Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Monopoly Money

Wednesday May 9, 2007

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Dear Mr. Mullings

Remember how the Democrats claimed that Republicans had totally and completely subverted the appropriations process through secrecy, self-dealing, and bad stewardship of taxpayers' money?

Remember how we were told that when they took over control of the House the public's money would be spent only for the public good?

To quote Col. Sherman T. Potter: Horse Hockey.

A story in the Hill Newspaper by reporter Alex Bolton didn't surprise me, but it did sort of made my arms feel heavy in disappointment. It was headlined: "Tiahrt Vote on Project Irks Murtha" which didn't seem particularly newsworthy in that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa) has been known to become terminally "irked" if an elevator doesn't arrive quickly enough.

This irk-ness, however, caught my eye because it seems that Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R- Kan) voted to cut some $23 million out of a bill being marked up in the House Intelligence Committee which would have continued to fund an outfit known as the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC).

The NDIC is located in Rep. Murtha's district and he really wanted that $23 mil and Tiahrt, according to Bolton's reporting "violated an unspoken rule of the Appropriations Committee: Don't mess with your fellow appropriators' projects."

Especially, as Bolton points out, when the fellow appropriator is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations.

Hold that thought.

Murtha, according to witnesses, "unleashed a loud, finger-jabbing, spittle-spraying piece of his mind," and threatened to retaliate by cutting funding for a project of interest to Boeing aircraft to convert commercial aircraft into military refueling tankers.

Why did Murtha spit on this particular project? Because Rep. Tiahrt's district includes Wichita which, in turn, includes a Boeing plant which, in turn, would be involved in the coach-class-to-tanker project.

Thus the power of the "Don't Mess With Another Appropriator's Pet Project" rule.

Boeing tanker projects - in one form or another - have been the subject of investigations, firings, and have resulted in at least one person going to jail, so it is not without some eye-brow-raising potential of its own.

But, Murtha's little pot o' gold project is even more instructive of how money gets spent in Congress no matter which party is in charge.

The National Drug Intelligence Center was designed, according to the House Government Reform Committee, to "centralize and coordinate drug intelligence," but had failed "given its remote location and the unwillingness of the other Federal agencies to contribute significant information."

It seems the Drug Enforcement Agency has another intelligence center in El Paso, Texas which, being along the Texas-Mexican border, would appear to be somewhat closer to the illegal drug importation action than the Murtha deal in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Another member of the Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) also voted against the NDIC but, according to Alex Bolton's piece, Tiahrt is the only Republican who has a seat on both the Intelligence Committee and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee so it was Tiahrt, not Rogers, who got sprayed by Murtha.

Before you send a congratulatory e-mail to Tiahrt, consider this:

"Tiahrt explained that he was unaware that the project was one of Murtha's, since Murtha doesn't sit on the intelligence panel."

Ohhhh. I get it now: Had Tiahrt but known he was stepping on Murtha's appropriational toes, the NDIC would have suddenly been $23 million well spent.

I guess we'll have to cancel the Tiahrt Chapter in the new edition of "Profiles in Courage."

In the end, I suspect both the NDIC and the Boeing tanker project will be funded. It's OPM - other people's money - which has as much meaning for Members of Congress (Republican or Democrat) as money printed by Parker Brothers.

Do they never learn?

On a the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to the Hill article, to a great summary of Colonel Potter's life and times, and to the Parker Brothers' website. Also a Mullfoto of yet another sign with a typo and a sweet Catchy Caption of the Day.

ALSO Dear Mr. Mullings. New Every Friday!

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