Taxpayer Money

As a taxpayer and resident of Howard County, I am incensed by the July 5 article that appeared in The Sun' s Howard County section, "Signs protest `gift' to Hickey." The article reported that the Howard County Board of Education, by a 4-1 vote, approved a gift of $16,000 to the ex-superintendent of schools, Michael E. Hickey, for a job well done. Mr. Hickey responded that he has no intentions of returning the money. By what right do these board members think that they can simply give the taxpayers' money away in this fashion?

Baltimore County is cracking down on restaurant meals, pastries and flowers, bought by public emp]oyees with taxpayer dollars - enforcing its new rules by reprogramming 1,067 county-issued credit cards to block those purchases. Recent internal audits of a 2-year-old credit-card purchasing system revealed questionable levels of supermarket, restaurant and florist purchases in some departments, officials said. No employees have been punished or asked to reimburse the county, but managers moved swiftly to tighten their regulations.

Good Use of TaxesI am married and currently working at home with our two young sons (ages 2 and 4 1/2 ).My husband and I depend on public television and radio for music, information and entertainment and education.Up to now, our children know only Big Bird, Barney and Mr. Rogers and are spared the violence and aggressive advertising of commercial television's Power Rangers, Gobots, X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.We listen to classical music and jazz throughout the day, not because we are "cultural elites," but because we all enjoy it and have no use for loud disc jockeys and commercials every two minutes.

Helium Stockpile Isn't Just Hot AirThe article Aug. 22 about the helium "pork barrel" illustrates an important change that must be made within the federalgovernment if we are to have our tax money better spent and control the deficit.This is a prime example of the need for the line-item veto. Although I have not been one of President Clinton's strongest admirers, I do believe he is sincere in his conviction to achieve more fiscal responsibility in the government.However, when shameless, self-serving and powerful members of Congress such as Rep. Charles Stenholm of Texas recruit a group of weak-thinking novices such as Kweisi Mfume and Albert Wynn of Maryland to blackmail the president by saying, "If you want your bill to pass, you must give this pork," we're never going to solve the deficit problem.

When we survey what lawmakers accomplish in their annual ransacking of the taxpayer, we see that they always succeed in two major things: increasing the reach of the government in question and paying back investments made in their political careers by those who fund them. As Mencken pointed out decades ago, "The legislature, like the executive, has ceased to be even the creature of the people: it is the creature of pressure groups, and most of them, it must be manifest, are of dubious wisdom and even more dubious honesty.

Nobody asked me, but I'll bet cash money that half the people who complain about Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Baltimore and ridicule the protesters didn't vote in the last election and never took part in a public demonstration of any kind. And those who decry "class warfare" from high atop their millions can't make it go away by doing so. That's what we have after 30 years of generally stagnant wages for the middle class, matched against the largest concentration of wealth in the nation's history, and accompanied by the highest level of poverty since the government started measuring it. As my friend Donna says, "It is what it is," and Americans are finally starting to complain about it. -o- Nobody asked me, but why are we still playing this game?

WASHINGTON -- Looking at the midterm elections, the Republican takeover of the Senate and increased majority in the House were only two of the surprising events of a bizarre campaign season. In becoming the first first-term president in 68 years to gain seats in both houses of Congress in the off-year elections (since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934), George W. Bush stumped furiously even as he pursued one war and planned another. He raised unprecedented millions for GOP congressional candidates and took Air Force One to every corner of the country and several times to certain states with close races.

Last week the government dispatched more of your money into the abyss. Through its "Term Auction Facility," the Federal Reserve lent banks $63 billion - nearly half the cost of the entire savings and loan bailout from the 1980s, or what it takes to fight in Iraq for six months. Who got the money? At what rates? What collateral did they put up? How will the proceeds be spent? The Fed isn't saying, and it's fighting attempts to shed light. The Treasury Department, distributing its own bailout billions, is almost as clammed up. Never has the country spent so much taxpayer money, so quickly, with so little disclosure.

In Japan there is a still-strong tradition of top-level executives in corporations and government taking responsibility for the failures of their institutions. Usually they resign in disgrace.This comes to mind while watching "The Great American Bailout," a fascinating, stomach-turning hour on "Frontline" tonight that examines the savings and loans crisis.Hosted by Robert Krulwich, "The Great American Bailout," which will be on Maryland Public Television, channels 22 and 67, at 9 o'clock, can be faulted at times for lacking focus.

WASHINGTON -- Money. It's the high-octane stuff that runs American politics, and in this election year the largest sums are fueling the presidential contest. Indeed, President Clinton and Bob Dole have already spent more than $50 million, and there's still a half year to go."Follow the money" remains good advice for those wanting to know what's happening in politics. But few things are harder to comprehend than campaign finance.Ever since reforms were put in place in the mid-1970s in response to the Watergate scandal, the rules and regulations of campaign money have grown to resemble the tax code both in volume and fiendish complexity.