Federal or State, there's too much ugly money in government

Thank you, Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee, for your audit of Missouri government, recently released.

Ms. Montee found that "The Missouri House and Senate regularly solicit donations from lobbyists to pay for office parties, gifts and meals..."

Further: "The audits suggest the practice raises conflict-of-interest questions and notes some instances appear to violate state law."

Ya' think?

The more you hear about our Federal and State governments, the more difficult it is to not be cynical.

But this is my favorite revelation from the audit and article in The Kansas City Star today: "The audit found that in the Senate, lawmakers and staffers have solicited donations and banked them in a private account outside the state accounting system since 2003."

Can you say "slush fund"?

"More than 100 lobbyists donated more than $76.000.00 to the account through December2008. Of that, nearly $61,000.00 was spent on Christmas parties, retirement receptions, gifts for senators and staffers and meals for evening work sessions."

And think about this--not only are the legislators and bureaucrats getting "money on the side", so to speak--which is bad enough--but then, like a street cat to a saucer of milk, they get to keep going back to the source--the lobbyists--to get more and more money, again and again.

You don't think that wouldn't make for some relationships you'd want to keep happy?

This way, the government employees of all levels have a vested interest in giving these lobbyists and their organizations--mostly corporations, no doubt--just what they want, legislatively, so they can keep their money pot full.

This is wrong on so many levels it's hard to fathom.

And, of course, it gets continually better, too.

Check this out--"The audit...called the Senate's bank account illegal, because the Missouri Constitution requires all state funds to be 'held and disbursed' by the state treasurer."

This is where it gets good: "The Senate, however, maintains that the money received from lobbyists does not constitute 'state funds' and isn't subject to oversight from the treasurer."

So, basically, folks, what the Senate is saying is 1) "Yeah, sure we've got this money--so what?" and b) "Law or no law, this money is ours and don't mess with us."

Talk about thumbing your nose at Missouri citizens---and our laws.

Sheesh.

These guys have some major cajone's.

This needs to be stopped and it needs to be stopped now.

They should either turn it over to the State Treasurer immediately or give it to a worthy charity right away, be done with it and not repeat it.

We have to get the ugly, corrupting money out of our legislatures and as soon as possible.

It won't happen in Washington anytime soon--until we really raise cane, anyway--but we can push for it.

Oh, and please note---this is why we need metropolitan newspapers of some sort. If we don't have them in some form, we can't keep an eye on our government and keep them "straighter", if not "straight".

Link to article: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics/story/1446445.html