United Liberty

Tonight’s New York Times trumpets our new Treasury Secretary’s heroic efforts to restore trust and transparency to our bailout-ridden financial system:

WASHINGTON — The new Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, announced on Tuesday that he would crack down on lobbying to influence the $700 billion financial bailout program by companies that are receiving billions in taxpayer money.

Mr. Geithner, who was confirmed on Monday, also said he would set new limits intended to prevent political interference with decisions about which companies received bailout money.

Among other steps, the Treasury department said it would make public a log of all contacts by public officials and bank officials regarding specific financial institutions.

The log will be posted on the department’s Web site and updated weekly, it said.

The article provided further background on lobbying efforts by high-ranking legislators to divert funds to their states, and constituents:

The Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 22 that several members of Congress, including lawmakers from Ohio and Alabama, had tried to ensure that regulators would steer bailout funds to banks in their states.

The article focused in particular on efforts by the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank of Massachusetts, to help a troubled minority-owned bank in Boston. It later received $12 million in bailout money.

So in our culture of unrestrained corporatism, how would Barney Frank react to Treasury’s new “full lobbying disclosure” Web site?

In a phone interview, Mr. Frank said he had no problem with Treasury posting a log of communications with members of Congress. He said he had been very public about his support for the Boston bank, and said lawmakers wanted their constituents to know of such efforts so they could “get credit for them.”

Some crackdown. In other words, “Go ahead and throw me into that briar patch. It’s where I live.”