Adding Insult to Injury

Unless you've been vacationing in a cave on the outskirts of Ulan Bator for the last month or so, you have heard about the huge scandal of the $800,000 GSA conference in Las Vegas, at which the entertainment included clowns and mind-readers.

The fact that a public servant would spend this sort of money frivolously is bad enough, but the disaster is compounded by the additional fact that the scandal comes to light in an election year, giving each party a heaven-sent opportunity to fulminate about the shortcomings of the other.


And possibly the worst outcome is the one that is the most predictable ...


Yes, Dear Readers, Congress has sprung into action to rectify the situation by

SCHEDULING HEARINGS ...

According to this article in yesterday's Washington Post, hearings on the infamous "Clown Conference" have been scheduled by the following Congressional committees:


1. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee;


2. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee;


3. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; and,


4. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee.


And as if that weren't enough, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine believes that the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee should hold hearings as well, because she believes "(the) Committee is uniquely situated to examine what appear to be numerous violations of acquisition rules and policy identified by GSA’s Inspector General.”

If you were counting, that's now five - count 'em - five hearings to study the same event.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of Congressional hearings, here's what happens:


1. Individual members of Congress schedule news conferences at which, with great fanfare, they gravely tell their constituents how seriously they take their responsibility for proper management of the public trust.


2. Subpoenas are issued to reluctant witnesses.


3. Witnesses schedule news conferences to tell the public how much they are looking forward to setting the record straight.


4. At the hearings, hapless witnesses sit under the stare of television cameras and radiate contrition as they are browbeaten by grandstanding members of Congress.


5. Members of Congress on the investigating committees take turns blaming the inept and wrongheaded policies of the other party for what went wrong.


6. Everybody goes home and everything is forgotten until the next scandal, at which steps 1-5 are repeated.


I don't know about you, but I think this is a dreadful waste of time, money, and effort that could be better spent addressing real problems, like health care reform, the budget deficit, tax reform, and investigating the actual citizenship status of every member of Congress and potential presidential candidate. Do we need to investigate how a travesty like the Clown Conference could happen? Absolutely. Do we need four ... maybe five ... separate grandstanding Congressional committees to do it? Absolutely not.


Have a good day. Let your elected reprehensive know what you expect of him or her ... even if it's not much.


More thoughts tomorrow.


Bilbo