Printed in the Press Citizen 

I loaned somebody 700 billion cases of champagne, based on frothy promises. But I can't figure out where they went -- nor can anybody else.

So, now I need that whoever to pay me back. How about the taxpayers?

And where have we heard this story before? Compromised congressmen usually can anesthetize the taxpayers toward boondoggles, especially when special interests ply their trade in the "august" corridors of power.

So what kind of people have let this happen? Well, our benevolent "guardian" has been Rep. Dave Loebsack, who can't even get disaster funds for us without becoming dependent on den mother Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to do the heavy lifting for him.

Maybe he's been too busy pursuing hundreds of thousands of dollars for his august self instead, from out-of-state PACs -- including for instance a particularly malodorous $5,000 from Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York.

Loebsack's buddy Rangel, the tax evading guru, writes tax laws and then can't obey them himself. Nevertheless, his swill pumped into Loebsack's coffers was ferreted out by Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Her detective work then forced Loebsack to surrender it all to local nonprofits.

We need more such achievements toward cleaning up Washington, and Miller-Meeks will be able to do the job full-time when we elect her on Nov. 4. Then she can get to work on that other little legerdemain that's happened on Loebsack's watch: $700 billion mysteriously vanishing.

Randy Crawford
Coralville