Congress overpaid, under-worked.

Where fortunes er... Laws are made

There is a closely guarded "secret" in D.C., one that is no surprise at all to those who work, eat and sleep around congress, but for most of us would be considered exceptionally illegal, immoral and downright dirty. We all know about campaign funds, about how, if you really agreed with a candidates stance and wanted to show your support for said candidate, you are able to send campaign contributions to help spread the word. And, like I, you would expect that your campaign contributions would be put towards, say, the campaign. The good news, is that a lot of it does. The bad news, is that a lot of it goes straight into the pockets of campaigners, their campaign staff and their families under the guise of being "work related". This is illegal right? Wrong. It seems as if campaign contributions have become less about winning elections and more about securing a nice little lifestyle subsidy. "Thinking about hiring someone onto your campaign crew? Whats that? He is only available to be spoken with at a five star resort in Scotland because of an upcoming wedding? That's OK, since I am thinking of hiring him, I will just use my campaign funds to take my entire family and posse to go out there, stay a week or so, talk it over over a few rounds of expensive golf and then make my decision."

Laughing all the way to the Bank

OK, surely this extravagant and flagrant misuse of appropriated funds ends once said candidate has been elected into congress, right? Wrong again. Welcome to the world of "Leadership Pacs", where the gains are high and the penalties are low. Leadership Pacs are a fundraising method in order to raise money for other peoples campaigns. "No no no, this isn't my money, its money for Joe Crook! So I can use it however I want for Joe, as long as he is not using it for himself." Sounds shady huh? What is even more concerning is that this is not a naturally occurring loophole, ready for fixing. This Leadership Pac system was put into place, and then summarily exploited, and continues to be exploited despite the fact that everyone in Washington knows about them. That is just the tip of the iceberg. One congresswoman Napolitano decided that her campaign fund was looking a little low, so she loaned her own campaign some money. No harm in that I guess right? Well, it wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the fact that she charged interest to the tune of 16%. Wonderful little loophole there. Her rational was that because she was a woman of Latino descent, the "banks" would not give her the loan for her campaign.

The current average on-the-books salary for a rank and file congressman/woman is roughly $174,000 per year, not counting shady dealings like the ones mentioned above. I find it very hard to believe that our lawmakers can honestly pass laws and implement policy without personal interest and with the benefit of the people in mind, when lining their own pockets takes priority.