karl rove on welfare

Thank goodness this conservative government is so fiscally responsible and free of fraud. On Common Dreams, Ralph Nader writes about the architect's free ride.

Remember the day after the election last November, a triumphant newly elected (for the first time) President George W. Bush introduced to a national television audience a beaming Karl Rove as "The Architect" of his winning campaign. Did you know that you, the taxpayers, paid for his salary and benefits while he was running George W. Bush's political campaign day after day inside the White House?

Isn't this illegal, you may properly ask? It would be if it were a staff member of a Senator or Representative in the Congress. Any such staffers would have to take an unpaid leave of absence, leave their office and set up shop somewhere else to work on their boss's re-election campaign. To do this on the Congressional payroll would be illegal.

So what about Rove?

Nader explains why the White House, since 1993, had been technically exempt from this prohibition - and how they broke the law anyway.

So what can be done? A reporter could ask the question at a White House press briefing. For whatever it is worth, a complaint can be filed with the Office of Special Counsel. A request can be made of the Counsel to the President, Harriet Miers, for an allocation separating his expenditures in time and resources on political activity from the time spent as a staff assistant to President Bush. We made such a written request two weeks ago.

Or members of Congress can ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate and report back to them.

Meanwhile, Karl Rove continues his very political activities and travels around the country raising money for upcoming Congressional campaigns. It is a very convenient career, so long as you can get away with it. The self-described conservatives in the White House are on welfare in the midst of their warfare against the American worker.

For more information, log onto Democracy Rising and help get Karl Rove off of welfare and out of the White House.

Note that the link at the bottom of the Common Dreams story is wrong. It's DemocracyRising.us.