Government Waste

Thank you, Susan Reimer , for expressing my outrage over how taxpayers are shafted and played for fools ("From Cartagena to Vegas, partying on taxpayers' dime," April 23). The way the government squanders our money is obscene, and it's too bad Occupy Baltimore won't get on the case. I plan to protest a similar boondoggle perpetrated by the State Department that's ripping us off. All the summer job J-1 Visas so generously available make it more profitable for an employer to hire a foreign student for a job instead of employing an American.

As a taxpayer and a voter, I am sick and tired of government agencies that do not get audited every year when they are spending my money. After working in the private sector for 45 years and having the ability to spend company money, I know how important it is to be accountable when spending others' money. Why is it OK for these government agencies not to have the same respect for my money? Joe Heming Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

As a taxpayer and a voter, I am sick and tired of government agencies that do not get audited every year when they are spending my money. After working in the private sector for 45 years and having the ability to spend company money, I know how important it is to be accountable when spending others' money. Why is it OK for these government agencies not to have the same respect for my money? Joe Heming Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

I couldn't agree more with Dan Rodricks ' recent column on marijuana policy ("The nonsense of marijuana busts shown," Nov. 11). It should be apparent to all except those with a vested interest in keeping marijuana banned that our entire "war on drugs," and especially the nation's marijuana policy, has utterly failed. It has failed for the same reason the ban on alcohol failed during Prohibition - there simply is so much demand for marijuana that no amount of tax dollars can stop the supply.

When we lived off Lake Avenue, I noticed the lights on the Falls Road bridge over the railroad tracks were often on in the day. I have also noticed that typically some of the west side Beltway lights are on. Wednesday, for example, a long string of these lights were on as we traveled the Westside at 9 a.m. and were still on when we returned seven hours later. These are not isolated instances and have been going on for years - no, decades. This is another example of government waste.

WASHINGTON -- Sixth District Rep. Roscoe Bartlett was the only Maryland congressman dubbed a "taxpayer's hero" Tuesday by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste.The Western Maryland Republican voted in the taxpayers' interest 80 percent of the time, earning the conservative lobbying group's acclamation, members of the council said.Twenty congressional spending votes, cast between January and August, were studied by the group. All of the spending proposals were deemed wasteful by the group, formerly headed by Maryland Republican Alan Keyes.

County residents say taxes and government waste are the most important issues facing Anne Arundel, with education second and jobs and unemployment third.Taxes and budget waste were listed as the most important issues for 33 percent of the 800 people who responded to a telephone poll conducted over the past month by Anne Arundel Community College.Education concerns were the most important issue for 20 percent of the respondents. Jobs and employment were a top priority for 14 percent, followed by crime and drugs (10 percent)

ANNAPOLIS -- Angered by wasteful government spending and the specter of higher taxes, about 100 people huddled in the dark in front of the State House last night to vent their frustration and kick off a national day of tax protest."

The Sun praises Maryland bridge chief Earle Freedman's devotion to building beautiful bridges, such as the one that carries Reisterstown Road across the Beltway ( "Career of Md.'s longest-serving worker spans 60 years," Nov. 1). You don't mention the price Maryland taxpayers pay for Mr. Freedman's aesthetic preferences. Do we really need "brickwork and antique-style lighting fixtures" on a bridge over a freeway? How many millions of our dollars have been spent over the years to satisfy Mr. Freedman's personal taste?

THIS riddle brought to you by Vice President Al Gore: What do ashtrays, mohair and fruitcake have in common?If you said government waste, you're on to something. So is Mr. Gore.For the past six months, Mr. Gore has headed the National Performance Review, which intends to streamline the way the federal government does business. On Sept. 7, the vice president will release the review's findings.Using those recommendations, President Clinton is expected to send to Congress by October a bill that would do away with programs that are no longer needed and nix picayune government purchasing regulations for everything from ashtrays to fruitcake.

Eighteen billion dollars. That is how much money American taxpayers have paid since 1995 to subsidize the production of four junk food ingredients: high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, corn starch, and soy oil. Instead of using our tax money to produce healthy fruits and vegetables, the dollars major agribusinesses receive from the federal government too often ends up as empty calories. This is government waste at its finest. It's even more ridiculous given that rates of childhood obesity have tripled in the past three decades.

