The Golden Fleece Award (1975–1988) was presented to those public officials in the United States who, the judges feel, waste public money. Its name is a tangential reference to the Order of the Golden Fleece and a play on the transitive verb to fleece, as in charging excessively for goods or services. United States Senator William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, began to issue the Golden Fleece Award in 1975 in monthly press releases. The Washington Post once referred to the award as "the most successful public relations device in politics today." Robert Byrd, a Democratic Senator from West Virginia, referred to the award as being "as much a part of the Senate as quorum calls and filibusters."
Read more about Golden Fleece Award: Award, Award Winners
Famous quotes containing the words golden, fleece and/or award:
“Nor envy’s snaky eye, finds harbour here,
Nor flatterers’ venomous insinuations,
Nor cunning humorists’ puddled opinions,
Nor courteous ruin of proffered usury,
Nor time prattled away, cradle of ignorance,
Nor causeless duty, nor comber of arrogance,
Nor trifling title of vanity dazzleth us,
Nor golden manacles stand for a paradise;”
—Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586)
“On Wenlock Edge the wood’s in trouble;
His forest fleece the Wrekin heaves;
The gale, it plies the saplings double,
And thick on Severn snow the leaves.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“The award of a pure gold medal for poetry would flatter the recipient unduly: no poem ever attains such carat purity.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)