"Doug LaMalfa, Republican state senator and would-be congressman, will spend the better part of 2012 talking about the need to slow runaway federal spending and our government's nauseating deficits. And he'll be right."
"But bring up the awkward subject of his own family farm's federal crop subsidies — which have averaged more than $300,000 annually over the past 15 years, a sum every small-business owner would envy — and suddenly there's a reasonable explanation for the importance of multibillion-dollar government giveaways."
"We don't for a moment fault the man for participating in the programs that help support his family's Butte County rice farm. Whatever you think of farm subsidies, LaMalfa didn't invent them. He's not in Congress yet. And simply running a business according to the rules you find in place is no sin."
"But we will say this about LaMalfa. He's one of those conservatives whose rhetoric has hit an increasingly bitter anti-government note of late. He recently touted his congressional candidacy on the Republican website FlashReport in part by saying, 'I see it as my job to stand between the bureaucrat thugs and the people.' Are those the same 'thugs' who send his family business six-figure subsidies each year?"
The rest of The Record Searchlight editorial is here.
Personally, I would rather send someone to Congress that does not have the obvious conflict of interests.
No comments:
Post a Comment