Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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The Other White Meat

Friday, July 13, 2001

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From Ft. Collins, Colorado

The Democratic colleagues of Congressman Gary Condit's, who is a Democrat from California, according to a Washington Post piece by John Lancaster and Juliet Eilperin, are now in the uncomfortable position of defending him because if Condit (D) were to resign now, there would be a special election to replace him; an election the GOP would have an excellent shot at winning.

The 18th District is strongly Republican - having voted for George W. Bush - even though Condit himself is a Democrat.

It is in the Democrats' interests if Condit (D-CA-18) can hold on for the next 18 months waiting until the Democrat-controlled State Legislature and the Democratic Governor gerrymander the District into one more favorable to a Democratic replacement.

So, the Democrats in Congress are defending one of their own; a Democrat who for nearly 10 weeks, while "not a suspect," kept the cops, and Chandra Levy's folks, from knowing the truth, and forcing his staff to lie about the missing young woman with whom he had an affair.

Given a choice between doing what is right and doing what helps them politically the Democrats in Congress have made exactly the same choice as Condit himself made before he was forced to tell the truth: Politics over Right.

Here's what Minority-Leader-For-Life Dick Gephardt said to the Post: "Gary is doing what he should be doing, which is trying to cooperate with the police in every possible way to help them find this young woman. That has to be the focus of all this."

The GOP should be on the phone with every reporter who covers every Democrat in the House SUGGESTING that reporters ask that Democrat what more information it would take for him or her to call for Condit's resignation.

If the Democrats are willing to play politics with this situation, they ought to be forced to pay a political price.

If Condit were a Republican, reporters would have thought of this all on their own. They would be clamoring for the GOP House Leadership to justify how they could to continue support someone like Gary Condit. If he were a Republican. Which, by the way, he is not.

The spending season is beginning in Your Nation's Capital. Remember the book you got in 7th grade: "How a Bill Becomes Law"?

Most of it was wrong, but if you read it you know that the spending process is broken down into three large chunks:
- The Budget Process - which sets general spending and income
parameters;
- The Authorization Process - which lays out the actual programs the
government thinks are important; and,
- The Appropriations Process - which provides the funds for the
programs which were previously Authorized.

Often the edges between these processes are fuzzy; often the processes overlap; often the processes are ignored.

Our friends in the media have been positively gleeful in their reporting that the highly prized budget surplus is shrinking.

The implication is that it is the fault of the tax cut, which is now fully 13 days old, but, in addition to the flat economy, a major reason the surplus is shrinking is new government spending.

Here's where the problem lies: Members of the House and the Senate - Republicans and Democrats - have tagged little projects for their home districts and their home states which about total $280 BILLION dollars. That's a two and an eight followed by 10 zeros.

This is called Pork Barrel legislation. But at these levels it is more like Pork Cask, Pork Vat, or Pork Tank.

The Congress spending $280 Billion next year comes to a little over $767 Million per (are you ready for this) DAY! Seven days a week. Whether they're in session or not.

The 2000 census puts the US population at about 280 million. I love this. The math is going to come out even. That comes to $1,000 for every single person in the country.

If the Congress has found an additional thousand dollars per person to spend, why isn't there an additional thousand dollars per person available for an IMMEDIATE tax cut?

Mitch Daniels, Director of the Office of Management and Budget said in testimony to the Senate Budget Committee this week on the shrinking surplus:
"[We must] work together to continue restraining total spending
in the next few years. Businesses, states, cities, and families
have no hesitation to limit their spending when revenues subside."

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