December 21, 2007
The Facts
Twice in the past two years, Alaska lawmakers lost congressional earmarks to build two “bridges to nowhere” costing hundreds of millions of dollars after Congress was embarrassed by public complaints over the pet projects hidden in annual spending bills. Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens (pictured right) of Alaska, both Republicans, never gave up on this project until they finally got their money. The amount is $84 million so 40 people can save two hours of travel time. These 40 people are employees of two business located on the island. Several high profile news organizations are carrying this story. You can go here to read one.
My View
I could write volumes on government waste just with hidden earmarks. Earmarks, the current word for “pork”, is a “negotiating” tool used by our elected officials so they can make their voters happy and get reelected. “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”. Usually, only the outrageous ones such as this “ferry to nowhere” are the ones that get national attention. But there are thousands in every bill authorizing spending money. Lawmakers deliberately design the written record of a bill so that it is extremely hard for anyone to decipher. It’s likened to a bandit putting on a mask to rob a bank. Thankfully there are groups who try to keep an eye on this, such as Taxpayers for Common Sense. They spend the time & effort to dig through the mountains of paperwork so the public can be easily made aware of these crimes.
You have to ask this question; why would Senator Ted Stevens and Representative Don Young want to spend this kind of money for just 40 employees of two businesses? A couple of years ago, they wanted to spend $452 million to build a bridge for these same 40 people. When was the last time you hear of an elected official wanting to do something just for employees? Obviously, there is a lot of money to be made by someone if access to this island is made convenient. Since they could not get the $452 million before, they have lowered their sites to a ferry. But once the ferry is in service and the real objective for the island is in full throws, it will be easier to get the money to build the bridge.
Yesterday I posted a report on Cheney’s boy Bush giving his last press conference of the year. The theme of that report was their hypocrisy, which is usually defined as “just politics”. In it I pointed out that Bush blamed the Democrats for all the pork spending. No doubt that the Democrats had their fair share, and more, of pork spending in the latest budget, but this problem is not a Party problem. However, earmarks are down from 2005 & 2006 by 25% under the Democratically controlled Congress. This according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. But it is strictly up to us, we the people, to put a stop to all of it. We can bombard our elected officials with emails and phone calls in protest of this kind of thing. Believe me, they will listen if they get hit enough. I have listed this web site on other post of mine, but here it is again. You can find your representatives name and phone number. It also has a pre-prepared email for you to use. Use them.
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