[Rick Lee]

In fairness to the Dems, they actually did make an attempt to make some changes. But I'm not sure if it's window dressing or just was bungled. When they took over, they changed the earmarks rules to require members to put their names on the earmarks and to pledge that each project did not benefit them or their spouse personally. The problem with this has been that the language of the new rules has been so unclear that the ethics committee has had to keep handing out clarifications and delays in implementing the changes. I can't figure out if it's a real attempt to clean things up but became a clusterf&ck or is just pure window dressing, feel-good, do-nothingism.

Either way, Tom Coburn is a true taxpayers' hero. No man has tried harder against bi-partisan mountains to end this nonsense. Cobrun is also an OB-GYN, who goes home to OK on the weekend to continue his practice, which was ok under House rules when he was in the House, but the Senate does not allow. IIRC, Coburn has ignored the Senate rules on this and I say more power to him. It's nice to see someone have a real job and maintain some connection to the real world.