Ron Paul, other reps have big paws for earmarks

Houston Chronicle:

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Lake Jackson, the Libertarian-leaning contender for the Republican presidential nomination, long has waged war on the widespread federal spending he views as outside constitutional boundaries.

But the congressman, who often votes against spending bills, including funds for the Iraq war, leads the Houston-area delegation in the number of earmarks, or special funding requests, that he is seeking for his district. He is trying to nab public money for 65 projects, such as marketing wild shrimp and renovating the old movie theater in Edna that closed in 1977 — neither of which is envisioned in the Constitution as an essential government function.

Paul's zeal for government spending is hardly unique. Despite pledges by leaders of both parties to crack down on the practice of slipping home-state projects into larger funding legislation, Houston-area lawmakers have submitted wish lists for several hundred earmarks, including money for a suburban arts museum, zoo programs, highway landscaping, and medical and transportation projects.

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Of the staffs for the Houston area's nine House members, only the office of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, would not reveal its earmark-request list, which had to be submitted earlier this year to the Appropriations Committee.

As Republicans continue to portray Democrats as the "tax and spend" party, U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, who has the slogan "protecting our pocketbooks and our quality of life" at the top of his congressional Web site, is asking for more than $1 billion in earmarks for next fiscal year — compared with about $400 million from Paul.

A member of the Appropriations Committee, which parcels out earmarks, Culberson is seeking funds for a variety of programs, including equipment for institutions in the Texas Medical Center, money for landscaping on Houston freeways and grants for a Civil War battlefield-preservation program.

And, as Democrats criticize the Bush administration for creating a federal budget deficit after President Clinton posted a surplus, Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, has asked for 38 projects worth a total of about $287 million, including a half-million dollars for the Houston Zoo and $125 million for Metro's light rail.

Green also is seeking $3 million for the Battleship Texas restoration project, which previously has received funds and was singled out several years ago as an unnecessary federal expenditure by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., another GOP presidential contender.

Paul defended his support of earmarks, which also include numerous water and highway projects in his Gulf Coast district, saying that, although he does not like the current budget process, he wants money returned to his district as funding is doled out nationwide.

"I don't think they should take our money in the first place," he said. "But if they take it, I think we should ask for it back."

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I guess that is libertarian rationalization. What it demonstrates is that almost everyone has the earmark disease, with the exception of GOP leader John Boehner who refuses to engage in the practice. Sheila Jackson Lee appears to be still practicing the game in the old fashioned way by trying to cover up her request. Perhaps they are less defensible than the ones disclosed by all the other local members of Congress. Perhaps, it just represents her reputation as a light weight who has a hard time articulating her case so she stands mute. Eventually the smell of the pork will bust her.