BillHobbs.com is a frequently updated blog of original reporting and commentary by Bill Hobbs, a longtime Nashville journalist and media relations adviser. I am currently serving as communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, a job I began on Oct. 29, 2007.
I recently invited U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, to write something explaining her view of the use of "earmarks" in the congressional budgeting process, and I'd publish it here at BillHobbs.com. I received the following today via Matt Lambert, Rep. Blackburn's communications director...
In today's political climate the word "earmark" is a dirty word. It conjures up images of corruption and shady backroom deals, which sends millions of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars to frivolous and unnecessary federal projects.
Unfortunately, that reputation is well deserved. In the past, several years millions in earmark pork projects have attempted to fund the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska and the creation of a tropical rain forest in Iowa.
These projects are a clear abuse of a legislative tool that was supposed to be a great equalizer for the American people.
The earmark was created so smaller states could get their share of federal government money. Without earmarks, many roads in rural Tennessee could not have been built. Certain earmarks helped construct water treatment plants and railroad crossings throughout our state.
Earmarks, if gotten in a clean, transparent, and ethical manner get critical federal dollars to the projects that need them the most. There is nothing wrong with that.
My office works with local and state officials that request help from the federal government that they would not normally get through typical formula funding. Sometimes your local officials ask the government for help and it's my job to help.
I know what the people of Tennessee need better than some pencil-pushing bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. The red tape up here is immense and trying to get funding for a new road can be accomplished a lot quicker and with more efficiency through my office than it can be through the maze at the Department of Transportation.
To shine a light on the earmark process, I lobbied for hours on the House floor two weeks ago after the Democrat Appropriations Chairman David Obey (WI) tried to force through a spending package that included billions of dollars of earmarks in a secret slush fund. He wanted us to vote without ever seeing where this money was going and what project it was to be spent on. As crazy as this sounds, it's true. By tying up the floor and forcing the media to address this issue, we forced the Democrats to make all earmarks public in order to examine what are credible projects and what is pork.
Every project we request has the backing of Tennessee local officials and every time our earmark is presented in a bill it has my name next to it. We won't hide them and never will. On the few occasions that we receive an earmark, we publicize it, because you deserve to know where your money is being spent.
What you will not find coming out of my office is "pork," but rather your fair share of federal spending for worthwhile projects that better the lives of the people of Tennessee.
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