Dark pork

When a person donates money to a politician or signs a political petition, the fact is noted in a public record. The politician who spends donors’ money to buy yard signs and TV time has to report it. Public disclosure of such transactions is essential to curb corruption in government.

Similar disclosure should occur when members of Congress use their power to spend billions in tax dollars for pet projects via earmarks. For the most part, though, earmarks have been slipped quietly into unrelated bills without public discussion. Most lawmakers value the opportunity to deliver pork to their home districts, so they scratch each other’s backs by not questioning each other’s earmarks. Last year, Congress spent nearly $16 billion on such projects, according to a study by Taxpayers for Common Sense.

A bipartisan group of senators and U.S. representatives has offered a welcome antidote: a bill that would require the House and Senate to set up public, searchable Web sites listing all earmark requests.

The Earmark Transparency Act, introduced in both chambers last week, would allow the public to search, sort, aggregate and download data on earmarks, using databases accessed through the Web sites of the clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate.

Lawmakers who defend earmarks say they are an efficient way for Congress members to direct funds to the worthiest projects in their districts. But the potential for abuse is clear, and the amount of tax dollars funding earmarks has exploded.

Putting the information in one convenient place could be the best check against abuse of the earmark process.

— The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch