The WasteWatcher
The WasteWatcherMurtha Named Porker of the Year
After weeks of voting, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) announced the final results of its online poll for the 2007 Porker of the Year. Rep. John “Jack” Murtha (D-Pa.) won in a landslide victory. The veteran porker received 63.4 percent of...
The WasteWatcherThree Coins in a Fountain
When one tosses a coin into a fountain it is customary to make a wish. The wish could be as substantial as, “I wish for the winning numbers to the lottery,” or it could be as elusive as “I wish for cancer to be cured.” Until the budget for the...
The WasteWatcherRep. Young Squeals at Nomination
Porker of the Year 2007 candidate Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) took offense to his nomination and wrote a spirited yet outlandish response to CAGW President Tom Schatz defending his pork.
The WasteWatcherRep. Hal Rogers “Road to Nowhere.”
The Kentucky Courier Journal ran a series of articles on December 16 and 17, 2007, on a wasteful pork project, the proposed Interstate 66. This is another “road to nowhere” that dramatically demonstrates how a politician’s desire to “bring home the...
The WasteWatcherIRS Still Plagued By Security Vulnerability
The Government Accountability Project (GAO) released a report on January 8, 2008 documenting the mediocre progress made by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) toward tightening its information security systems. The GAO said: “The IRS is at increased...
The WasteWatcherBinging On Taxpayer Dollars
The over-indulgent, over-zealous party attendee can certainly be an obnoxious component of any weekend celebration. This individual is often referred to as That Guy. The societal pressures on a returning serviceman can, at times, be overwhelming...
The WasteWatcherEmbattled Doan Cuts Waste
The General Services Administration (GSA) is often called “the government’s landlord.” It is responsible for the upkeep of the government’s 8,600 buildings. The agency has a $66 billion budget and 12,000 employees, and its current administrator is...
The WasteWatcherBig Time ARM Wrestling
The country continues to experience uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets as a result of the crisis in the mortgage industry. Financial services companies have been hit hard. For example, Merrill Lynch announced an $8.4 billion...
The WasteWatcherNo Congressional Pay Raise
One of the few remaining issues that enjoyed bipartisan support was finally broken up when Democrats used the annual “cost of living allowance” (COLA) increase to attack Republicans during the 2006 campaign. Democrats also pledged not to pass a...
The WasteWatcherCalifornia Piglet
The 2007 California Piglet Book marks the fifth consecutive year of publication for the joint exposé of the waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement by California government officials by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation (HJTF) and Citizens...
The WasteWatcherPork is Alive and Well
The new fiscal year dawned on October 1 without a federal budget and the Congress graciously granted itself another six weeks to complete its constitutional mandate to pass all 12 appropriations bills. If it feels like déjà vu, that’s because it is...
