This, posted at the American Spectator website, seems familiar:
TOM COBURN RECALLS a confrontation on Capitol Hill shortly after last November's GOP bloodbath. He ran into his fellow Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the then powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and chief Senate sponsor of the Alaska Bridge to Nowhere. "He strolled up to me and said: 'Well, Tom, I hope you're satisfied for helping us lose the election.'" Stevens was evidently still infuriated by Coburn's nationally publicized crusade against runaway pork-barrel spending over the past two years. To that, Coburn, never the shrinking violet, replied: "No, Ted, you lost us the election."The story speaks volumes about the sad state of affairs inside the Republican Party and the Gulf of Mexico-sized disconnect between the party powerbrokers in Washington and a thoroughly disgusted conservative base. The party regulars still blame the November defeat on the fiscal whistleblowers like Coburn, not the fake Republicans who grew a $1.9 trillion budget by an additional trillion dollars in five years.
Coburn and his pork-fighting colleagues are making a difference:
In January, Coburn strong-armed the new Democratic majority into passing the leanest federal budget in five years, and, more remarkably, one that withholds funding for thousands of Teapot museums and Wild Turkey Federations. Coburn and his constant but lower-profile senatorial sidekick, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, teamed up to save the nation about $15 to $20 billion. "We actually shamed them into ending the pork," Coburn tells me.
But Coburn isn't satisfied:
His latest fiscal crusade is called "Good Government A to Z, "a plan to rewrite the entire budget act. Why? "Half the federal agencies don't even report on improper payments. FEMA claims none. They can't pass a basic audit. Twenty-five percent of government programs don't even have a goal," he complains. He is so miserly when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars that last year he returned $200,000 of unspent money from his personal Senate office expense account to the government. Yet, Coburn, with virtually the smallest budget of any senator, is arguably the most effective legislator on Capitol Hill. Jeff Flake, who is Coburn's anti-spending pit bull in the House, says that he and the small band of small government conservatives in the House often say: "Thank God for Tom, he makes our life at least tolerable over here in the House, where earmarking is an even bigger problem."
Can we please have more people like Tom Coburn, Randy Brogdon, and John Eagleton in public office?
Comments (7)
Can we please have more people like Tom Coburn, Randy Brogdon, and John Eagleton in public office?
I'd say, "Yes," but then I remember that more people (last I heard) get their news from "Entertainment Tonight" than any other source, and the majority of Americans don't know who their senators are. Ultimately, I'm convinced that it's going to be an uphill battle just to make people realize that their elected officials matter, let alone convince them to elect fiscal conservatives.
Posted by Dan Paden | August 23, 2007 6:26 AM
Posted on August 23, 2007 06:26
We should all say a little prayer every day for Senator Coburn.
I only wish there were 99 more just like him in the U.S. Senate.
I'm suprised that the greedy, grasping ruling Oklahoma Oligarch Families and Multinational Corporate Plantations have not been able to destroy him. Every breath he takes is a repudiation of their greedy, grasping political modus operandi: Exploitation of their fellow man for their power aggrandizement and craven lust for money.
They certainly have enough help from the Lorton's World, which never misses a chance to belittle him, to try and make him appear goofy, or slant articles to make him appear in the worst possible light.
Thank GOD for Senator Tom Coburn.
Posted by Bob | August 23, 2007 10:32 AM
Posted on August 23, 2007 10:32
Right on, Dan! For most young people the big magazine is People, or whatever it is called. (Even my ex subscribes to it, and there's nothing young about her!). I am thankful every day that we have representatives like Coburn, Inhofe and Sullivan.
Posted by G Webster Wormleigh | August 23, 2007 1:14 PM
Posted on August 23, 2007 13:14
lousy voter turnout is a souble edged sword. just as it only took a small group of voters to make the difference in whether we had a taylor or lafortuna regime in the mayor's office, it would take a small percentage of the total vote to get conservatives in office.
we should keep plugging until there are100 coburns in the senate and 435 sullivans in the house.
Posted by sbtulsa | August 23, 2007 2:34 PM
Posted on August 23, 2007 14:34
I, too, wish we had more of these kind of folks. And while I'm fond of Senator Coburn and Senator Brogdon, I think John Eagleton is a model city councilor. While I don't always agree with his every vote or decision, I do respect and am often amazed at his ability to think of innovative solutions to old problems at city hall. We could definitely use several more councilors like him.
Posted by tulsawillis | August 23, 2007 10:50 PM
Posted on August 23, 2007 22:50
Coburn is a poor Senator. Anybody who's contacted his office knows that.
I'm glad he decided to stop working crossword puzzles during Congressional sessions and started paying attention to some of the bills being passed.
I think the Republicans take another beating in Congress in 08. He's lucky he's not up for reelection till 2010.
Posted by tracy | August 24, 2007 9:36 PM
Posted on August 24, 2007 21:36
Democrat presidential candidate Barak Obama recently praised Tom Coburn saying he had a lot of respect for him, and if Obama was elected president he would be reaching out to Coburn because he felt Coburn was very capable in the job he has been elected.
Posted by susan | August 27, 2007 12:22 AM
Posted on August 27, 2007 00:22