The Indy Star’s editorial board follows up on its series of stories on how private entities pay for members of Indiana’s Congressional delegation to take trips. The editorial is entitled Someone must pay for pols’ ‘free’ trips. The Indy Star makes the excellent point that it is not necessary to impugn the politicians’ integrity to conclude that this arrangement is a bad idea. The simple fact is that the corporations and special interests paying for these trips aren’t stupid. They must be getting some return on their investment, even without any quid pro quo a la California Representative Duke Cunningham who just plead guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes. Even if members of Congress are not intentionally acting more favorably toward the private interests because of the free trips they are receiving, the private interests are getting something in return for their largesse.
And it’s pretty easy to figure that whatever those folks are getting in return is not benefitting the average Hoosier. The Indy Star suggests that it’s probably cheaper in the long run for those trips to be paid for with tax dollars if it means that far larger government expenditures can be curtailed that benefit those interests currently paying for the trips.
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