The Porker Prize for the Most Outrageous Earmark Goes to…
By Pat Racimora on March 19, 2009 at 6:55 PM in Earmarks, Ted Kennedy
I’ll be honest upfront with my opinion. I see them as little parasites made from hijacked taxpayer dollars that members of Congress attach to totally unrelated bills for the purpose of impressing their own constituents. President Obama rallied against the considerable flab involved, but signed the 2009 omnibus spending bill anyway, with 9,309 (representing 7.7 billion dollars) little money suckers clinging to it.
I examined this long list of earmarks, searching for the most outrageous use of our “taxation without representation” at a time when millions are watching their jobs, homes, and retirement nest eggs disappear.
The first contestant was $200,000 for “tattoo removal” (Woodland Hills, CA). However, it’s not quite as nutty as it sounds. The idea is to remove gang and jailhouse marks for those who presumably want to try walking a more positive life path. However, Woodland Hills is hardly a bastion of gangs and crime compared to other parts of the San Fernando Valley. Yet I decided to let it pass.
Same for the 1.7 million for—ironically–controlling hog-created odors (Iowa). Jokes are being passed around about this one. But, if you have ever visited a hog farm you already know that an aroma exists that can cause you to hurl your cookies right where you stand. So, pig stench research didn’t rise to my level of “outrageous.”
The clear winner is a 5.8 million vanity project (one of the higher priced earmarks) to further bloat the ego of Senator Edward Kennedy. Whether you like him or not, you are supporting the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate (Boston, MA). Matt Viser writing for the Boston Globe, described the project status as of last August:
Senator Edward M. Kennedy and several of his closest friends have accelerated plans to build an institute near the John F. Kennedy Library that will be dedicated to research and education about the US Senate and that will use Kennedy’s lengthy political career as a case study.
The group has formed a nonprofit organization, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and is planning an aggressive fund-raising campaign that aims to raise at least $50 million and will be spearheaded by prominent Boston businessman Jack Connors.
Actual designs have not been drawn, but officials envision a 40,000-square-foot building, with construction beginning as early as spring 2009.
It is also clear that the original plan called for private donors to finance this project.
Connors said that in the spring, about two weeks before the senator’s cancer diagnosis, Kennedy called and asked him to head up a fund-raising effort. Connors has held several meetings to identify about two dozen “precinct captains” who will raise money. So far, the fund-raising group includes John Sasso, a veteran Democratic consultant; Thomas P. Glynn, the chief operating officer of Partners HealthCare; John Fish, president of Suffolk Construction Co.; and Kenneth R. Feinberg, a Washington lawyer and former Kennedy aide who ran the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Connors said the group is also considering tapping Kennedy’s colleagues in the US Senate, asking them to call key political donors in their home state to raise money for the institute.
In the meantime Kennedy’s friends and former staffers had already collected 20 million from drug companies, hospitals, and insurance companies, which raises some ethical questions for Timothy Noah , writing for Slate. Senator Kennedy will be a central figure in President Obama’s health care plan. Might these donors expect favors?
Many of us admire the positive accomplishments of Senator Kennedy and are sorry he is so ill. But we didn’t volunteer to donate to his pre-memorial project. We are being forced into it when most of us have other desperate priorities. That’s what makes this earmark such a cheap trick to pull on us during such grave times.
The President says he is opposed to earmarks that sneak in, sometimes literally during the night, to raid our treasure.
The future demands that we operate in a different way than we have in the past,” Mr. Obama told reporters before signing the bill in private. “So let there be no doubt: this piece of legislation must mark an end to the old way of doing business and the beginning of a new era of responsibility and accountability that the American people have every right to expect and demand.
Well, he caved this year. Let’s watch same time next year.
I end by noting that many, probably most, earmarks are not inherently evil. They say they will help repair roads and bridges, remodel museums, fund programs for children, and the like. (See them all for yourself here .)
But the whole process stinks in my book. There has to be a better way for states and districts to get federal aid for truly necessary projects that does not involve draining blood out of major congressional bills.
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Too bad they’re not going to delve into the other side of Teddy’s life. If they’re going to write his history, they may as well tell it all. I won’t wait for that to happen, however.
How narcissistic can they get? They are all a bunch of bloated self-involved buffoons…Teddy included…
I guess the name Chappaquiddick will never see the light of day..too bad!
Yeah, the bridge over troubled waters.
Any museum dedicated to Teddy should be built on a manmade island just outside the JFK Museum accessible by crossing a replica of Dike Bridge. The museum should, of course, be in the shape of a 1968 Oldsmobile 98.
They should build a little moat around the building so everyone can walk across a bridge to get inside, in memory of good old Teddy.
