July 2008 Archives

This just came in over the transom. Looks like Rep. Flake has the right idea. Let's see if this makes it to the House floor for a vote.

Prevent Earmarks in a Competitive Grant Program
Support the Flake Amendment to H.R. 1338, The Paycheck Fairness Act
 
Dear Colleague:

Later today, I will be offering a commonsense amendment to H.R. 1338, The Paycheck Fairness Act.  In section five of the legislation, a new grant program is created to carry out programs to train girls and women in negotiating tactics.  My amendment would simply prohibit the earmarking of funds authorized by this bill for the grant program.  Earlier this year, a similar amendment was approved by the House of Representatives during consideration of the Beach Act of 2007 by a vote of 263 to 117 (Roll Call Vote #182, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll182.xml).

The new grant program created in H.R. 1338 is explicitly authorized in the legislation to make grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities.  However, when it comes to earmarking, the message is clear: just because Congress hasn't earmarked an account or a grant program before doesn't mean we won't in the future.  My amendment makes no substantive change to the grant program included in the legislation and is simply offered as a safeguard against future earmarking.

With few opportunit[ies] this session to deal directly with the broken earmarking process, the least Members can do is explicitly prohibit earmarks in programs or accounts that are designed to provide funding on a formula or competitive basis.  I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment.  For further information, please contact MacMillin Slobodien of my staff at x5-2635.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jeff Flake
Member of Congress
 

From Reason.tv:

Taxpayers are shelling out over $17 billion for more than 11,000 Congressional earmarks in FY 2008. One such project is a $1.6 million earmark in this year's defense spending bill. The money is going to the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), a program that searches for evidence of life elsewhere in the universe.

That alien pork project is just one example of how elected officials use earmarks to funnel federal tax dollars back to powerful interests in their districts. While politicians and a few of their most well-connected constituents benefit from earmarks, the costs fall on individual taxpayers. Since 1991, Americans have paid over $271 billion for pork projects.

In this new Reason.tv video, Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla) - who is known as  the Senate's "Dr. No" for his aggressive opposition to earmarks - explains how taxpayers are being fleeced by Washington's insatiable appetite for pork.

By Andrew Roth @ Club for Growth

Shortly after joining Congress in 2000, Rep. Jeff Flake swore off earmarks forever. Others have followed. GOP Leader John Boehner was arguably the first Shortly after joining Congress in 2000, Rep. Jeff Flake swore off earmarks forever. Others have followed. GOP Leader John Boehner was arguably the first among current House members. He shunned earmarks way back in 1990 (who said accepting earmarks was necessary for getting re-elected?). And with the earmark crisis reaching a feverish pitch nowadays, fiscal conservatives are realizing that something radical needs to be done. Real reform needs to be enacted, and the first step is to lead by example.

Below are the brave members who have personally decided to stop receiving pork projects, if only temporarily, while they fight for reform. This may not be an exhaustive list. If you know of a House member, or work for one, who should be added to the list, send me the documentation and I'll happily add them. Also, be sure to heap praise on these members. And, if you have time, call your own representative if they aren't on the list and encourage them to swear off pork. The Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121.

HOUSE MEMBERS (41 members)
Jeff Flake (AZ-06)
John Campbell (CA-48)
Jeb Hensarling (TX-05)
John Shadegg (AZ-03)
John Boehner (OH-08)
John Kline (MN-02)
Tom Price (GA-06)
Lynn Westmoreland (GA-03)
Virginia Foxx (NC-05)
Trent Franks (AZ-02)
Michele Bachmann (MN-06)
Eric Cantor (VA-07)
Patrick McHenry (NC-10)
Marilyn Musgrave (CO-04)
Paul Ryan (WI-01)
Walter Jones (NC-03)
Devin Nunes (CA-21)
Louie Gohmert (TX-01)
Paul Broun (GA-10)
Henry Waxman (CA-30)
Joe Pitts (PA-16)
Mark Kirk (IL-10)
Todd Platts (PA-19)
Patrick Tiberi (OH-12)*
Mark Udall (CO-02)
Joe Wilson (SC-02)
Ron Kind (WI-03)
Dan Burton (IN-05)
Jim Cooper (TN-05)
Mike Pence (IN-06)
Jim Sensenbrenner (WI-05)
Dave Reichert (WA-08)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05)
Marsha Blackburn (TN-07)
Nathan Deal (GA-09)
Michael McCaul (TX-10)
Judy Biggert (IL-13)
John Linder (GA-07)
Dave Camp (MI-04)*
Thad McCotter (MI-11)
Jackie Speier (CA-12)*

