Earmarks are like the weather; everyone complains about it, no one does anything about it, so the old saying goes.
Well, at least one member of Congress is sticking to his pledge of "no earmarks." As the Daily Herald reports this morning, here is the wrap-up of the earmarks requested by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle:
Melissa Bean, 8th Dist. (D): $4.1 million
Bill Foster, 14th Dist. (D): $3.1 million
Peter Roskam, 6th Dist. (R): $2.7 million
Jan Schakowsky, 9th Dist (D): $2 million
Judy Biggert, 13th Dist. (R): $0
Mark Kirk, 10th Dist. (R): $0
So, there you have it. At least a few congresscritters, including our own Mark Kirk, are serious when it comes to holding the line on government spending and trying to end the practice of allowing congressmen to personally dole out millions of our tax dollars for projects they personally deem 'worthy'.
But what about President Barack Obama, who also campaigned on a pledge to end earmarks? Oh, the new back-breaking budget he's proposed contains almost 8,000 more earmarks (worth $5.5 billion) than he said he would support while he was campaigning, which was none. The Chicago Tribune's estimate is a bit higher, citing an 'odoriferous' 8,570 earmarks for a total of $7.7 billion.
The Tribune also reports that even traditionally free-spending members of Obama's own party are gagging a little on the size of the spending and borrowing called for in this bill. Obama calls the earmarks a holdover from the prior administration (oh, where have we heard "blame Bush" before?), but some are not buying it:
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said Obama's position was not good enough. He wants the president to veto the bill. In an interview, Bayh said that killing the bill would give Obama a chance to show he is serious about stamping out earmarks.
Wow, almost $8 billion worth of pork. How's that for "change"? No thanks, we'll take Mark Kirk's brand of leadership by example any day.
SB 600 Update: For those of you who continually fret over how the state Republican party chooses its leaders, here's State Senator Chris Lauzen's plea for all of us to call Democratic senators and beg them to help Mr. Lauzen. His posting includes the phone numbers for our beloved Lake County state senators Terry Link and Michael Bond.
Sure, Mr. Lauzen. TA is going to call Terry Link and ask him for a favor for YOU? Hahahahahahahaha!!!! Right. Let me know how that SB600 thing works out for you at the next state convention.
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13 comments:
Another great piece of work. You know the pup would have been out there trying to get funds for whatever wacked out group he could find. Perhaps food for his supporters like Princess Nuddelman.
Anon 3:20-
Actually, Seals pledged during the campaign to never take an earmark. Now, you can call him a liar, but there's no reason to think that. You may disagree with his policies, but the guy's no liar.
And, just to clear up an old thing: Here's the story on Princess Nudelman. I'm actually friends with this family, so trust me when I say I know what I'm talking about. They had a goldfish named Princess. The daughter's pretty whimsical, so when they ordered their cable service, they got it in the fish's name. The fish died a while ago. This year, an women's voter organization with absolutely no ties to the Seals campaign sent a voter registration form with Princess' name on it to their home. Nothing else was written on the form. The Nudelmans never filled out the form, never turned it in, never applied for an ID in the name of Princess Nudelman, and certainly never attempted to vote under that name. It's a stupid, silly lie that Dan Venturi used to drag ACORN B.S. into the 10th campaign. It got nowhere in court, for good reason.
The American political system has shown itself remarkably resilient to stupid conspiracy theorists, from all ends of the spectrum. I'm concerned, however, that those questioning the legitimacy of elections, without merit, is the worst thing possible for our system. So, if you could, please fully research your claims against election legitimacy, lest someone read it and take it seriously.
Tikki- the guy's no congressman, either.
What about this gem- "I'm an adjunct professor at Northwestern University." As you will recall he first made that claim around October 2007, six months before he even stepped into a classroom, and when he did, it was as a 'senior lecturer' at the NU school of continuing studies. Even the Daily Herald called him out on that one.
Happy Purim Tikki. Hopefully you weren't one of those awful members of the tribe that used to harass the great and indefatigable Caryn Garber at temple.
You must understand that your defense of Princess Nudelman will find no friends here. The Illinois Democrat Party (FAIL) has world renown history of corruption that will only grow in the coming weeks and months-Blago anyone? Dan's tactics were shameful and we look forward to finding out his employment.
