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Earmarks Crash Computer, Chairman Accepts Less Transparency

I don't know what amuses me most, that this happens at all or that this happens every year. The computer system designed to handle earmark requests at the House Transportation Committee crashed after lawmakers uploaded their earmarks to it. Seriously, this happens every year. I'm beginning to think it's those Apple IIE's that Congress is still typing away on rather than the sheer volume of earmarks. How about an earmark for new computers?

Despite the computer-crashing weight of this year's earmarks, Committee chair James Oberstar has decided to pursue a path of lesser transparency, as compared to the House Appropriations Committee. The Appropriations Committee requires all earmark requests be disclosed at the time they are made. According to Roll Call, "Oberstar set a May 14 deadline for Members to submit requests and encouraged them to post the requests on their Web sites, but he stopped short of setting a mandatory deadline."

It doesn't seem quite right for the committee that brought us the "Bridge to Nowhere" and "Coconut Road" (not the Mario Kart level) to provide a lesser level of transparency than other authorizing committees.

Don Young's A-Team

Murdock, Hannibal, Face, and B.A. Baracus? Not that A-Team. Josh Marshall got his hands on the "Intern's Survival Guide" for the office of Alaska Rep. Don Young, currently under investigation for, among other things, inserting an earmark for the Coconut Road in Florida. The key to the survival guide is the list of "A-Team" lobbyists who can talk to anyone in the office, at any time. The list includes Coconut Road lobbyist Rick Alcade. The "A-Team" section of the guide ends with this sentence, "I recommend looking up who they are."

(FYI: Don Young was elected to Congress the same year that the fictional A-Team was convicted of a crime they didn't commit: 1972.)

Getting to the Bottom of Coconut Road

Do lawmakers really want to get to the bottom of the Coconut Road earmark? It looks more and more doubtful by the minute. The story of Coconut Road is one of those earmark stories where a congressman, Alaska Rep. Don Young, inserted an earmark for a campaign contributor in Florida for a project that the local community, in Florida mind you, not Alaska, did not want. Even worse, the earmark was inserted after the transportation bill it was attached to had passed Congress. Bills can't be signed by the President if they've been edited after passage. That's against the rules, laws, and the Constitution. So yesterday, lawmakers in the Senate decided they were going to pursue action against those who inserted the earmark language after bill passage.

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Don Young Doesn't Know

Rep. Don Young has been on the hot seat ever since he sponsored the infamous Bridge to Nowhere earmark. Since then he has come under investigation for more things than any other sitting member of Congress. Young faces an FBI investigation into his participation in fishing and golfing events with VECO oil executives; he is receiving scruting for the hiring of his former aide Mark Zachares, who has pled guilty, by Jack Abramoff; and fellow Republicans are seeking an investigation into his inclusion of an earmark for Coconut Road in Florida - which happens to be a long ways from Alaska. In the face of all these difficulties Young sat down with reporters to discuss his reelection campaign, but reporters wanted to talk about something else. If you want to see what an arrogant stone wall looks like, you should follow the link and watch this interview. It's a doozy.

Don Young's KTVA Interview Video. 

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