There has been quite a bit of bad news this year, that’s why I want to start off with some good news from Baltimore, Maryland. Earlier this week, the Baltimore City Council voted to give Baltimore City resident the opportunity to change the makeup of the Inspector General (IG) Advisory Board. This may not seem significant, but it is.  The Baltimore City IG, Isabel Cumming, is doing an amazing job. Her office has identified tens of millions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse. The IG Advisory Board was set up to provide basic functions like picking a new IG when the term of the current IG is up, approving the IG's budget, and conducting performance evaluations of the IG. The problem is that the current makeup of the Board has too many political appointees and has been pursuing a political agenda, rather than one of supporting the IG and taxpayers. There shouldn’t be any political appointees. Well, that may be changing. The city council voted to let the voters decide on the new composition of the Board, with ZERO political appointees. The 11-member Board will consist of a group of seven people from the community drawn at random from names submitted by the 14 City Council members. And, there will be one person chosen by the Maryland Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners; one person chosen by the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants. Rounding out the Board will be the Dean of the University of Maryland Law School or a designee and the Dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law or a designee. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance was proud to work with various groups and individuals to achieve this victory.
 

Profile in Courage – Matt Hilburn aka UnSuckDCMetro

It is often said there are only two certainties in life – death and taxes. For daily commuters in the nation’s capital, there is a third – being let down by the DC metro system. Riders are often plagued with long wait times on platforms, over-crowded cars, fires on the tracks, derailments, and the dreaded “single tracking” while work is being done. All of these problems make getting to and from work on a daily basis a nightmare for the city’s residents. Fortunately, one frustrated commuter decided to do something about it. In 2009, Matt Hilburn launched the blog “Unsuck DC Metro” to bring transparency to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and provide an outlet for whistleblowers to shed light on systemic flaws. Despite repeated attempts to expose his identity, he never sought fame and stayed hidden in the shadows fighting for transparency and accountability. 

Sadly, Matt Hilburn recently passed away.
 
Hilburn’s writing often featured leaked memoranda highlighting the liberties WMATA often takes with rider safety. For example, the Unsuck DC Metro site has brought to light many issues with WMATA’s Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC). ROCC’s failures led to the death of a passenger on a smoke-filled train at the L’Enfant Plaza station in 2015. The last post on the site featured a number of “discrepancy memos” showing the incompetence and nepotism that has existed in the ROCC office since its inception. Hilburn’s popular blog would eventually turn into an even more popular Twitter account, @UnsuckDCMetro, which amassed nearly 81,000 followers. Even Hilburn’s harshest critics admitted that both his site and his Twitter feed were one of the best places for WMATA commuters to find out about delays or service outages. Where WMATA failed to communicate, Hilburn stepped up to the plate.
 
Unsuck DC Metro progressively became a place where journalists, WMATA employees, and fellow riders (including Taxpayers Protection Alliance employees) could go to expose and air grievance about WMATA’s customer service. Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney said of Hilburn, “The shortcomings described on his blog and others that follow Metro, although anecdotal, offer a damning portrait of flawed habits.” His efforts became more serious over time, filing a number of FOIA requests to bring WMATA’s processes and decision-making into the public eye. He also – with the backing of activist group Judicial Watch – sued WMATA for access to a 2018 ridership questionnaire. His effort to make that public sadly failed, but did not deter him in trying to further hold WMATA to account. The efforts in building out the Unsuck DC Metro brand inspired others to join the fight to hold WMATA accountable. One such account, entitled “Is Metro on Fire?” is – as its name suggests – dedicated to informing riders about fire dangers on Metro rail lines. Unfortunately, the issues with WMATA run so deep there is need for an account such as this. A host of others have cropped up since Unsuck DC Metro’s inception and have helped riders access information about their daily commutes they could not readily access through WMATA’s channels.
 
Honoring Hilburn’s work is for every frustrated DC commuter who has dealt with delays that have forced them to be late to work, social gatherings, flights, or other engagements. This is Profile in Courage is also for anybody in the country that has been frustrated and/or stonewalled by government bureaucrats to obtain information. Hilburn is the embodiment of a profile in courage. There is no doubt his mission will be carried on. May he Rest In Peace.
 