SENATORS (7 members)
Tom Coburn (OK)
Jim DeMint (SC)
John McCain (AZ)
Claire McCaskill (MO)
Richard Burr (NC)
Russ Feingold (WI)
Barack Obama (IL)

Again, please offer words of encouragement to these members. And if your representative isn't on the list, call their office and urge them to cut the addiction. The Capitol switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121.

I received verbal confirmation from Tiberi's office on March 7, 2008. I received verbal confirmation from Camp's office on April 2, 2008. I found this article about Speier's disgust with the earmark process. Her office confirmed the report, but did note that Speier, who came into office after a special election victory in April, requested earmarks as a promise made to her predecessor, the late Tom Lantos.

Read the whole article and more just like it at, www.clubforgrowth.com

By Chip Hanlon @ GreenFaucet.com

News is breaking that Alaska Senator, Ted Stevens (R), has been indicted on multiple corruption charges relating to his service in public office. Shocker.

By now you have most likely also heard that this year's fiscal deficit will mark a record, but fear not! Today's Democratic-led Congress has a plan to fix the reckless fiscal habits of the Republicans they replaced... by spending even more! Seriously, the House Appropriations Committee is considering a 2009 fiscal budget nearly 8% larger than this year's!

Runaway spending is a disease plaguing both parties today.

So, the fall of Republican Ted Stevens doesn't break the heart of this GOP-er because he's precisely the type of pork barrel piggy who needs to be replaced if our party is to return to its fiscal senses. The good news is, you can help improve Alaska's delegation even further-- by contributing to the primary challenger of the state's only Congressman, Don Young.

Why Young? Because he's the architect of the ultimate spending boondoggle, the infamous "bridge to nowhere." And his primary challenger, Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, will enter Congress as a spending reformer, one who has been edorsed by many prominent national Republican organizations--a rarity against a sitting GOP representative--including the Club for Growth. Good enough for...

For the complete article and more just like it, go to GreenFaucet.com

While Hugh Hewitt vacationed in Rome, Representative John Campbell sat in as guest host on Hewitt's afternoon radio program. Topics of discussion were earmark reform and the failure of Republicans to embrace true fiscal responsibility.

Here is the segment featuring Lincoln Club president, Rich Wagner and Red County president, Scott Graves.

Lincoln Club President, Rich Wagner and Chairman, Tracy Price were guests on the Real Orange last week discussing their call for Republicans to embrace earmark reform as a symbol of what is supposed to be a core Republican value... fiscal responsibility.

Take a look...

In the halls of the House, where business-as-usual means placing politics over common sense, Rep. Jeb Hensarling  is a no-nonsense budget hawk who believes in a "radical" idea about federal spending - don't spend more than you take in.

Such clear-sightedness seems to be lost on many Republican members of Congress who seem content to play the Washington game of "spend and spend more." Thankfully, there are conservatives like Hensarling who still believe in practicing the basic Republican principle of fiscal responsibility. As chair of the Republican Study Committee, a group of 100 conservative House Republicans, Hernsarling has proven his fiscal courage time and again. For example:

• He proposed a Constitutional amendment that would prohibit federal spending from growing faster than the economy. In a letter co-signed by Rep. John Campbell and sent earlier this year to his House colleagues, Hensarling warned: "The projected growth of federal spending is simply unsustainable ... By 2040, taxes would have to double in order to pay for all of the spending that will compound if the federal budget is simply left on automatic pilot--and that's if no more additional spending is created."
  
