When Rep. Neil Abercrombie requested an earmark in the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill to fund "Saddle Road Phase 5," he listed (on page two of that mega file courtesy of Taxpayers for Common Sense), the "U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, located at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii" as the entity that was the recipient of the funds. Search the spread sheet Taxpayers compile for the list of earmarks in that bill, and only one Abercrombie request turns up: a $9 million earmark for "Access Road, Ph 1" in Pohakuloa TA.
The only thing that connects the two is the ...
Continue readingPorkbusters, Eyeblast.tv Wants Your Eyes on Earmarks
Porkbusters and Eyeblast.tv are teaming up on a new citizen journalism project. You can be the Edward R. Murrow of... View Article
Continue readingTCS makes Milcon letters available
Last Friday, Taxpayers for Common Sense updates us on where the House is on the Appropriations process (a few weeks back the process could best be described as "nyah nyah nyah," and "I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you,", to use the parliamentary terms favored by most members of Congress).
In that update, they posted a link to their downloadable database of earmarks from the House version of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, they've also put the request letters online.
(This is what happens when you ...
Continue readingCitizens Track Lawmaker Earmark Requests
Some 76 members of Congress provide at least some disclosure of their fiscal year 2009 earmark requests online, citizen researchers... View Article
Continue readingWhich Members of Congress Disclose their Earmark Requests?
It’s earmark season–the time of year when the House and Senate Appropriations Committees approve the major spending bills that fund... View Article
Continue readingDon 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... View Article
Continue readingIn Broad Daylight: On Your Side Part II
Sen. Kent Conrad’s mea culpa; 2008 Beijing Olympics received a helping hand from the Hammer; and Rep. James Clyburn’s family... View Article
Continue readingIn Broad Daylight: On Your Side
Countrywide is on your side; OMG!, Congress is still earmarking; and the Waxman committee officially approves of the White House-Abramoff... View Article
Continue readingBuilding a Compendium of Earmark Stories
Lizzie Nolan, our communications assistant extraordinaire, has been compiling links of stories generated by APME's earmark project. I'm going to toss a few additional links her way, but if we're missing some, feel free to leave them in the comments section and we'll add them.
Continue readingEarmarks Unrelated to Campaign Contributions, Earmark Recipients Claim
In the Denver Post, Anne C. Mulkern reports on the earmarks of Rep. Doug Lamborn and finds one of those "only in Washington" wordings that make the head spin:
Lamborn made seven requests for projects tied to specific companies. Of those, five were to businesses whose political action committees had given him campaign contributions. Officials with two of the companies, Goodrich Corp. and Aeroflex Inc., said there's no connection between their contributions and their requests for earmarks. The political action committees support lawmakers who back defense spending, both said. The committee wants to help lawmakers who are the most responsive to their business needs, said Thomas Bezas, Aeroflex's vice president of government and trade. "We want to do everything we can to make sure they stay in office," Bezas said. "The longer they stay in office, the more it benefits our company."So they make contributions to a member who's most responsive to their business needs, who supports defense spending, but their business needs have nothing to do with earmarks, and awarding defense earmarks is unrelated to defense spending? Continue reading
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