August 15, 2006

Exposing Earmarks

The Washington Examiner is inviting readers and bloggers "to help uncover which members of Congress sponsored the 1,867 secret spending earmarks worth more than $500 million in the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriation bill now before Congress."

These earmarks average more than $268,000 each. To our knowledge, The Examiner is the first-ever daily newspaper to join with readers, citizen activists from across the political spectrum and bloggers in this manner to uncover the facts behind government spending. The Examiner - in cooperation with the Sunlight Foundation, Porkbusters.org and Citizens Against Government Waste - is making the Labor-HHS earmarks database public.

Wanting to participate in this truly groundbreaking project of "networked journalism" combining the efforts of the mainstream media and citizen journalists, I looked up the office phone numbers for all nine members of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation here, called and got the email address for the press secretary or chief of staff.

I then sent the following email to the press secretaries for each of the nine members of Congress from Tennessee:

Dear representatives of each of the nine members of Tennessee's Congressional Delegation,

Congress is currently considering the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations measure, which presently contains 1,867 earmarks worth more than a half-billion tax dollars and averaging nearly $268,000 each. Many are for things that sound like worthy causes such as "hospital facilities and equipment," yet none of the sponsoring congressmen put their names on their earmarks.

Included are $7,057,000 in "earmarks" for a variety of projects across Tennessee. I am writing you as a Tennessean and federal income tax payer to inquire which of these earmarks you as a member of Congress have sponsored. In addition, if you haven't sponsored any of the earmarks listed below but can help me identify the sponsor, I would appreciate it.

I will be noting your response on my website, www.billhobbs.com.

Members who have sponsored some of the earmarks who would like to submit a brief explanation of why the project deserves federal funding, I would be pleased to accept and include that information in my report.

Although it seems natural to assume that any earmark is sponsored by the Congressman who represents the district in which the recipient of the federal funds is located, I would prefer to know for certain which member of the Tennessee delegation sponsored the following earmarks listed below.

$1,300,000 - Chattanooga Enterprise South Industrial Park(ESIP) Workforce Training Center to establish a state of the art training center
$500,000 - Chattanooga University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for a low birth weight study
$500,000 - Harrogate Lincoln Memorial University College of Osteopathic Medicine for curriculum development
$450,000 - Columbia Maury Regional Hospital for facilities and equipment
$440,000 - Murfreesboro Middle Tennessee State University for equipment and personnel for biotechnology training initiatives
$400,000 - Nashville Meharry Medical College for facilities and equipment
$350,000 - Johnson City Mountain States Health Alliance for facilities and equipment for the Children's Hospital at the Johnson City Medical Center
$350,000 - Crossville Cumberland Medical Center, for facilities and equipment
$350,000 - Knoxville East Tennessee Children's Hospital, for a Picture Archiving and Communications System
$300,000 - Memphis University of Memphis for a Model Teacher Program in collaboration with the Memphis City School System
$300,000 Franklin - Franklin Special School District, for information technology equipment
$300,000 Dyersburg - Dyesrburg State Community College for an online enrollment and information system initiative
$300,000 Memphis - Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center, for facilities and equipment
$275,000 Waynesboro - Wayne Medical Center for the Picture Archiving System
$200,000 Jackson - Jackson Drug Court program
$150,000 Nashville - Nurses for Newborns for prenatal services
$150,000 Knoxville - St. Mary's Medical Center North for equipment
$150,000 Maryville - Blount Memorial Hospital, for equipment for the Breast Health Center
$110,000 Murfreesboro - Middle Tennessee State University for research and education regarding ways of increasing physical activity and fitness among children and adolescent
$100,000 Limestone - Crumley House Rehabilitation Center, for facilities and equipment
$82,000 Lexington - Lexington City Schools, for the Technology Enabled Alternative Education Program

Thank you!

Bill Hobbs
Franklin, TN
www.billhobbs.com

If these projects are worth funding, they are worth having the Congressional sponsor attach his or her name to them. Spending your tax dollars while hiding from accountability isn't the mark of a leader, it's the mark of a coward.

Update: The Examiner and other organizations participating in this project are not targeting social services with this project. They intend to apply the same methodology to exposing earmarks in other appropriations bills in the future, including defense spending.