  
• He's been a staunch opponent of earmarks, taking the pledge to "swear off pork" (that sadly only 39 of the 201 Republican members of Congress have taken) and has supported the one-year moratorium on all Congressional earmarks.  In 2006, Henserling actively opposed a $1.5 billion earmark to Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, stuck in a federal transportation bill, which was seven times larger than Alaska's infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" and, according to the Heritage Foundation, one  of the largest earmarks in American history.
  
  
• He is a staunch tax fighter. Last year, he introduced the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights," a bill that would limit the growth of government spending, and co-authored the "Taxpayer Choice Act," which would simplify the tax code and make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Influential groups like the Club for Growth, American Conservative Union, and the National Taxpayer Union  have all given Hensarling high marks for his anti-tax voting record.

Hensarling has done a yeoman's job of trying to get Congress, and his Republican colleagues, to own up to the glaringly obvious fact that government is obese and needs to be put on a diet. In a 2006 interview just after Republicans lost control of Congress with the Pittsburg Tribune-Review, Hensarling admitted something that the Lincoln Club of Orange County and others are now publicly vocalizing:

"Fiscal responsibility is one of our core values. Nobody expects the Democrats to be fiscally responsible. But if we're not fiscally responsible, I don't know how we ever get back into the majority."

 

Following the Republican defeats of election night 2006, Carol Platt Liebau wrote an article for Townhall.com titled, "Recapturing the Spirit of '94". She used the article to, in part, emphasize the importance that congressional Republicans should re-embrace the principle of fiscal responsibility.

Why are some lessons so difficult to learn?

Here are the key paragraphs... 

... it's time for Republicans to let the sunshine - and the base - back in. For far too long, too many Republican politicians have treated the conservative base like Ross Perot's proverbial crazy aunt in the attic. Certainly, there's no place in either party for unreasoned extremism. But there's likewise no justification for Republican officials' inexplicable tendency to behave as though good, reasonable conservatives are either too unsophisticated to be taken seriously, too foolish to understand when the issues most important to them are being ignored, or too slavishly devoted to the GOP to withhold their votes when politicians haven't gotten the job done.

In short, congressional Republicans need to begin treating the base less like a rampaging beast to be placated, and more like a trusted friend to be consulted. Too often, party decision-making has a cliquish element reminiscent of an eighth grade cheerleading squad. Would it really hurt anyone for the politicians to turn to the people who fund, electioneer and vote for them most loyally and ask, "What do you think?"? Seeking input about the candidates for the party's new leaders would be a great way to start the conversation. Communication and transparency are key - and given the advent of talk radio and the blogosphere, easily accomplished. It hasn't been happening, and it's time for it to start.

There's no doubt that challenges come with defeat - but there are also new opportunities. It's time for congressional Republicans to close the book on Election Night '06 and resolve that, by November of 2008, theirs will once again be the party that Americans trust with their pocketbooks, their values - and, in an era of Islamofascist terrorism, with their lives.

The whole article can be read here.

From the New York Times earlier this summer...

Earmarks Persist in Spending Bills for 2009
June 27, 2008
By RON NIXON

WASHINGTON -- Despite a pledge by Congressional leaders to reduce pork-barrel projects, new information shows that both the number and amount of earmarks have increased in several spending bills now making their way through Congress.

The amount of the earmarks in the House version of the labor, health and human services appropriations bill for the 2009 fiscal year, for example, has jumped to $618.8 million from $277.9 million compared with the bill in 2008, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington.

In the Interior Department spending bill, earmarks increased to $134.9 million from $111 million from last year. Those amounts might change when the Appropriations Committee approves those bills. A spokeswoman from the committee said the number and amount of earmarks would be kept at 2008 levels.

A few years ago, the Department of Homeland Security bill had no earmarks; the new House bill has more than 100. In all, lawmakers requested 3,796 earmarks worth about $2.7 billion in seven spending bills.

The debate over earmarks has heated up in recent years after they figured into several Congressional scandals.

President Bush has threatened to veto spending bills if the number and cost of earmarks were not cut in half. Mr. Bush said that earmarks were wasteful and that the projects they financed typically lacked transparency and oversight.

