The Examiner has an article up today that should outrage anyone who feels that the pork and earmark process is out of control in Congress. It should be especially alarming to those who believed the Democrats' 2006 election promise to do away with earmarks:

Congress appears headed to approve a record number of earmarks in 2007, despite the fact that last November angry voters registered their disgust with the practice by electing Democrats who pledged a new era of transparency in government spending. A quick glance at The Examiner Newspapers/Porkbusters.org Earmark Reform Index for the U.S. Senate helps explain why. Two-thirds of the senators are adamantly opposed to reforming their appropriations perks, no matter what the public says.

The index which is linked to in the story (caution- MS Excel file) is quite interesting. It lists 12 earmark reform votes in the Senate during the past few years when earmarks became a major election issue: seven from 2007; two from 2006; and three from 2005. According to The Examiner, each vote for earmark reform received 8.3 points while each vote against received 0 points.

The results make clear that Senate opposition to earmark reform crosses party lines and includes a clear majority of 72 members who scored less than 50 in the index. Most of the 72 scored lower than 40, meaning they voted for earmark reform three or fewer times out of 12 selected chances.

Democrats scored an average of 14.3. That's astounding. Republicans did better at an average of 43.8, but that's still abominable. Although it does put the lie to the Democrats' claim that they are the party of reform.It's not like earmark reform organizations such as Porkbusters are asking much. Just make all earmarks transparent, require that they be debated on the floor of the House and Senate, and make them available to the public to read well in advance of that debate. As a conservative, I was disappointed when the Dems won last November. But I felt that the Republicans deserved what they got, especially in light of what they did with spending. I even had a bit of hope that the Democrats, seeing the anti-earmark push as a political winner, would follow through with their promises of reform. My hope has been long dashed - but I'd like to see the Dems at least try to be better than the Republicans on this issue.