Two stories in the news yesterday mention Tom Davis by his legacy or his name:
The first is that the immigration "fence" that Davis suddenly and inexplicably supported, and issued an attack ad on Andy Hurst for opposing, is in the news for ... not working. Yep. It's a boondoggle, churning campaign contributions and costing hundreds of millions of taxpayer money.
The second story is all the way from Louisiana, WaPo, beaten again on a Davis story. Tom Davis dumps more money into other people's campaigns -- Republicans running losing campaigns -- than any other retiring politican.
Call your Congressman and say "VOTE NO" on the fence!
That immigration fence may endure to be a billion-dollar legacy of Davis/DeLay "pay to play" politics. The nicest thing the latest report says about the immigration fence is this:
Almost exactly a year ago, the stalwart auditors at the Government Accountability Office said this about SBINet, the parent effort of Project 28:"The SBInet expenditure plan, including related documentation and program officials' statements, lacked specificity on such things as planned activities and milestones, anticipated costs and staffing levels, and expected mission outcomes. This, coupled with the large cost and ambitious time frames, adds risk to the program. Without sufficient and reliable information on program goals, status and results, Congress and DHS are not in the best position to use the plan as a basis for assessing program outcomes, accounting for the use of current and future appropriations, and holding program managers accountable for achieving effective control of the border."
Another legacy of pay to play politics is Davis, as RNCC head, and DeLay, as "the Hammer," bullied congressmen and donors to pay into the Republican National Congressional Committee so they could spread the wealth to Bush loyalists who got us into this deadly endless war. To win elections they needed money since they didn't have support, to crush anyone who wanted to run against them. On Davis's shady financial dealings, the story is this:
A recent study of retiring members of Congress by the Center for Responsive Politics finds only one retiring lawmaker, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., rivaled [Jim] McCrery [R-4th (LA)] in spending campaign cash last year.
According to the center, McCrery spent $1.7 million from his two federal campaign accounts. Davis spent about $1.9 million last year, with about half that money going to his wife's campaign for the Virginia Senate.
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Federal campaign finance laws prohibit retiring lawmakers from taking their campaign funds into private life. They can keep the money in the campaign accounts to help them run for office in the future, contribute it to charities or donate it to other federal and state candidates and party organizations
John McCain used to object to money laundering in campaigns, but apparently his favorite bedfellows are lobbyists.