The number of earmarks did decline last year after lawmakers, under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, mandated that members publicly disclose their financing requests.

"But these increases we are seeing clearly sets back any steps toward reform," said Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste. "We're back to where we were before."

Supporters of the practice say Congress has the right to appropriate financing to organizations and programs that agencies might otherwise overlook. But Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona and a longtime critic of earmarks, said the budget process had become a spoils system.

"It's become a way for lawmakers to award the lobbyists and others who give to their campaigns," Mr. Flake said.

House Democrats lead the way in earmark requests worth billions of dollars in the seven bills for which information is available, according to a review of the data by The New York Times.

Representative Peter J. Visclosky, Democrat of Indiana and chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, requested more than $38 million in earmarks in the seven bills, including $850,000 for programs at a Y.M.C.A. in Gary, Ind.

Read more of the New York Times article here.

Robert Novak just published his syndicated column in the Washington Post titled, "Ultimatum to the GOP" located here.

The article is based on his receipt of a Red County article titled, "We Refuse to Support a Permanent Minority" written by Lincoln Club president Rich Wagner and board member, Chip Hanlon. The article appears in the current issue of Red County magazine, here.


Excerpt of the We Refuse to Support a Permanent Minority article:

Still oblivious to the source of our discontent, a number of free-spending Republicans recently rushed to meet House GOP leader John Boehner, urging him not to back an earmark reform proposal from the Republican Study Committee. The idea they fought so mightily against? A ban on earmark requests from Republican members of Congress for one year.

The porkers' struggle is typified by Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia--sponsor or co-sponsor of $83MM in earmarks in last year's budget alone--who, amazingly, defended earmarks as "being entrepreneurial about bringing something home."

In response to us on that remark, former Speaker Newt Gingrich scathingly replied, "There's nothing entrepreneurial about the Appropriations Committee spending other people's money."

Alas, bold GOP leadership on earmark reform is still nearly absent in Washington.  Michigan's Thad McCotter highlights this by arguing the futility of fighting for earmark reform, saying members of the House can't lead on the issue because, "...we are not the field marshals, we are the foot soldiers."

Thank goodness Newt Gingrich suffered no such humility in 1994.

Excerpt from Novak's column:

That's the view expressed in the Lincoln Club paper signed by Rich Wagner, the group's president, and Chip Hanlon, a board member. It deplores the refusal by party leaders to support a one-year moratorium on earmarks, whose 285 percent growth when Congress was under Republican control is "the perfect symbol of the GOP-led profligacy that drives us crazy still." Earmarks "epitomize the fiscal recklessness that led to Republicans becoming a minority in 2006. . . . It's no wonder the Republican leadership continued to fail on . . . entitlement reform and a reduction in federal spending."

The Lincoln Club blasts conservative Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, whose personal earmarks totaled $83 million last year, for defending his pork as "being entrepreneurial about bringing something home." It also assails conservative Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, a member of the leadership who has opposed earmark reform and voted on the floor against only one earmark. With his annual earmarks totaling $22.5 million, McCotter declared a year ago, "I will not unilaterally disarm my donor state."

On June 25, however, McCotter apparently felt enough heat to disarm unilaterally, with a surprise announcement that he had requested no earmarks this year. It may be too late for the 42-year-old third-termer, threatened with losing his House Republican Policy Committee chairmanship after only two years if the Lincoln Club of Orange County gets its clean sweep.

"We urge other Republican donor groups to reinforce this important beginning," read the club's ultimatum. It went on: "It is not credible to ask the American people to return Republicans to the majority when all we offer them is the same group of leaders and policies they so recently rejected."

The statement asserts that these leaders "have no idea what we say when we get together" and are "still oblivious to the source of our discontent." Now, if these contributors have their way, it is too late for the leaders, at least in the House. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who began his campaign for re-election in Kentucky by bragging about his earmarks for the state, probably has more to worry about from his Democratic election foe than insurgent Republican senators. But House Minority Leader John Boehner, who sponsors no earmarks himself but has not backed reform, faces an all-too-serious challenge.

The grumbling. The head shaking. The anger.

