Your Tax Dollars At Labor

Keeping track of Bush Administration scandals is difficult, in part because there are so damn many of them. For example, there's now an entire website dedicated to the various failings of Secretary of Labor (and wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell) Elaine Chao. There's defiance of congressional oversight:

The acting assistant secretary for mine safety and health David G. Dye, along with the administrator of coal mine safety and health Ray McKinney, both walked out of a January 2006 hearing by a Senate subcommittee, claiming they were “too busy with their duties to stay.”

Appointing department employees to conduct "independent oversight":

: Despite complaints from miners and Congress, Elaine tapped former MSHA employees to investigate their own agency’s handling of the disaster as part of an “independent commission,” raising further questions about the validity of the investigation.

No-bid contracts:

: Despite complaints from miners and Congress, Elaine tapped former MSHA employees to investigate their own agency’s handling of the disaster as part of an “independent commission,” raising further questions about the validity of the investigation.

Electioneering:

During the 2006 midterm elections, Elaine and other administration officials traveled across the country awarding government funding, with great public fanfare, to districts where Mitch’s embattled Senate colleagues — including Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) — were fighting to hold onto their seats.

And finally a totally over-the-top self-promotion at taxpayers expense:

Elaine used taxpayer funds to line the walls of the Labor Department with 58 pictures of herself, embroider her name on lanyards and fleece blankets distributed at conferences, and hand out Elaine-themed gold-colored coins at public events.

Man, I want a gold-colored coin with a bas relief of my face on it. See the site for much much much more.