Trough-man contest

July 15, 2008 12:15 am

SOME CALL IT "directed congres- sional spending." A truer name is pork. And, once again, the slop's been hitting the buckets in Capitol Hill's FY 2009 appropriations bills.

The taxpayer-advocacy group Citizens Against Government Waste is keeping a sharp eye on the 110th Congress, which, when it took office in January 2007, pledged to be "the most honest, most open, most ethical Congress in history."

There's nothing necessarily unethical about a Congress member identifying needs in his community and seeking federal funds for them. The problem is that sheer political power, often based on a member's seniority--not logic or true need--often determines how Americans' tax dollars are spent. Last year's "pig report" identified these doozies:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., snagged $1.1 million to study "Mormon crickets" (let us thank Divine Providence that no Adventist aphids or Jehovah's Witness June bugs exist to require costly research);

Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, R-5th District, obtained $90,000 for a walking tour of Boydton, a town of 0.82 square miles with a population of 474; and

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, smooth-talked his fellow congressmen into cutting loose with $1.7 million for sorghum research and $1.5 million for a "plant stress and water conservation" lab.

Indeed, over 11,000 earmarked projects totaling $17.2 billion gained congressional approval for 2008. The big winners were Alaska (thanks to 40-year veteran Sen. Ted "Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens) with $555.54 per capita in earmarked spending, and Hawaii (courtesy of 46-year veteran Sen. Daniel Inouye) with $220.63 per capita. These states were followed by North Dakota, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Vermont. Virginia came in a distant 23rd, with $42 per capita in earmarks.

For FY 2009, the fun continues. Some $500,000 of public money will be spent on "methamphetamine prevention" in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. Another $300,000 is headed for the River Raisin Revolutionary War Battlefield (who knew?). And if you are traveling near Altoona, Pa., visit the Mishler Theater, which taxpayers are renovating for $150,000. Perhaps not coincidentally, a band called The Holy Smokes Blues will play there Aug. 15.

In March, Sens. John McCain, R- Ariz., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C., proposed a one-year moratorium on congressional earmarks. Their legislation failed, but gradually the message is getting through. More members of Congress, including Rep. Eric Cantor, are vowing to eschew earmarks.

When the Founding Fathers were discussing whether federal money should be used for local road projects, they could already see trouble ahead. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson predicted that the appropriations process "will be a scene of eternal scramble among the members, who can get the most money wasted in their State; and they will always get most who are meanest."

Or, as more modern history suggests, have been there longest.