Written by Rich Wagner & Chip Hanlon

Congressional Republican leaders clearly have no idea what we, their fellow GOP members (and financial backers), say to one another when we get together, yet for years one refrain has been constant: our extreme discontent over how the former GOP majority blew it on spending.

Budget earmarks, which jumped by 285% between 1994 and 2005 as their cost soared by 60%, stand as the perfect symbol of the GOP-led profligacy that drives us crazy still. In and of themselves, earmarks are admittedly a small part in the budget process, amounting to roughly 2% of the federal budget in 2005.  Yet they epitomize the fiscal recklessness that led to Republicans becoming a minority in 2006.

Unable to rein it in on the smaller earmark items, it's no wonder the Republican leadership continued to fail on the more critical structural spending issues such as entitlement reform and a reduction in federal spending (hello Prescription Medicare). 

Still oblivious to the source of our discontent, a number of free-spending Republicans recently rushed to meet House GOP leader John Boehner, urging him not to back an earmark reform proposal from the Republican Study Committee. The idea they fought so mightily against? A ban on earmark requests from Republican members of Congress for one year.

The porkers' struggle is typified by Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia--sponsor or co-sponsor of $83MM in earmarks in last year's budget alone--who, amazingly, defended earmarks as "being entrepreneurial about bringing something home."

In response to us on that remark, former Speaker Newt Gingrich scathingly replied, "There's nothing entrepreneurial about the Appropriations Committee spending other people's money."

Alas, bold GOP leadership on earmark reform is still nearly absent in Washington.  Michigan's Thad McCotter highlights this by arguing the futility of fighting for earmark reform, saying members of the House can't lead on the issue because, "...we are not the field marshals, we are the foot soldiers."

Thank goodness Newt Gingrich suffered no such humility in 1994.

And that's just the point, isn't it? Today's Congressional Republicans have lost all resemblance to the revolutionaries who then typified the principles our party could--and should--stand for.

Indeed, because today's Republicans are so addicted to pork and big-ticket spending, it is time to demand dramatic action.

Therefore, as a start, we strongly support and call upon the House GOP leadership to institute a minimum one year moratorium on earmarks by Republicans, and for the Senate GOP leaders to follow suit.  Concurrently, we urge other Republican donor groups to reinforce this important beginning through their influence as well, with the ultimate intent to work towards substantial Republican spending reform.

Second, we are dialoguing with like-minded groups across the country about electing new Congressional Republican leadership in both houses of Congress.  Regardless of November's outcome, it is time to make a clear statement to voters that we intend to establish a new team and goals, re-discovering our lost principles of a government limited in size, scope, and spending.

It is not credible to ask the American people to return Republicans to the majority when all we offer them is the same group of leaders and policies they so recently rejected.

It's not just "branding," but the right policies which will breathe new life into the Republican Party and re-energize voters.

And one more thing: come November 5th, should the current GOP leadership in either house survive to lead in a new Congress, the Lincoln Club of Orange County will review its financial backing of all Congressional Republicans, and we urge others to do likewise.  A GOP caucus that would re-elect such leaders is not one we would likely continue to support.

Because, simply put: we refuse to support a permanent minority.


Rich Wagner is the President of the Lincoln Club of Orange County. Chip Hanlon is a Lincoln Club board member, President of Delta Global Advisors, and Founder of GreenFaucet.com.

By Ken Campbell

We have all become familiar with the ethically dubious enterprise of earmark / pork where members of Congress sneak their pet projects primarily into conference reports, bypassing the traditional procedures of authorization, appropriation and oversight, thereby avoiding transparency and accountability.  All this for the purpose of buying votes, facilitating campaign contributions and in some cases enriching members... and the ultimate purpose of getting re-elected.

But how outrageous are these pet projects??  Check this blog posting from Congressman John Campbell.  Yes, every year we pay more and more in taxes so many members of Congress can squander that hard-earned money on things the Federal government should never be involved in.  Smile; there is no other way to deal with this fiscal irresponsibility.

