When accountability is demanded, men and women elected to represent the people’s best interest should firmly get on board, never find loopholes that allow them to use the system for their own benefit or fight legislation that requires transparency.
After all, if these men and women are really clean, then why in the world would a lawmaker argue when new ethics/accountability-related legislation is proposed?
Makes you wonder who’s hiding what.
Tuesday, Gov. Bob Riley demanded that Alabama’s colleges and universities must notify his office if elected officials attempt to use their institutions as pass-through pork. We’ve got enough issues with education in this state.
We don’t need our colleges to be used by lawmakers to serve other purposes.
“Pass-through pork is corrupt, it’s wrong and it’s an abuse of the taxpayers,” said Riley.
“No government official should be able to take taxpayer money that is appropriated for one use and secretly spend it for something else.”
According to a release issued through Riley’s office, an undisclosed number of legislators attempted to take $1.89 million of funds appropriated for the University of Alabama and transfer them into the Department of Education.
Whether or not the Department of Education needed those funds more at the time can be up for debate, but that’s an argument that should be discussed openly — and with the governor’s knowledge — before funds are taken from one place and put in another.
If funds were going to be transferred, it’s understandable that another division of education in this state be a strong candidate for that.
But that doesn’t make it right.
“People need to be able to look at a budget and know exactly how much money is being appropriated to a specific entity,” House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, said.
Money for education in this state has dwindled badly in recent years and that’s why it’s so important that education-related dollars be properly policed now more than ever.
Government needs accountability. When government fights accountability, how do you earn and retain public trust?
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