PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Forget transparency in legislation — how about just getting your phone calls returned?

Since there are Examiner branches in San Francisco, Baltimore and Washington, we called representatives from California, Maryland and Virginia to see who was really willing to commit to earmark transparency.

This seemed relatively easy, because all we needed was a yes-or-no answer from the representatives’ press secretaries. We figured we would spend no more than a few hours to make all the calls and get the information.

Instead, we found ourselves getting the runaround, the D.C. equivalent of driving around Dupont Circle and passing the same Starbucks a hundred times. Every call we made was met with the same response, each with a slight variation: “The press secretary just stepped out; can I connect you to his voicemail?” “She’s actually on her lunch break right now; would you like to leave a message?” “He’s not here right now, would you like his voicemail?” And, our personal favorite, “Sorry, he’s on vacation.”

We realize that congressional press secretaries are extremely busy, but our question was far from complex. We simply wanted a “yes” or a “no.” Was that too much to ask?

Apparently so. It’s as if they just want the whole subject to go away. Plus this: “Politicians of both parties claim to be in favor of earmark transparency and gloat about how they (unlike the other party) are strongly in favor of showing taxpayers exactly where their money goes. However, very few were willing to commit to do so in writing. If representatives can’t answer a simple yes-or-no question, how do they expect to answer more complicated ones?”