Joey’s Take: Time for Transparency

A lot of the barking in the Beltway dog park these days is about transparency. While the White House does a lot of tail wagging about it, Congress basically acts as the playground police to make sure everyone else follows the rules. But Congress itself is, by law, immune from those transparency rules that apply to the executive branch, federal agencies, the military, law enforcement, and state and local governments. (Keep in mind who makes the laws.)

That’s why former Congressman-turned-inmate William Jefferson was able to keep the FBI out of his congressional office – even though he had been caught with $90,000 in cold, hard cash (kickbacks) stashed between pie crusts in his home freezer. It’s also how several congressmen were able to keep it quiet – until a brief, unintentional leak – that their principal place of residence was no longer the district they represented but Maryland. (It saved them a few thousand dollars in property taxes.)

In exempting themselves from the Freedom of Information Act, Congress expects us to believe that it is inherently trustworthy, that we don’t need to know what deals went into crafting the laws the rest of us have to live by, and that its political shenanigans are none of our business. Besides, transparency is unnecessary, many congress(wo)men insist. What’s important is that they can still look themselves in the mirror. Arf!

As a member of Congress, my plan is to become the congressional watchdog. I will insist that Congress be subject to every law it imposes on others and that it conducts its business in the glare of the public spotlight. And I won’t waste time admiring my reflection in the mirror.

I’m Joey. I’m running for Congress. And I approved this message.