Originally posted on the Flashreport.org:

Outrageous Earmarks
By Congressman John Campbell
7-11-2008 11:21 am

I have made a major part of my Congressional career so far to be one of the leaders [along with Jeff Flake (R-AZ)] in the fight against the wasteful and abusive pork spending known as earmarks. I would love to tell you that we have been successful in getting earmarks eliminated or substantially reformed. But no. Gosh, I wish I could tell you that at least they are all being disclosed or not dropped into bills in the dark of night with no hearing. But that hasn't happened either. There has been a bipartisan addiction to these things which continues to this day.

But what we have been successful in doing is raising the issue with the press and the public. Just a couple of years ago, the public didn't even know what was going on with earmarks and the press didn't cover them. But that has all changed. The press now is all over the issue and polls show that the public overwhelmingly wants the practice to stop. Even in Alaska, in which the famed "bridge to nowhere" was to be built and where the earmarks per capita are by far the highest in the country, a majority of the voting public would now give up the pork to see all earmarks go away. Senator John McCain has stated that as president he would veto every spending bill that contained even a single earmark.

A number of reporters are now digging into past earmarks and their connection with the campaign contributions or family members or personal finances of the Congressmen and women who requested them. I read a new story nearly every day from somewhere in the country about another earmark under scrutiny by someone for questionable ethics. Here are some of the most recent reports with a summary and a link to the whole story if you want to read or see it.

Twinkle Toes: Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) garnered $150,000 for the American Ballet Theatre in New York for "educational activities." Bolstered by $28 million from private fundraising, The American Ballet Theatre hardly needs a taxpayer hand out.

Taxpayer Funded Caddy shack:  $3 million for a golf school for children. That's right. $3 million of your tax money to teach kids to play golf......out of the DEFENSE budget.  Not surprisingly, the money will go to the James E. Clyburn Golf Center.

Woodstock Museum: $1,000,000 to create a museum honoring the 1969 Woodstock music festival.

$5 Million Parking Spot: Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) earmarked $5.6 million for a parking garage next to the "Kanjorski Center" which is currently unoccupied, and the parking garage violates federal construction standards.

The Big Kahuna: $1.1 billion in an attempt to put salmon into a river that has run dry.  The threshold for success is very small.  According to the settlement, if only 500 fish return, the project will be deemed successful. If you do the math, that makes each fish worth $21 million dollars.

Lobster Institute: $188,000 for Lobster research and education at the University of Maine, some of its accomplishments include: "The Lobster Cam" and Lobster flavored dog biscuits. Taxpayers can thank Senators Olympia Snow(R-ME), Susan Collins(R-ME), and Rep. Thomas Allen (D-ME).

Made for Walking: $98,000 to develop a walking tour of Boydton, Virginia.  Population: 454. Courtesy of Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA).

So what happens now? The spending culture inside the beltway in favor of earmarks is enormously powerful. Myself and the rest of our band of earmark warriors will try again to get the entire House or the Republican caucus to adopt a one year moratorium on earmarks until we adopt changes to reform the process and stop some of the abuses described above.

I'll keep you informed of our progress. But even if we fail, we will not give up. And you shouldn't either.  Because eventually, the beltway crowd cannot ignore the will of the people.

Representative John Campbell is feeling the heat over his position on earmarks. While congressmen from both sides of the aisle feed at the trough, it is particularly galling when Republicans pull up a chair with the excuse, "Everyone else is getting their share... I want to make sure my constituents and I get ours." Nonsense! It is incumbent upon all Republicans to practice what they preach. How do earmarks reconcile with limited government, less spending, and lower taxes?

Kudos to Rep. John Campbell! We would be very interested to know how Representatives Ed Royce and Dana Rohrabacher stood on the issue.

The following article appeared in the Orange County Register. It is available online here.

Newport Beach Peeved by Pork Protester
Is Rep. John Campbell right to resist earmarks for environmental project?
By JEFF OVERLEY

NEWPORT BEACH - Rep. John Campbell might hate pork, but some of his constituents think he's being rather pig-headed.

The Newport Beach Republican, a proud foe of congressional earmarks, is catching flak for a stubborn stance that local officials say has led him to abandon valuable projects.