Dismal Economic Numbers and Build Back Better Gets New Life
 
We didn’t need official numbers from the Department of Commerce to show us that the economy is a mess. The GDP numbers released earlier this week, which showed a .9 percent decrease in the GDP, just confirmed what everybody suspected.  Quite frankly, enough is enough. It’s time for the finger pointing on both sides of the aisle to stop and find a solution. From cutting government spending and taxes to reducing barriers to energy production, Congress and the President need to craft economic policies that create certainty for entrepreneurs and families, not rock the boat themselves. It shouldn’t have taken these disheartening numbers for the country’s leaders to abandon the aggressive platitudes and get back to basics. This economic uncertainty was caused by reckless fiscal policy and regulatory onslaughts, with ample blame to go around. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether this data can be defined as a ‘recession’ or not. But what does matter, is that families are struggling to afford basic household necessities and fill their tanks with gas. It seems that nearly every month, Americans are met with daunting headlines of historic inflation. With massive spending bills on the table, it’s essential that Congress takes a hard look at the reckless overspending that has so greatly contributed to the financial struggles Americans are feeling daily.
 
As if the news wasn’t bad enough, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) agreed to The Inflation Reduction of 2022, a scaled back Build Back Better legislation. The Inflation Reduction Act is just putting lipstick on a pig, hoping the American public doesn’t notice. It is an expensive wish list of progressive spending with tax increases that would harm all Americans. This proposal relies on offsets that would target taxpayers with audits, sell out seniors’ healthcare, increase prices through corporate tax hikes, and discourage investment in American business during an economic downturn.  This proposal would send the IRS after taxpayers in pursuit of an additional $124 billion dollars in revenue. The agency has already admitted to targeting taxpayers without resources to fight back. Nearly half of all audits conducted in 2021 were directed at America’s poorest taxpayers and this revenue raising mission would only further that practice. And also of concern is the included provision for a $15 million study on a “Direct E-File” tax return system. Polling shows that 75% of Americans do not want to expand the authority of the IRS. This is yet another example of Senate Democrats being out of touch with the real priorities of Americans. The supposed Medicare ‘negotiations’ involve price controls, not negotiation. Seniors’ medical care would be jeopardized by price controls to pay for progressive priorities. A reduction in drug development would delay and otherwise hamper lifesaving innovations. 
 
It’s clear the D.C. heat has affected the sensibilities of Senate Democrats.  Time for them to go home and cool off and give taxpayers and consumers a much-needed break from Congress’ fiscal irresponsibility.

BLOGS:
   
Monday: Government Watchdog Group Urges Baltimore City Council Members to Approve Charter Amendment 
 
Tuesday: TPA Responds to Senate Democrats’ Misguided Drug Pricing Proposal  
   
Wednesday: Electric Boogaloo at the Postal Service
 
Thursday: Taxpayers Protection Alliance Responds to Q2 GDP Figures 
  
Friday: Profile in Courage: Matt Hilburn
 
MEDIA:
 
July 25, 2022:  I appeared on the Mike Ferguson Show on NewsTalkSTL (St. Louis, Mo.) to talk about inflation and the economy.
 
July 25, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about taxpayers funding Harbor Point.
 
July 25, 2022:  Politico mentioned TPAF in their weekly cybersecurity roundup.
 
July 26, 2022:  Townhall.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “An Independent Review of FDA’s Tobacco Regulations Would Be Welcome as Agency Bows Down to Political Pressure.”
 
July 27, 2022:  Reason.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “Don't Give U.S. Chipmakers a $76 Billion Government Handout.”
 
July 27, 2022: Flipboard ran TPA’s op-ed, “Don't Give U.S. Chipmakers a $76 Billion Government Handout.”
 
July 27, 2022: Dan Savickas joined ‘The Barrett Brief’ with Rick Barrett to discuss student loans and news of the day.
 
July 28, 2022: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about IRS auditing lower income households.
 
July 28, 2022: I appeared on the Chris Stigall Show on 990 AM (Philadelphia, Pa.) to talk about inflation and the new economic numbers.
 
July 28, 2022:  Inside Sources ran TPA’s op-ed, “Time for Real Fiscal Responsibility.”
 
July 28, 2022:  I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about inflation and the new economic numbers.
 
July 28, 2022: The Lima News ran TPA’s op-ed titled, “Time for real fiscal responsibility.”
 
July 28, 2022: RealClear Markets ran TPA’s op-ed, “Sen. Klobuchar's Antitrust Push Shows Political Favoritism At Its Worst.”
 
July 28, 2022:  RealClear Health ran TPA’s op-ed, “Drug Pricing Deal Disrupts Development of New Cures.”
 
July 29, 2022: Patrick Hedger joined ‘Inside Sources’ on KSL News Radio with Boyd Matheson to discuss Amazon's purchase of One Health.
 
July 29, 2022: The Boston Herald ran TPA’s op-ed, “Time for real fiscal responsibility on Capitol Hill.”
 
July 29, 2022: The Nashua Telegraph ran TPA’s Op-ed, “Time for real fiscal responsibility.”