The ball that continues to roll downhill

Nobody have accused politicians of seeing the blatantly obvious. In today's example, it's MPs dodging any attempt to have their expenses become public knowlege. And the cherry on top is that the MPs do not want the Auditor General to see their expenses either.

I can not begin to explain why this is a bad idea. It should be obvious to anybody with half a brain that the MPs' actions are only going to lead to more questions, and ultimately they are going to end up losing to the masses who want to know what is happening with their tax money. No amount of reasons are going to make this seem like something that shouldn't be pursued, and the more you complain and/or make excuses, the more it seems you have something to hide, and thus the better the idea looks. After Paul Szabo's musings about how expenses revealed will show how often MPs are sued we saw the following responses:

• MPs' expenses must be made public


• MPs should allow the Auditor-General to audit their expenses


• Dumbest anti-audit argument ever.


• Secretive MPs should follow Toronto’s lead on expenses


• MPs' secretiveness gets even more tiresome


• What the Auditor-General can do


• Politicians abuse taxpayers’ money? Nah, not in Ottawa


• A petition


• 
  Don't be shy, Sheila. Secret MP budgets need scrutiny

All because MPs didn't even try their normal bafflegab answers. Heck, they didn't even consider that being open with their expenses might actually differentiate them from their colleagues in a positive way. There are a few who have had the foresite to get ahead of the game and supporting the opening up of the books. But most have the hope that burying their head in the sand will make the problem go away. Unfortunately for the majority of MPs, they're going to be run over by the ball rolling down the hill.