Book Review:

Unaccountable Congress: It Doesn’t Add Up by Joseph J. DioGuardi

Reviewed by Stephen J. Rossi

If he was writing it today, former Congressman Joe DioGuardi may have titled his 1992 book Unaccountable Congress: It Doesn’t Add Up something more akin to The Congressional Credit Card: The Tea Party Patriot’s Guide To Truth In Government. DioGuardi, who served two terms in the House of Representatives from New York and is now seeking a U.S. Senate seat there, instead reissued the book in conjunction with the 20-year anniversary of his landmark Chief Financial Officers Act—a budget accounting bill he sponsored that was signed by the first President Bush. And he has done so with a rousing new forward celebrating grassroots activism for accountability in federal spending.

Throughout the updated book, DioGuardi punctuates examples of congressional tricks, gimmicks and outright fraud with examples of citizen involvement from the earliest days of the republic. He outlines ways in which Americans can – and should – involve themselves in putting solid, common sense accounting principles and controls on Congress’ credit card. To that end, he dubs the electronic voting device used by members as “the most expensive credit card in the world.”

But that was 1992. Washington’s fiscal mess is worse now. He acknowledges today’s citizen uprising, noting that the more dismissive the Obama administration is to the Tea Party, the more that grass roots movement grows; and likewise the more government the president adds, the stronger the resolve of its opponents. But his prescience is no coincidence. DioGuardi was the first CPA elected to Congress, nationally recognized as a partner with “Big Five” accounting firm Arthur Andersen before it was disgraced by several employees during the Enron scandal. DioGuardi quickly learned in Washington that the budget process – the spending of families’ hard-earned tax dollars – was a product of dysfunction at best and, most times, chicanery and deceit.

True to today’s Tea Party movement, DioGuardi has ample criticism for both parties. Back then, as now, liberal Democrats ran the House. Saddened by the loss of the House’s reputation – it was embroiled in its own internal post office and bank scandals – DioGuardi coined the phrase, “House of Ill Repute,” which headlined a GOP report on the majority’s corrupt administration of the chamber. Although a straightforward writer who methodically lays out the problems and solutions to the government-spending crisis, he also zips in timely comic relief. It’s a shame it falls under gallows humor.

Using understandable terms, DioGuardi explains the Congressional shell games that have led to, and increased, our financial vulnerability and incompressible debt. He notes that the greater the spending, the easier it is for Congress to bury its special interest pay-offs.

With substandard and antiquated accounting methods – cash-in, cash-out rather than the accrual method – there’s almost nothing Congress can’t hide or even make sound like a reform, and that’s the way it likes it. DioGuardi lists the “Dirty Dozen” budget tricks which include: the infamous “current services budget,” whereby Congress “cuts” spending by reducing projected increases; or guaranteeing loans that add nothing to the current year budget, only for the bailouts on the inevitable defaults to pile on to future debt. Worse still, the nefarious trick of “off budgeting” – creating an agency that pays the treasury with taxpayer money that is counted as revenue to reduce the deficit!

Reading Unaccountable Congress resonates with lessons for today and will continue to do so until there is a change not only of party in Congress, but also of attitude. Even though he is an unabashed small government disciple, most of DioGuardi’s reforms are non-ideological: adopting controls, two-year budgets, accurate information, transparency and modern accounting methods; separating capital expenditures and discretionary spending into distinct budgets; and sending taxpayers a readable financial statement each year with its tax forms. His approach of fiscal responsibility and financial accountability dovetails with the Tea Party, a movement not dependent on party affiliation.

His recounting of bailouts from years past not only recalls recent government intervention in the private sector, but frightens readers regarding how Congress (and the executive branch) “solved” the problems. Hint: more debt for taxpayers. Not only that, but DioGuardi presaged the Tea Party movement in the book’s first printing by applauding the citizen storm that accompanied a sneak attempt by Congress to raise its pay by 50 percent. Thousands of Americans across the country sent Congress tea bags that read: “Read my lips: NO pay raise!” The pressure actually worked, too, for a while.

Whether its successor movement of today succeeds may depend on whether Americans concerned with their government take to heart DioGuardi’s warnings, advice and diligence to stay informed about the inner workings of Congress. In the updated Unaccountable Congress, they can find understandable ideas and terminology that will inspire them to take action.