The way Congress passed the bailout bill is the way it passes most important bills. It lards them with extra fat. That's the way business is done, and it is corrupt because it does not allow voters either to easily track or assign responsibility for what is done.

The bailout bill included the much-sought continuation of the county payments program.

Our man in Washington, Rep. Peter DeFazio, desperately wanted the county payments to pass. He had made many attempts last year and this to get them passed.

But he was bitterly opposed to the bailout bill to which it was attached. He thinks the bailout provisions may be the biggest financial mistake this country has ever made.

He voted against it because he thought there was a better way, even though he welcomed the county payments provisions that had been added in the Senate.

Some years down the road, somebody can claim that DeFazio voted against the county payments, accusing him of duplicity when he says he favored them. Yes he did, but the claim would still be false. Because what he voted against was the financial bailout, not the addition of the payments.

A sane system that meant to make our members of Congress responsible for how they vote would ban amendments and additions that are not closely germane to the bill itself.

The Oregon constitution does have such a requirement for bills in the legislature. Bills are limited to one subject, but the definition of one subject often is stretched to the breaking point.

The nature of parliamentary work leads to such abuses. Members' votes are won by special plums for the interests or districts they represent, and the only way to do that is to attach them to bills that have to pass.

But the system stinks. It is a blot on our general notions of democracy. It leads to the kind of misleading television claims by opposing campaigns that such and so voted for taxes so many times, or against women so many times. It is all falsehood, and the system of attaching additions to basic bills gives campaign liars license for their lies. (hh)