Now that would be something I would pay for.
I propose the Edward M. Kennedy Fellowship for Excellence in Lifeguarding.
Umm - I live in Woodland Hills. I don’t know if there is even a tattoo parlor here - I haven’t seen one. Maybe it’s tucked between the Nieman Marcus, Nordstoms and Tiffany’s.
Whoops NordstRoms.
But our guy is Henry Waxman. Guess they owe him.
The tattoo removal must go to some plastic surgeon who lives or has an office in Woodland Hills. Woodland Hills is not a place for the newly released convicts!
Why not? They take the black bears in Yosemite to the Trinity’s…
If I lived near a pig farm in Iowa, I might think research into ways to prevent it, although I would also ask a question about messing with nature because occasionally the cure is worse than the disease. The real question though is, “What was this bill designed to do and will it accomplishing it’s stated goal”? What would be the best use of money which would translate into a long term benefit of the people who are paying the bill? We were told this money was to be used to stimulate the economy, create new jobs, stop the lose of jobs and slow down the foreclosures so the housing market could recover. Adding money designated for research doesn’t really seem to address any real problem. Removing tattoos from the bodies of criminals or potential criminals may provide a little extra work for a few doctors and sounds like a wonderful idea. I don’t like tattoos anyway. But does it help the economy? What about the money for the California Coastal Conservancy? It is a “shovel ready” project and would create 100 temporary jobs to protect the habitat of the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, but wouldn’t the money have been better used in the creation of a long term, desperately needed project like repairing the infrastructure across the country? Earmarks may be a necessary evil, but they shouldn’t have been included in this bill. If Obama had any real idea of fixing the economy, it isn’t evident. The bill doesn’t represent a PLAN and it was pushed through too fast. The idea appears to be, throw enough money out there and hope something works and give Teddy Kennedy a legacy.
Repairing the infrastructure doesn’t fit into this Administration’s fantasy world populated by unicorns, hopey-changey dolts, and shiftless slackers who wouldn’t know a shovel from a pitchfork or an electrical grid from an electric griddle.
Apparently not Ferd. I just reread my comment and I made so many mistakes. My mind racing faster than my fingers, I guess, but I am really so angry today. I woke up in a bad mood and thinking about the horrible circus our government has become and when I turned on the TV, the House Dems were trying to out theater the Senate Dems performance yesterday.
I understand your anger. I, too, find the appalling lack of integrity and candor on the part of these bozos to be nothing short of scandalous. The entire lot needs to be thrown out on their ears.
I agree, they all need to be removed. Crooks and clowns is all they are, mostly crooks. By the same token however, alot of voters are to un-informed or mis-informed or just plain stupid to cast an informed vote. Maybe this is what we deserve.
The tattoo removal will benefit all those poor out of work plastic surgeons in California. That will stimulate the economy
Good work Pat, as usual!
The stench emanating from D.C. can match the hog pens in Iowa!
We need some top notch pest control in the Capital!
Voting was Free.
Rope is relatively cheap.
Tar and feathers is labor-intensive.
Good cartoon and story Pat:
The good thing about earmarks is that almost all of the money will be spent in the United States in different communities. These dollars will then circulate within the communities.
There were over 9,000 earmarks. The process stinks like the pig farm.
Let’s see what the next budget looks like. The earmarks will be turned into budget items? We’ll see.
Not quite off topic, but an interesting Reuters article just popped up on my Yahoo page. Let’s see if MSM picks up this one:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said on Thursday he expects federal deficit spending will be about $1.6 trillion greater over the next ten years than President Barack Obama’s budget plan forecasts.
Obama submitted his budget outline to Congress last month which forecast almost $7 trillion in deficits through 2019, however a worsening economic picture is expected to make the budget outlook darker.
Conrad told reporters that the additional $1.6 trillion over the next decade was based on projections of the Democratic majority’s budget committee staff.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090319/pl_nm/us_obama_budget_forecast_1
And as for Ted Kennedy’s ’shrine’, heck, if they questioned Hillary about Bill’s foundation donations, they sure as heck better sleuth away on how Kennedy works that health care plan. Oh, that’s right, that would entail true journalism, and we lost that this century. We sure know our DC leaders aren’t up to the task of watching out for our best interests.
D.C. still stinks to high heaven. These earmarks were promised to disappear [said Obama].
Obama has caved on earmarks, and on bonus payments for financial institutions that are staying alive with our taxpayer money.
Obama needs to stop making speeches, travelling, and passing the buck. Obama needs to stay in DC and fight for those he offered CHANGE. His numbers will slide if he doesn’t do better.
