The Truth Behind Government Spending
John Fund has a WSJ Opinion Journal article that illuminates the real truth behind government spending. It is about cronyism and payback for political favors. One only has to wonder how this process is taking place in Hawaii. Fund gives just a single example outside of Alaska, the main thrust of his article, that illustrates how the practice happens in other states as well.
Earmarks represent a looming political disaster for the GOP. Last year Congress authorized a record 13,999 earmarks. The scandals surrounding just a few of them involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham have sent reporters scurrying to find what other nuggets of news might be buried in the remainder. If just 1% of the earmarks turn out to be embarrassing, that’s 140 stories. If a mere 0.1% turn out to be legally questionable, that’s 14 front-page exposes between now and the November election. Because they are in charge of Congress, Republicans will take the brunt of any political fallout, even though Democrats routinely secure an estimated 45% of earmark spending.
And the stories keep coming. A major newsmagazine is working on a piece exploring the bosom-buddy relationships some lobbyists for earmarks have with key appropriators. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that House appropriations chairman Jerry Lewis has steered hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds to clients of lobbyist Bill Lowery, a former congressman who is so close to Mr. Lewis that they have exchanged two key staff members, “making their offices so intermingled that they seem to be extensions of each other.”
The question we have to ask in Hawaii is who is really going to benefit from all that federal money dedicated for “rail transit?”