DC Council Earmarks

DC Council Chairman Vincent Gray has done a brave and sensible thing by eliminating councilmember earmarks from the FY2010 District of Columbia budget. But what DC Government really needs is earmark abolition.

Earmarks are no-bid contracts in the nonprofit sector, and they undercut the city’s competitive grant programs and bidding practices. Earmarks reward the politically-connected, not the best-qualified. Councilmembers and staff do not have the expertise or time to assess the merits of each earmarked grant or knowledge of competing alternatives. The Barry earmarks are exhibit A.

But look at the arts and cultural grants the Council awarded for FY 2010 before they were erased from the budget. The $31 million in Council arts earmarks totaled nearly 4 times the entire FY 2010 budget of the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities. Why bother filling out a DCCAH grant application and putting it through competitive peer-panel review and Commission approval for a possible 4 or 5 -figure grant when your councilmember can get you more money without any paperwork?

Brief Notes: UCLA Drops Underwear Run

UCLA has stripped another tradition from Academe, one started way back in 2002: the Underwear Run. Is nothing sacred?

Seven years ago, on the Wednesday before final exams, 13 students in boxers and briefs ran across campus, from the corner of Gayley Avenue and Strathmore Place to the intramural field. This has been repeated every trimester, three times a year, and become a popular tradition. Too popular, say school officials.

The last UCLA Underwear Run, a herd of bra-and-panty and négligée- and skivvy-clad runners, numbered 7,000, many from other colleges. School officials are pulling the plug, citing reports of injuries, alcohol-fueled fights, and vandalism. A smaller Undie Run at Chapman University (which seems older than the UCLA trot) resulted in $19,000-worth of damage to an Orange, California fountain.