Rep. John Boehner has an op-ed in the Washington Examiner outlining the Democrats' bald-faced lies on earmark reform.

Then came a decision by Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-WI, to not only make all earmarks secret, but to replace them in Democratic spending bills with multi-billion dollar slush funds – blank spots to be filled in at a later date, all hidden from serious public scrutiny.

Obey planned to keep the earmark requests secret to allow himself more time to review them all personally – a bizarre process for the most "open" and "honest" Congress. Obey said he would eventually print each earmark request in the Congressional Record – but only after the House voted on its appropriations bills. Obey said lawmakers could write to him individually about specific projects and express their concerns… but that's not accountability; that's a complaints department.

Despite their promises, I didn't really think the Democrats would be better on transparency, earmarks, etc. I expected more of the same. I was surprised that they could be so much worse than the Republicans.