Friday, December 28, 2007
Editorial: Pork is pork, even when it's local
The earmark problem will never be solved as long as legislators like Bob Goodlatte continue to make sure their districts get a fair share of pork.
From the RoundTable blog
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Your mother wouldn't accept "Everyone else is doing it" as an excuse. But that's the best Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, could come up with when the Heritage Foundation called him on more than $1.8 million in federal spending the conservative group deemed wasn't of "national necessity."
In a prepared statement, Goodlatte said, "It would be unfair to my constituents to fund projects elsewhere in the country but not in my own district. It was important for me to ensure that our region was represented fairly in the process and to work with the local governments in my district to determine funding needs."
Unfortunately, he has a point. As long as federal tax dollars are being doled out to local projects across the nation, it's hard to fault Goodlatte for ensuring his district gets its share.
But we're going to anyway. Pork is pork, whether it's a bridge to nowhere in Alaska or a theater renovation in Waynesboro.
Goodlatte shouldn't be singled out for criticism, of course. The problem is Congress-wide.
The Washington Post reported that the recently passed omnibus spending and defense appropriations bills contained more than 11,000 earmarks between them.
Earmarks spun out of control when Republicans controlled Congress. In 1996, members of Congress inserted only 958 spending directives into legislation.
Senators and representatives have always liked to brag to constituents about how much bacon they bring home, but Republicans also turned earmarking into a corrupting "favor factory." In exchange for campaign money and other gifts, members would steer lucrative federal contracts to contributors.
Former California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham is in prison for taking that practice too far.
Democrats owe their 2006 retaking of Congress at least partly to such scandals, though they appear to have forgotten the voter discontent that returned them to power.
Disclosure rules passed by the House and Senate meant to bring more transparency at least to the process have done nothing to slake members' thirst for earmarks, though they have made them easier to trace.
Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told The Post that earmarks are a "bipartisan affliction."
"It would take leadership in both parties -- and a lot more shame -- to ever rein them in."
Such leadership won't involve continuing to bring home the bacon because everyone else is doing it.
