Roy Maynard: Early Returns

It’s time once again for Stupid Government Tricks, the part of our show in which we let bureaucracies do what they do best. With apologies to David Letterman, remember — this is not a competition, it is only an exhibition. Please, no wagering.

First up is the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, which says the Legislature requires state agencies to file too many reports.

“The commission says so in a report, a 668-page report,” the Austin American-Statesman notes. “The project, which took 18 months, far exceeded the expectations of the small team that canvassed more than 170 state agencies and the state’s public colleges and universities. In the past, the state regularly compiled a list of about 400 reports that agencies were required by legislative action to produce. The commission found more than 1,600, and state records administrator Michael Heskett is pretty sure his team hasn’t found them all.”

State agencies filing these reports waste time on a truly monumental scale.

“Report 1473 calls upon the Department of Aging to prepare a report, although the Department of Aging no longer exists,” the paper says. “There are still report requirements for the Human Rights Commission, which the Legislature abolished in 2003, Heskett said.”
Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) is up next.

“In what may be the ultimate in vanity plates, House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel is hoping to steer some $2 million to a building project at the City College of New York that will house — wait for it — not one, not two, but three construction projects bearing the gravelly voiced lawmaker’s name,” reports Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper “The project will reportedly include: the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service, the Rangel Conference Center, the Charles Rangel Library and a ‘well-furnished office’ for the lawmaker.”

The library will hold the congressman’s papers and memorabilia.

“It’s kind of like a presidential library, but without a president,” CBS News says.

Rangel was challenged by U.S. Rep. John Campbell, a first-term California Republican, who asked Rangel if he saw any problem in congressmen using taxpayer money to build such monuments to themselves.

“I would have a problem if you did it, because I don’t think that you’ve been around long enough that having your name on something to inspire a building like this in a school,” Rangel responded.

And, finally, we have the Federal Aviation Administration — the agency that should be busy addressing problems like flight delays, outdated equipment and security.

But fearful of ending the fiscal year with money (our money) in the bank, FAA officials went on a buying binge in September and October.

They bought plasma televisions, a golf cart, millions of dollars’ worth of new furniture and computers and inspirational posters. Its Minneapolis Center got new landscaping, and the Philadelphia Tower held a $1,785 catered party. Its Jacksonville, Fla., office got a 60-inch LCD TV for the cafeteria.

That’s it for today, but have faith. There will be no shortage of Stupid Government Tricks to marvel at.

Early Returns is the political observations column of staff writer Roy Maynard, who can be reached at 903-596-6291 or at roymaynardtmt@gmail.com.

Roy Maynard
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