Free Republic

Lobbying & Ethics Reform Seal the Pork Barrel Among the most glaring abuses in Washington is the willful setting aside of taxpayer dollars for the pet projects of special interests, often through last minute additions to appropriations bills. Pork barrel spending is an insult to taxpayers, a waste of public resources, and an abdication of our leaders' responsibility to be good and honorable stewards of the public treasury, for the benefit of all Americans, not just a few. Too often it appears that elected leaders use the treasury as a campaign kitty, channeling taxpayer dollars for pet projects to preserve...

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal won support of the main planks of his ethics law overhaul package, as lawmakers Tuesday wrapped up a special legislative session Jindal called to fulfill a campaign pledge and try to improve the state's reputation for corruption. Lawmakers agreed to Jindal's hallmark proposals, including bills that would require elected officials to detail how they make their money, place limits on what freebies lawmakers can receive from lobbyists and stop lawmakers from doing contract work with state agencies. "Today is a huge first step toward a new Louisiana. Today is a day where...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain unleashed an unusually biting and blunt broadside Monday against one of his Democratic colleagues, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, accusing the freshman senator of backtracking on a previous commitment to help develop a bipartisan proposal for lobbying and ethics reform. "I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics, I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble," the Arizona Republican said in a letter to Obama. "Please be assured I won't make the same mistake again." McCain...