care about the country, you are obliged to participate. If you do not have an opinion, you need to follow this link because the material there is what you need to see. If you have an opinion, follow this link to find your senators’ contact info and this link to find your House member’s contact info. Then let them know: “I want sensible revenue increases to control the debt” or “I want principled spending reductions to control the debt.”

If you fail to contact your representatives in Congress, don’t come crying to this blog or anyone else when things don’t go the way you want. For that matter, don’t come crying if you haven’t signed the petition asking for a transparent and orderly Congress. (When critical mass is reached—that’s 1,000 or maybe 10,000 signatures, things will start to happen. Nothing will if you don’t take the small step of showing that you care.) Don’t come crying if you haven’t told your friends and colleagues about the information you get here on this site, and how you use it to oversee your government.

The Fourth of July holiday is a great time to celebrate our country and the blessings of liberty. The Senate will be working through the week on the issues that they think make political hay. It’s time for you to put in some work on making the country follow the course you think is best.

H.R. 2162 would deny retirement benefits accrued by an individual as a Member of Congress if he or she is convicted of certain offenses.

Too bad it doesn’t apply to doing a bad job…

When a politician’s public positions conflict with his private behavior, we call it hypocrisy. For all its interesting points (and its ripeness for bad puns), the Anthony Weiner story has not been a significant policy story, until now…because Representative Weiner (D-NY) is a hypocrite.

So, yeah, we’re loathe to talk about pure politics much here. Too many people focus on personalities, who’s up/who’s down, and election horse races, and they ignore that Congress is passing bills that do important things, like spending your tax money.

But enough of a policy angle on the Anthony Weiner scandal has emerged. The sleuthing of “Internet lawyer” Mike Young has turned it up.

You see, in 2008, Representative Weiner co-sponsored a bill called the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act (or “KIDS” Act). (The Senate version passed, becoming Public Law 110-400)

According to Young, Weiner had this to say about the bill.

Sadly, the Internet is the predator’s venue of choice today. We need to update our strategies and our laws to stop these offenders who are a mere click away from our children.

A click away, huh? You don’t say.

Now, many facts about the Weiner story are unknown, and it is not at all clear that he “victimized” any children in a serious way. But he appears to have been privately exploring Internet sexuality with women far younger than himself while publicly deploring “predation” that is just a little further along the same line of behavior. The hypocrite factor makes this a story worth discussing. We don’t necessarily think politicians are an honorable bunch in general, but the hypocrisy on substantive policy makes Rep. Anthony Weiner a pig not just in his personal life but in his policy positioning.

Now, we’ve gone looking for more hypocrisy in the bills he’s introduced in the current Congress. And we have not found any!

But below are a list of the bills he has sponsored. You should assess what you think of them and vote or comment on them, because it’s important not to get too distracted from substantive policy by the push and pull of politics and scandal.

H.R. 438 – The Energy Star Improvements Act of 2011

H.R. 792 – Residential and Commuter Toll Fairness Act of 2011

H.R. 1027 – Father Mychal Judge, O.F.M., Congressional Gold Medal Act

H.R. 1028 – Equal Access to COBRA Act of 2011

H.R. 1118 – Social Security Protection Act of 2011

H.R. 1119 – National Nurse Act of 2011

H.R. 1468 – Honest Services Restoration Act

H.R. 1662 – Bank Accessibility Act

H.R. 1680 – Transportation Flexible Savings Accounts Act of 2011

H.R. 1839 – Community Pharmacy Fairness Act of 2011

H.R. 1896 – COPS Improvements Act of 2011

H. Con. Res. 12 – Expressing the sense of Congress that an appropriate site on Chaplains Hill in Arlington National Cemetery should be provided for a memorial marker to honor the memory of the Jewish chaplains who died while on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States.

H. Con. Res. 56 would express the sense of Congress that Members of Congress, the President, and the Vice President should donate their salaries to the Treasury for reducing the national debt if members of the Armed Forces do not receive pay or allowances because of a shutdown of the Federal Government or because the Government is unable to fund such pay and allowances because the public debt limit has been reached.

H. J. Res. 65 would propose an amendment to the Constitution to prohibit candidates for Congress from accepting contributions from individuals who do not reside in their state or congressional district.

Why not put politicians on probation when they first get to Washington?

A WashingtonWatch.com user has put this interesting idea up as a petition. Newly elected officials seem to go native from the moment they arrive. So how about putting them on probation to let them know they’ll get an early exit if they don’t represent constituents well?

The petition is called “Help Us Save Our Hides!”

We wrote about some similar ideas in our review of the book, “A Better Congress: Change the Rules, Change the Results.”

Probation for politicians. That’s the kind of original thinking that we created petitions for! If you like the idea, sign on, and then follow the instructions, using our handy tools to tell your friends!