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Stevens: He's Still Got It
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) may be under federal investigation, but that's not keeping him from what he does best. In the 2008 defense appropriations bill, his earmarks for individual projects topped The Hill's list at $189 million. He shares $24.7 million in earmark requests with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) -- who's certainly no slouch herself.
Here are some highlights:
Among Stevens’s requests are $44.2 million for access to the Joint Tanana training complex in his state; $10 million for so-called “utilidors” — an above-ground, insulated network of pipes and cables — at Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska; and $2 million for hibernation genomics.While many of Stevens’s earmarks benefit his state, he also requested $6 million for a preventive medicine pilot program, as well as another $5 million for prostate disease research, both programs at the Army’s Walter Reed hospital.
Stevens' long-time friend Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Constitution-loving Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) came in second and third for most earmarks in the bill.
Comments (4)
Ed*ard Teller wrote on September 18, 2007 10:58 AM:Sen. Stevens is a target this morning of an Anchorage Daily News editorial, calling for him to recuse himself from a long list of Senate activities until, until, well - we'll see...
Also, US House candidate and challenger for Don Young's sole Alaska seat in the DC House, yesterday held a press conference in Anchorage, calling for Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, Chairwoman and Representative Doc Hastings of Washington state, Ranking Republican Member of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Standards of Official Conduct open an investigation into the conduct of Representative Don Young of Alaska in the matter of the insertion of an earmark for a major Don Young contributor into House legislation after that legislation had passed Congress. She mailed letters to Young and Hastings after the conference. Readers here are welcome to do the same.
Audio of an APRN story here:
http://aprn.org/2007/09/17/democrat-benson-requests-investigation-into-don-youngs-florida-earmark/
Benson's short talk, drawing from many resources, cited the value of the work done here by this site. I'll once again thank you folks for your invaluable work in this area!
Ed*ard Teller wrote on September 18, 2007 11:04 AM:That's US House candidate Diane Benson at the top of paragraph 2 in my previous comment.
anonymouse wrote on September 18, 2007 12:07 PM:These folks are power mongers and abusers of that same power.
If you catch a bully and threaten him with penalties for beating up kids wearing blue, it certainly won't stop him from beating up the kids wearing green or white.
We have voted in (and will probably continue to vote in) representatives who delight in giving themselves almost ulimited power with almost no consequences. We are just reaping what we have sewn.
You want to stop it? Demand that all the ethics violations are turned into laws with SERIOUS consequences (removal from office...loss of retirement... jail time, etc.). Demand that a permanent, independent oversight committee be established.
Oh, and demand these things BEFORE voting for their reelection.
Or I guess we can just admit that griping, not change, is what is important to many of us...
heh wrote on September 18, 2007 2:10 PM:I can't help but notice that the recipients of the pork hail from the smallest states' with populations that hardly send as much federal tax dollars to get back what they get in pork. Since I'm from Calif. with a very large population, some of our taxes are going to their pork projects, such as the distribution of tax dollars our system allows. However,I wish someone would ask them how it feels to feed off the trough, since Republicans want to be known as the party of responsibility, oh, I know they're all bluster.
Hypocrites