They all need to be voted out, none of our politicians give a damn about what is right for us or this country. And that includes the so-called president who after the campaign decides to do town hall meetings, what a loser. He refused to do them during the campaign, he does them now to paint the worst scenario to sell his agenda. Anyone who believes he is a better different politician needs to share the drugs they are on. Because he is just as much if not more of a loser than the other politicians. He won because he claimed to be different. He hasn’t proven it. And to his supporters I don’t want to hear its only been a few months give him time. He wanted the job, the least he could do is do the damn job and whats best for this country.
That’s right! I had forgotten how Obama refused to meet with McCain and do any town halls. Geesh–it’s all such a zoo.
He won because he lied, cheated and manipulated Florida, Michigan and the 200 delegates he gave millions of dollars to through his Rainbow PAC.
They are now members of ‘his’ congress.
pig farms are out in the country for a reason. If you can’t handle the stench, stay out of the country. most are miles away from anyone who may be offended. others who live in rural areas are used to it.
Kennedy is in for a very rude awakening when he goes to meet his maker. They can have research centers, name bills after him etc, but as far as I’m concerned he is worse than the stench on a pig farm. At least 4 legged pigs have a purpose and harm no one. Kennedy’s name gave him a free pass here on earth, but God doesn’t care what your name is.
The problem can come when you get downwind of one. That smell can travle for miles.
Kinda like Petaluma.
What an ASS
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/03/president-ob-15.html
President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled.
Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he’s gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.
He bowled a 129, the president said.
“That’s very good, Mr. President,” Leno said sarcastically.
It’s “like the Special Olympics or something,” the president said.
When asked about the remark, the White House had no comment
actually White House said the president did not intend to offend
“The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics,” White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said. “He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world.”
Thanks for the WORM.
At a time when this nation is plagued by astronomical budget deficits, the last thing we need is earmarks.
Amazing. Good job. I’m just in amazement anymre. And, the idea of stimulating the economy and creating jobs??????? Well, next time.
“Connors said the group is also considering tapping Kennedy’s colleagues in the US Senate,…”
It looks like they’ve already been tapped and, being good Americans, have chosen to “share our wealth” with the over-bloated Kennedy.
And no, I do not apologize for the fat joke. I am through apologizing for observations that are basically true. Sen. Kennedy, for all of his public service accomplishments, is personally a porcine, egomaniacal lush. Live with it.
I drew him kinda fat also….
Why in God’s name would ANY of us pay our taxes when this is going on? I know I will never do so, and I don’t care what happens. This is “taxation without representation” and we know what happened the last time someone pulled this crap.
Great Read and The hears everything.
My disillusionment started during the primaries and just continues with the evidence of these earmarks.
Nader is right–money is the evil in our system and has corrupted both parties completely. Do people think Kennedy won’t be influenced by these donors?
You’re right, some earmarks are really worthwhile projects but HELLO, WE’RE BROKE!
Now that my daughter’s college fund has all but evaporated along with a big chunk of our savings I’m really worried about their idea of taxing employee health benefits AND eliminating the mortgage deduction–those would result in a HUGE tax on the middle and upper middle class people who still have jobs and pay their mortgage!
Just to pay for Ted Kennedy’s institute? No thank you.
I just wrote a comment that evaporated….
Then they want to tax employee health benefits AND eliminate the mortgage deduction so those middle and upper middle class workers who still have jobs and pay their mortgage will be taxed to death to pay for their little pet projects.
Don’t they know THE COUNTRY’S BROKE???
Earmarks are wrong in this economy. Period.
Then they want to tax employee health benefits AND eliminate the mortgage deduction so those middle and upper middle class workers who still have jobs and pay their mortgage will be taxed to death to pay for their little pet projects.
oh my gawd! good find Pat! this is outrageous.
Your cartoon and commentary nicely highlight the issue of how really outrageous earmarks get into the budget. I think sometimes Congress is too busy initiating and inserting their own earmarks into the budget to bother reviewing the other submissions. Or they are reluctant to criticize other earmarks in the hope their own will get through unnoticed. I seems that only after the budget is passed does scrutiny of the earmarks occur. There should be some public watchdog organization that has the mission to review and publicize all earmarks and shed the light of day on them before they are accepted into the budget. Maybe then the outrageous porkers could be highlighted and the public could demand that these be eliminated.
Check out these recommendations to the President for earmark reform:
http://www.taxpayer.net/search_by_category.php?action=view&proj_id=2207&category=Federal%20Budget&type=Project#
Is he listening?
[...] America’s titanic struggle over dreaded “pork,” apparently detectable by “earmarks,” featured many stirring calls to block money going to those corrupt presidential libraries. [...]