Earmarks Put Candidates On the Spot--p.A01 Obama & Clinton

[rodeodance]

Source: WPost



Earmarks Put Candidates On the Spot
Obama, Clinton Camps Defend Requests Made for Constituents

By John Solomon and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 12, 2007; Page A01

Just a few months before he joined the presidential race, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) co-sponsored a little-noticed proposal to require the Pentagon to spend $2 million on brain trauma research for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The beneficiary of the Aug. 2, 2006, earmark from him and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) was undeniably close to home: the University of Chicago, where his wife, Michelle, worked as the university hospital's vice president for community and external affairs.


Earlier this year, Obama made dozens of additional earmark requests, and -- consistent with his position that such requests be transparent -- he publicly disclosed the beneficiaries. More than half a dozen requests were meant for clients of a lobbying and law firm whose partners have donated more than $38,000 to Obama in the past two years.

Obama's work highlights the delicate balancing act faced by several members of Congress running for president, as they try to sound a populist, anti-special-interest message while also fulfilling their traditional role of delivering federal money for their constituents' pet projects

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101102524.html?hpid=topnews

[Kagemusha]

1. $2 mil on brain trauma research for soldiers. The horror! The horror!!

We have much better places to spend that money in America today! Like... ... ...

Never mind.

[displacedtexan]

2. Which goes to show you...

There are good earmarks and bad earmarks.

Unfortunately, lots of the good ones were frozen along with the bridge to nowhere.

[Spazito]

3. Gee, notice anything missing from this article?

Other than naming Ron Paul, there is not ONE mention of any of the repubs record on earmarks, merely an oversight on the part of the WP I am sure :sarcasm:

Yet another hit piece on the Democratic front runners.

[f the letter]

4. yeah it does have that tone

Can anyone really make an argument that this earmark is bad? Shit, double it as far as i'm concerned.


Also can anyone list any of the more egregious republican earmarks other than the nowhere bridge?

[Spazito]

5. Here's one, just as an example....

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., earmarked $100,000 in a spending bill for a Louisiana Christian group that has challenged the teaching of Darwinian evolution in the public school system and to which he has political ties.

The money is included in the labor, health and education financing bill for fiscal 2008 and specifies payment to the Louisiana Family Forum “to develop a plan to promote better science education.”

snip

The nonprofit Louisiana Family Forum, launched in Baton Rouge in 1999 by former state Rep. Tony Perkins, has in recent years taken the lead in promoting “origins science,” which includes the possibility of divine intervention in the creation of the universe.

The group’s stated mission is to “persuasively present biblical principles in the centers of influence on issues affecting the family through research, communication and networking.” Until recently, its Web site contained a “battle plan to combat evolution,” which called the theory a “dangerous” concept that “has no place in the classroom.” The document was removed after a reporter’s inquiry.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/09/24/republican-senator-at-center-of-dc-madam-scandal-earmarks-100k-for-christian-anti-darwin-group/

and this:

The newspaper found that lobbying groups employed 30 family members last year to influence spending bills that their relatives with ties to the House and Senate appropriations committees oversaw or helped write. Combined, they generated millions of dollars in fees for themselves or their firms.

News of two FBI investigations involving lobbyists with family ties to Congress surfaced in the past week. Authorities are investigating whether an aide to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., broke the law by helping her husband get Pentagon earmarks for his firm's lobbying clients. Agents raided the home of Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Curt Weldon's lobbyist daughter, Karen Weldon, on Monday in a probe of whether Weldon gave favors to his daughter's clients.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-17-flake-earmarks_x.htm

[f the letter]

6. Geez

Thanks.. wow

[Orsino]

7. It's the money, stupid.

Even the best-intentioned embarrass themselves when they control that much money.