If you read catwoman's latest meOW, you'll find how dillusional the democrat party is these days here in Illinois. The term progressive has become a front for corruption and incompetence, not to mention some serious ugliness. You seem to represent the latest and greatest in that thinking.
FOKLAES
TA-
Yea, he blew the semantics on that one. I think my point still stands on campaign promises, though.
FOKLAES-
Thanks for the wishes...though who really needs an excuse for a carnival?
Not sure what you're referring to with Caryn Garber. Sounds unpleasant, though.
As for Ellen, I hardly think she represents the majority of the Democratic Party in Illinois. She certainly doesn't represent me. But still, you refer to me as "the latest and greatest in serious ugliness," something I'd like you to support with evidence from my comments on this blog.
Speaking of evidence, I'd like to see a substantive response to my details regarding Princess Nudelman. Either my facts were wrong, or my logic was. Instead of broad references to Blago (an easy refuge), I'd appreciate a proper response.
So Tiki,
If I understand you correctly, the goldfish was sent a "form" by a voter registration group. The form was never filled out or returned by the goldfish or its owners. But then the "completed" form mysteriously ended up in the Lake County Clerk's Office to be processed as a registered voter in Lake County. And your response to all this is HA, HA, HA!
OK, so the Clerk spends money to clean up the mess these jokers make of the process by sending out post cards that come back with information that says "addressee unknown" or "no legal address." The taxpayer (me) foots the bill for that HA, HA, HA stuff!
And Dan Venturi was wrong to complain about it (and the other 900 HA, HA, HA! registrations filed at the last second) and the "sloppy" process you just described? I was a named plaintiff in that lawsuit. What you just described is voter fraud.
The goldfish was the most extreme (other than perhaps dead folks signing petitions - and during these municipal and township elections - dead folks signed a few more of them!) example during the last election. One fellow was "lucky" enough to stay on the ballot and get reelected. Seems the laws and the State Agency responsible for overseeing all that are toothless tigers! Let's see if the Democrats in Springfield reform that and give them some teeth for future transgressions? Anyone wanna bet that won't ever happen?
Democrats think elections are too expensive to hold. And voter registrations are something to joke around with. And we wonder about the rampant corruption in Illinois? The lack of respect over the voting process should be a top priority for those so-called "reformers" in Springfield who are busy dodging significant reform proposals right now in an attempt to pass some minor reform and trumpet it as the real deal.
The problem is with some Democrats, they still think the goldfish is a "cute" story. In real life, it points out how voter registration rolls are routinely cluttered with phony registrations each year by groups who disrespect the process, or by groups that pay by the "registration" and then shrug their shoulders when the folks they pay come back with fraudulent registrations.
I'm helping a friend get reelected as an Alderman in a North Shore town. We sent out first class mailings to all voters in her ward. 15% of them came back as "moved" or "addressee unknown." And we used the voter list from the November 2008 election. In three short months 15% of them vanished?
To be honest, many Democrats I run across roll their eyes at Ellen's rantings on her blog site. But those same Democrats get mighty nervous when we discuss cleaning up governments and elections.
And I don't consider Seals a liar. OK, he misrepresented himself as a "professor." OK, he claimed he wasn't buying votes with free gasoline, it was just a stunt. OK, he really didn't mean to accept a campaign contribution from Felon Rostenkowski, he was just being polite. OK, when called out on the Rostenkowski donation, it took like forever for him to return it. OK, he used an Iraqi vet from Peoria and claimed he was a Kirk constituent in a TV ad. OK, he misrepresented in kind contributions on his FEC campaign filings report. OK, he also failed to report contributions from a Lake County Democratic group that put out signs with his name on them on their dime.
Shall I continue? OK, Seals was a terribly "misunderstood" fellow. He would have fit in just fine with the current gang running Washington these days.
For those who think the whole voter registration process by certain groups is just a joke and nothing to get worked up over, remember: The end result is State Government that is a joke. In my Township, that government is a joke. Cook County government is a joke. And now in Washington, that government is a complete joke?
