Vitter Pays The Price

Original Link: http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/Louisiana/Politics/Louisiana_Vitter_Omnibus_Jindal_Obama_Earmarks__And_Spam__8502.asp

By Stephen Sabludowsky

Based upon a Washington Post column, it appears that Louisiana U.S. Senator David Vitter got what he wanted—attention, but might have lost in the long run.

Vitter has often used political theater to attract attention to emotional issues so he can grab a microphone and push his own personal career. This week was no different.

Vitter attempted to hold up the Omnibus bill that would fund government so that he could push his populist “stop the pay raise” cry.

The pay raise amendment was tied to the Omnibus bill and could have killed the legislation.

According to the Post, the Senate Leader, Harry Reid offered his own amendment to which Vitter objected.

An exchange occurred where Democrats questioned Vitter’s motives for his legislation and Senator Vitter questioned whether the House would bring up the issue.

Here is the column “Play With Pay Scheme” that explains the details and does not put Senator Vitter in the best of light. Ironically, Governor Jindal keeps reminding us how the days of Louisiana political notoriety is a thing of the past and that he wants to be a boring governor. Yet, he has supported Senator Vitter who continues to give Louisiana a horrible reputation. Governor Jindal could stand by his principles and show the world that Louisiana’s reputation does indeed matter by using his clout to disassociate himself from the US Senator. Will that happen? Probably not, unless another republican such as Secretary of State, Jay Dardenne, jumps into the ring. Dardenne has fared well against Vitter in a recent Politico poll.

Surplus and Education

Obama and Earmarks

While President Barack Obama will obviously sign the Omnibus legislation, he feels the process of earmarks should change. Obama feels that the Omnibus legislation was last year’s bill and that he is offering a process in going forward for the future. Today, he discussed the reforms by saying;

"Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their district, and that's why I have opposed their outright elimination," Obama said. "But the fact is that on occasion, earmarks have been used as a vehicle for waste, and fraud and abuse. Projects have been inserted at the 11th hour, without review, and sometimes without merit, in order to satisfy the political or personal agendas of a given legislator, rather than the public interest."

The President said the reform would require lawmakers seeking earmarks to post the information in advance on their web sites so they are "open to scrutiny".

"If my administration evaluates an earmark and determines that it has no legitimate public purpose, we will seek to eliminate it," Obama said.

Obama said, "The awarding of earmarks to private companies is the single most corrupting element of this practice".