Listening to politicians complain over corporate jets when members of congress of both parties are known for taking "fact finding" missions to luxurious tourist locations on corporate jets is really funny to me.

I don't give much money to politicians and I am not interested in giving money directly to a political party. I'd rather make a policy and character assessment before giving money to someone, and when we give money to a party we don't know who we are indirectly giving money to or supporting. If I found out I donated money to the DCCC and it was helping incumbents in safe districts charge themselves 18% interest that would be the last check I wrote to them.

This story is a few weeks old but it continues to bother me:

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- During a decade in Congress, California Representative Grace Napolitano has pocketed more than $200,000 of political contributions by charging as much as 18 percent interest on money she loaned to her own campaign.

The suburban Los Angeles Democrat made the $150,000 loan in 1998, when she was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Through Dec. 31, her campaign committee has used donations to pay Napolitano $221,780 of interest while reducing the principal by just $64,727, a review of her Federal Election Commission filings shows.

Where do the rest of us sign up to loan someone money at 18% interest? Neither party has a lock on having the highest ethics, character, and holding a reputation beyond reproach. Even if the member of congress knows that it is fair and honest, the fear that it will damage the respect the public has for our government should guide them to avoid situations like this odd loan. I hope the Democrats clean up their own house when things like this happen before someone else has to do the work for them.

In other news termed out legislator Sharon Runner (R) has been nominated for one of the many boards that pay six figures and barely meet. Runner has been a critic of wasteful spending in Sacramento.

Wasn't Arnold Schwarzenegger supposed to blow up the boxes and go through the books and eliminate waste? I understand the budget is always going to be contentious, especially in tough economic times, but what happened to his drive to eliminate some of these boards and to save money by getting rid of waste?

Did the boxes win?