Hear the funny one about the "Town Hall Meeting" held by my local Democrat Senator and State Rep? People were angrily yelling at them over the State Budget crisis neither one of them ever mentioned in all those franking mailings to their constituents. It never occurred to them that it was their fault for voting for those nonsensically fiscally irresponsible budgets. They tried to blame Blagojevich instead. That didn't work. Let's see if they vote for a pile of tax increases to fix those dishonest red ink budgets they voted for. HA, HA, HA!
Oh, wait a minute? I'm paying for all of that HA, HA, HA! stuff!
So why are there so many angry people out there? Why aren't they laughing at all these funny jokes?
Louis G. Atsaves
Tikki,
The smear job done in the jewish community on Mark and directed at Caryn Garber was one of the lowest points in Chicago Judaism. When people like Karen May cut aid to Jewish Nursing Homes, they get a free pass, but when Mark votes to support Israel, Caryn Garber had to put up with filth from some losers.
I admire your optimism but the reality is that Senator Durbin and the rest of these 'progressives' are about as clean in politics as a-rod was with steroids. They use the machine to get elected and by saying nothing they are guilty. The left is a fraud in Illinois and you are very lucky that we have the most incompetent GOP state party chair in the country.
I'm all for banning earmarks, but I'm uncertain I want to give up millions of dollars for our district while others feed at the trough. Let the GOP fillibuster in the senate over this and I'm with 'em, but why is our district cutting its nose off to spite our face?
Rusty- let's see if I can explain this in a way you will understand...
1) You seem to be against pork, except when it's for your benefit;
2) You can assume at least 95% of the people feel the same way ("pork is terrible, disgusting,... oh, wait, it's for my district... then it's okay!)
3) Until leaders like Mark Kirk take a stand, the broken system will never be fixed.
I think even you can get this, if you try.
TA: No, I'm against pork always. Just like I'm against gerrymandering always. But I don't think one party or one geographical area should martyr itself -- it should be done globally (generically speaking, of course). That's why I told you HOW to do it: have the GOP senate fillabuster the bill until the earmarks are removed. In 2000 and 2008 some accused John McCain of the same hypocricy you accuse me of: that because he was willing to play by the current campaign finance rules he couldn't genuinely be in favor of the changes he wanted. Of course, if he unilaterally had done that while others didn't, Mitt Romney or someone else would have been the nominee.
Nevertheless, thank you. The idea that Rep. Kirk (or any congressperson of either party who voted this decade for record-setting deficits and, for the first time in American history, cut taxes during wartime) is "serious when it comes to holding the line on government spending" is the funniest thing I've heard all year. Earmarks are important on principle, but in the grand scheme of cutting the budget this is tokenism. There's plenty to rant about in Obama's stimulus bill and dishonest budget projections.
Earmarks are a waste. Basically the government-the congress and executive branch decides what the government should spend money on, then members of congress get to go back and add on whatever projects government did not believe in. A LOT of corruption and covering up for bad legislating comes from these things.
Melissa Bean-a fraud, takes a lot of them showing her inner commie comrade Jan tendencies.
The big story today though is president obama and senator durbin and the rest of the illinois democrats closing yucca mountain so that we will now have nuclear waste in our backyard FOREVER.
Rich Miller at capitolfax, the same guy that said alexi gianoullias had diplomatic bona fides (HAH!, no) for going to greece on a junket, thinks this is no big deal because he like the rest of the chicago media is on the democrat bandwagon. It is a major issue-terrorists have not gone away even though Mark and W have killed a lot of them, and it was an issue Mark campaigned hard on in 2000 against Lauren B---- Gash.
FOKLAES
Rep. Kirk opposes earmarks, now, but, within the past five years, he ensured that the federal government spent money, in our district, for Metra, HUD, Headstart, and local police departments, although all of that spending is unconstitutional, because of the 10th Amendment. He opposed earmarks, unless they were for our district. I'm glad that he finally opposes earmarks for our district, also.
Conservative Veteran
The 10th is a wealthy district that sends way more money to d.c. than it gets back and expects to get back. I have no beef with Mark getting normal money for things like roads and counter-terrorism. Earmarks like the things that comrade melissa bean get are a total waste.
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