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Tracking Obama's earmarks
By Bill Allison Aug 12, 2008 4:50 p.m.Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., steered earmarks to some organizations with a board member who is also serving as a top bundler to his presidential campaign, according to the Next Right. This raises what for me is one of the primary questions about earmarks in general. Members of Congress say they know the needs of their states (or districts, in the case of House members). Whence comes this in-depth knowledge? Do they hear about needs from constituents, from their own personal observations, or do insiders--lobbyists, campaign contributors and others--educate them? Because the process is so opaque, in most cases we simply don't know.
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Senate Milcon earmark file available from TCS
By Bill Allison Aug 8, 2008 2:14 a.m.Taxpayers for Common Sense has now posted a downloadable spreadsheet listing all earmarks from the S. 3301, the Senate Military Construction appropriations act.
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TCS releases Senate Transportaion & HUD earmark database
By Bill Allison Aug 6, 2008 8:08 p.m.Our friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense have analyzed, and compiled in a downloadable database available at the link, the earmarks from S. 3261, the Senate Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. They note,
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Saddle Road funding update
By Bill Allison Aug 5, 2008 5:54 p.m.In this post and this post, we looked at an earmark Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, secured for the Saddle Road project on Big Island. I sent a query along to Dave Gedeon, the project manager for the Central Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highway Administration, asking how the project was funded--whether these were military, Dept. of Transportation, or state funds, and which agency was managing the project. He was kind enough to respond and clarify:
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A long winding partially underwater earmarked road?
By Bill Allison Aug 1, 2008 7:26 p.m.Commenter Archie Mead points out something I didn't know about the discrepancy between Rep. Neil Abercrombie's description of an earmark and the description of what I believe is the same earmark in the House Appropriations Committee report:
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More on Stevens' earmarks
By Bill Allison Jul 31, 2008 3:16 p.m.The Washington Post notes that Alaskans are fretting the potential fallout of the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, for not disclosing more than $250,000 in gifts from VECO Corp. Taxpayers for Common Sense sums it up more succinctly:
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How confusing are earmark disclosures?
By Bill Allison Jul 30, 2008 4:53 p.m.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.
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TCS makes Milcon letters available
By Bill Allison Jul 29, 2008 6:32 p.m.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).
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Bonner earmark #13
By Bill Allison Feb 28, 2008 5:25 a.m.Rep. Jo Bonner joined Sen. Richard Shelby in securing a $9,089,000 earmark for the University of Alabama "for construction, renovation, and equipment" in the Labor, HHS and Education appropriations bill, according to our good friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense. The earmark originated with Sen. Shelby--employees and family members of the University of Alabama collectively are his 11th most generous career patron, having contributed $$62,769 to his campaign committee. In the course of his House career, Bonner has taken in roughly a third of that -- $21,150 -- from University of Alabama employees, making them the 19th most generous contributor on his career list.
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Bonner earmark #s 11 & 12
By Bill Allison Feb 28, 2008 3:56 a.m.The next two earmarks are went to the same recipient. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., secured a $352,500 earmark for Team Focus, a Mobile, Ala.-based nonprofit which aims to "provide young men that do have a father figure in their life, ages 10 18 with leadership skills, guidance, Godly values, and a continual relationship with a mentor," according to its Web site. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., joined Bonner in sponsoring the earmark in the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill. Team Focus got another earmark in the same bill for $517,000--this one sponsored by Sens. Shelby and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and joined by Bonner. The first earmark is for mentoring and education, while the second is for youth education and mentoring. (This information comes from Taxpayers for Common Sense, something I haven't pointed out as I should.)
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Bonner earmark #10
By Bill Allison Feb 26, 2008 10:09 p.m.Rep. Jo Bonner and Sen. Richard Shelby joined President George W. Bush in requesting an earmark for the Mobile Tensaw Delta; the final value of the earmark, in the Interior, Environment, and related agencies appropriations bill, was $1,969,000.
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Bonner earmark #9
By Bill Allison Feb 26, 2008 5:39 a.m.In the Transportation and Housing & Urban Development appropriations bill, Rep. Jo Bonner joined Sen. Jeff Sessions in securing a $735,000 earmark for the Mobile Downtown Airport for ramp rehabilitation and drain repair.
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Bonner earmark #8
By Bill Allison Feb 26, 2008 4:45 a.m.Rep. Jo Bonner joined Sen. Richard Shelby in securing $470,000 in the Commerce, Justice & Science appropriations bill for the Mobile County Commission to acquire interoperable communications systems.
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Bonner Earmark #7
By Bill Allison Feb 25, 2008 11:18 p.m.In the Labor, Department of Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill, Rep. Jo Bonner secured a $199,000 earmark for the Fairhope Center for the Arts in Bay Minette, Ala., for arts education programs, including purchase of equipment. The Fairhope Center for the Arts doesn't seem to have hired a federal lobbyist. The organization forms 990 aren't available on Guidestar.org, so I wasn't able to double check the numbers.
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