Thank you, Susan Reimer , for expressing my outrage over how taxpayers are shafted and played for fools ("From Cartagena to Vegas, partying on taxpayers' dime," April 23). The way the government squanders our money is obscene, and it's too bad Occupy Baltimore won't get on the case. I plan to protest a similar boondoggle perpetrated by the State Department that's ripping us off. All the summer job J-1 Visas so generously available make it more profitable for an employer to hire a foreign student for a job instead of employing an American.

It has been a tough news cycle for taxpayers. Not only did we get a real-time look on April 17 at what we donate to the government, we also are getting a harrowing look at how the government spends it. The General Services Administration, often referred to as the government's personal shopper, blew $822,000 flying 300 of its employees to Las Vegas for a four-day bonding experience that included a clown, a mind-reader and $7,000 worth of...

When we lived off Lake Avenue, I noticed the lights on the Falls Road bridge over the railroad tracks were often on in the day. I have also noticed that typically some of the west side Beltway lights are on. Wednesday, for example, a long string of these lights were on as we traveled the Westside at 9 a.m. and were still on when we returned seven hours later. These are not isolated instances and have been going on for years - no, decades. This is another example of government waste.

The Sun praises Maryland bridge chief Earle Freedman's devotion to building beautiful bridges, such as the one that carries Reisterstown Road across the Beltway ( "Career of Md.'s longest-serving worker spans 60 years," Nov. 1). You don't mention the price Maryland taxpayers pay for Mr. Freedman's aesthetic preferences. Do we really need "brickwork and antique-style lighting fixtures" on a bridge over a freeway? How many millions of our dollars have been spent over the years to satisfy Mr. Freedman's personal taste?

In an ironic twist, City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, the council member who spoke up loudest in opposition to a plan last year to slash the budget of Baltimore's inspector general, finds himself in the crosshairs of the city government watchdog over spending on a computer contract. According to a report filed by Inspector General David N. McClintock, Mr. Young's office paid a private contractor who was already working for the transportation department $3,700 to work on his website without establishing a new agreement for the work.

Congressman Roscoe G. Bartlett of Maryland's Sixth Congressional District can take pride in at least one accomplishment during his first term: No White House official will ever again fly a government helicopter to play a round of golf. Thanks in part to the Western Maryland congressman's dedication to eradicating government waste, President Clinton last week summarily dismissed his long-time friend David Watkins from his position as White House director of administration.Mr. Watkins made the mistake of using the presidential helicopter to fly to Holly Hills Country Club near New Market.

Bill Clinton could have done worse things than naming A Gore as America's new Waste Czar.He could have named Charles Manson as attorney general, for instance.Why is Gore such a bizarre choice to root out and eliminate unnecessary government spending?The 1991 Congressional Pig Book Summary, published by the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, offers a clue. In it are the worst examples of pork barrel spending by Congress. And on Page 4 we find:"Five hundred thousand dollars for planning a park and museum at the Cordell Hull National Historic Site in Tennessee, at the behest of Sen. Albert Gore, Jr. (D-TN)

ARLINGTON, Va. -- There are laws - even ethics rules - against buying votes in Congress. Lobbyists (Jack Abramoff and others) went to prison for attempting to buy votes, and congressmen (Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Bob Ney) went to prison for selling them. As with so many things Congress does, the rules it makes for others do not always apply to some of its members. In the scandalous, shortsighted sellout of American troops in Iraq, a slim Democratic House majority passed a measure that Speaker and top vote-buyer Nancy Pelosi claimed would "end the war in Iraq."

WASHINGTON -- After years of stockpiling findings and allegations, Rep. Henry A. Waxman will unleash four days of hearings this week aimed at exposing "waste, fraud and abuse" in government. The new Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who has a reputation as the most feared congressional inquisitor, is set to begin tomorrow by digging into the Bush administration's troubled program to rebuild war-torn Iraq. Scheduled to be first on the hot seat is former Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, who oversaw the early reconstruction effort.