The Golden Fleece Award was a tongue-in-cheek monthly award given to public officials for squandering public money. It was originated by the late United States Senator William Proxmire.
Some examples that received this award include spending one million dollars to compare the aggressiveness in sun fish that drink tequila as opposed to gin, and spending $3 million to study the sex lives of snails!
Today, the updated version has a new word – PORK! Some of the more contemporary examples include a $180 million bridge to nowhere in Alaska that, to this day, remains “unfinished” and a $4 million study on an advertisement campaign to encourage Americans to write more letters to each other. I could go on but my space is limited.
You’re probably wondering how does all this PORK get into Congressional Legislation? I have the answer.
In the early 2000’s, I had the opportunity to lobby Congressmen and Senators. My legislative mentor asked me to attend a luncheon where all the Legislative Interns ate.
He said, ‘”Just order your lunch and listen.” Two hours later as were leaving, he looked at me and said. “Are you OK? You look sick!”
I was indeed! I had just received the political lesson of my life! Everything I heard described how the young interns were creating public policy!
The average Congressional Bill runs anywhere from 300-750 pages long. The annual budget bill can exceed 1,300 pages.
There isn’t one elected official who has the time (or desire) to read those documents. So, as a matter of policy, those we elect rely upon interns to provide a brief Executive Summary of such Bills.
Some of the interns I overheard said, “I got what I wanted the Senator to approve. I just didn’t mention it but added it to the Bill. No one will notice.”
The irony is IF an elected does catch a pork problem, there isn’t much they can do because there are strict timelines in getting legislation approved. When that happens (and it does more often than you think) they still vote yes hoping that we won’t notice! Sadly, that’s the reality of our political process!
POST SCRIPT – In my last article dealing with Tariffs I apparently wasn’t clear as to who pays the taxes assessed. Truth be told the businesses do. I received several comments asking to clarify that information. I’m grateful that what I write is read!
