YOU can write the editorial the NYT’s should publish

If the New York Times is the stalwart proponent of no secrets by government that it purports to be, it should publish an editorial like that in today’s Washington Examiner, “Spending money behind closed doors?”, and if bloggers who support the New York Times’ exposure of national security secrets are more concerned about excess secrecy than undermining America’s defenses they should post support like that of “Captain” Ed Morrissey, “Exposing Earmarks.”

A quick check at Memeorandum, at 7:18 AM Pacific time, shows neither source of support for exposing which congressmen stuffed, as the editorial describes, “1,867 secret spending earmarks worth more than $500 million in the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriation bill now before Congress.”

As the editorial outlines:

Earmarks are spending orders inserted in pending legislation by individual members of Congress.
The politicians create earmarks behind closed doors as House and Senate committees draft the 13 separate annual spending bills that fund the federal government. The secrecy lets members insert earmarks that may help favored campaign donors, other political friends and associates or even themselves without until now having to justify the earmark in public to the taxpayers.
No wonder disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’ called Congress the “favor factory.” Congress is out of control with earmarks, as the number has skyrocketed from 4,126 worth $29.6 billion in 1999 to 15,887 worth nearly $50 billion last year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The Washington Examiner provides a link to examine the earmarks, and a way to take action:

Check out the earmarks for your state and then call your congressman and ask if he or she sponsored any of your state’s earmarks.
If the answer is yes, ask why the congressman’s name isn’t on the earmark. If you recognize the institution designated to receive the earmarked tax dollars, call them and ask them what they intend to do with your money.
Then use info@examiner.com. to tell The Examiner what you found out (Be sure to put “Earmarks” in your subject line.) Examiner reporters will be asking questions on Capitol Hill about many of these earmarks in coming days and we’re confident many if not all of the congressional sponsors of these 1,867 earmarks will eventually be identified. Then we’ll all be better off because, as Abe Lincoln said, when the American people have ALL the facts, they know what to do.

Democracy begins with us.