COAST and Cincinnati Tea Party Join to Expose Driehaus' Pork

We intend to learn what Steve Driehaus is hiding from

COAST urgently needs your help to expose the latest action of liberal democrat Steve Driehaus in Washington.

Of all the outrages of pork barrel spending in Washington today, one of the most shocking is that of new Cincinnati Congressman Steve Driehaus, who is brazenly breaking the new rule requiring him to disclose his requests for pork to the House Appropriations Committee. (Read Cincinnati Enquirer article on this topic here).

COAST has joined with Mike Wilson and the Cincinnati Tea Party to expose this betrayal by Driehaus in two important activities intended to convince Driehaus to tell his own constituents how he is spending our money in Washington:

• First, we have created an on-line e-petition to Mr. Driehaus letting him know that we know what he is up to in Washington and that we do not like his games with our money. We demand by this petition that he disclose his earmarks. Click here to sign the petition.


• Second, we have scheduled a "Tele-Town Hall" for tomorrow night to call every single household in Mr. Driehaus' district to inform them of the duplicity of Mr. Driehaus and to ask these voters to sign the on-line e-petition to Mr. Driehaus. The Tele-Town Hall is a relatively new tool designed to electronically gather citizens in their own homes to inform and motivate them into action. We see it as a perfect tool to educate the district on Driehaus' concealment of his actions in D.C. Click here to donate for this Tele-Town Hall.

Under pressure from voters, Congress recently enacted a new rule requiring all congressmen to clearly display appropriations requests made by their office. Driehaus is one of only three members of the House to fail to comply with these rules that are intended to increase the transparency of the appropriations process.

That's right, in the midst of this spending orgy from Washington, Steve Driehaus is one of only three Congressmen openly thumbing their noses at the public. Instead of disclosing his earmarks, Driehaus has cynically listed all of the requests for funding to his office, including a $515,000 request from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, a $10 million request from the Metals Affordability Initiative in Connecticut, and a $5 million request from the Water Research Foundation in Colorado. Driehaus' actions say loudly that he does not think his constituents are entitled to learn if he actually made these foolish requests, and others.

We need your urgent help with these projects:

1. First, please click here and sign the on-line petition to Mr. Driehaus.


2. Second, click here to make a generous contribution to fund the Virtual Town Hall tomorrow night. Right now, the budget for this project is $3,500. This is a modest sum, but COAST and the Cincinnati Tea Party had not set aside funds for this emergency. So, we had a choice. Either we could ignore Driehaus' betrayal of his own constituents, or we could commit to this undertaking trusting our donors to come to our aid. Because COAST exists for just these moments, we have committed to action.

Addressing this topic, COAST Chairman Jason Gloyd said "clearly, by hiding his activities from his constituents, Congressman Driehaus is thwarting the very transparency in government he claims to champion." In an ironic twist, when you visit Steve Driehaus' website, you cannot find the earmark requests he is required to post, but you can find a video that according to the website shows "Rep. Driehaus pushing for increased openness, efficiency, and accountability in government." Can you say hypocrite?

As Ronald Reagan so eloquently said: "When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat." Let's put some heat on Congressman Driehaus. Please help.

Your donation of even $50, $75 or $100 will help us fund this important initiative to expose Steve Driehaus' cynical deception. Please give generously. Click here to donate securely online using any credit card or bank account.