Case in point: Upper Newport Bay, a vast estuary that, if not for a costly restoration effort, could fill up with sediment and become little more than a glorified meadow.

The $46 million dredging project is on the verge of stalling because promised federal funding hasn't come through, despite pleas from local policymakers.

"I think it's frustrating that (Campbell) doesn't seem to make the distinction between some empty earmarks and something that's just critical," said Councilwoman Nancy Gardner.

Campbell says he does see a difference, but that he's taken a vow of chastity when it comes to earmarks, at least until the process is reformed to allow for greater transparency.

"That is a pledge I have taken, and one I will stand by," Campbell said.

Another Newport Beach complaint involves the increasingly shallow waters of Newport Harbor, which the city wants help dredging to prevent boaters from running aground.

"We respect Congressman Campbell's attempt to reform the earmarking process - he is to be admired for taking that on," said Dave Kiff, assistant city manager. "Unfortunately, it's not yet reformed - and funds are going elsewhere that should come here. So we're stuck fighting it out for projects that we think are pretty important, like Upper Newport Bay and (Newport Harbor) dredging."

Campbell, however, has little sympathy on that front. "This looks like something to help out wealthy owners of multi-million-dollar yachts," he said.

The second-term lawmaker has snagged earmarks before, delivering $2.2 million for Upper Newport Bay dredging and another $500,000 for water-quality improvements that benefited the bay.

But those were just a sample of the voluminous requests for earmarks. "I thought," Campbell recalls, "what am I, an ATM congressman?"

Now an anti-earmark crusader, Campbell is irritating not only local officials but also some congressional colleagues.

In February, when he promoted a $2.5 million bill to benefit a Dana Point desalination project, Republican colleagues pounced, seeking to tag him as a hypocrite even though the appropriation was to be publicly debated, unlike most earmarks.

Campbell admits that the nearly $20 billion in annual earmarks is just a blip when it comes to the country's more than $400 billion deficit. But because earmarks are usually attached to massive spending bills, they're also the "gateway drug to overspending," Campbell says, quoting Senate colleague Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

At the same time, Campbell's principles may cost more money in the short term, at least for Upper Bay dredging. Initially pegged at $38 million, its price has ballooned partly because piecemeal federal funding has made work inefficient.

Campbell says that's a "legitimate" point, but not enough to derail his fight.

Luckily, Republican Rep. Ed Royce of Fullerton thinks he can keep the dredging alive. The prescription? A $2 million earmark. [emphasis added]

Contact the writer: 714-445-6683 or joverley@ocregister.com

Rich Wagner appeared today on CNN in response to the tremendous feedback he, the Lincoln Club, and Red County have received about the recent article, "We Refuse To Support a Permanent Minority" that appears in the latest issue of Red County

Not long ago in earth years, but eons ago in "blog years", Glen Reynolds from the popular Instapundit.com proposed to idea of aggregating the time, resources, and energy of bloggers to identify wasteful Washington spenders. N.Z. Bear (aka Rob Neppell) from truthlaidbear.com stepped it up a notch by launching Porkbusters.org. Together, along with a broad coalition of center-right bloggers, they exposed those who secretly held up the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 and awarded the first recipients of the Porkbusters Hall of Shame.

Glen Reynold's Orginal Blog Post:
September 18, 2005

SO THE EARLIER PORK POST -- in which various bloggers posted and emailed about pork in their states -- looked kind of promising, and N.Z. Bear and I got together to figure out a way to take it up a notch.

How are we going to mobilize the blogosphere in support of cuts in wasteful spending to support Katrina relief? Here's the plan.

Identify some wasteful spending in your state or (even better) Congressional District. Put up a blog post on it. Go to N.Z. Bear's new PorkBusters page and list the pork, and add a link to your post.

Then call your Senators and Representative and ask them if they're willing to support having that program cut or -- failing that -- what else they're willing to cut in order to fund Katrina relief. (Be polite, identify yourself as a local blogger and let them know you're going to post the response on your blog). Post the results. Then go back to NZ Bear's page and post a link to your followup blog post.