April 15, 2008
McCain: Friend Or Foe Of Earmarks?
As John McCain calls today for an end to earmarks, the Democratic National Committee reminded reporters, and more importantly voters, that McCain hasn't always abstained from the practice.
Here's an excerpt from a NYT piece, dated Feb. 18, 2006, highlighting the AZ GOPers efforts to secure federal funds for a William H. Rehnquist Center on Constitutional Structures and Judicial Independence at the University of Arizona. The story's headline: "Foe Of Earmarks Has A Pet Cause Of His Own" ...
A snippet from the story:
"If it doesn't meet the technical term of earmark, it would probably meet the public idea of one," said Pete Sepp, a vice president at the National Taxpayers Union, who is an ally of Mr. McCain in the fight for new rules.
Mr. McCain's efforts to win money to establish the William H. Rehnquist Center on Constitutional Structures and Judicial Independence at the University of Arizona illustrates the pervasive push in Congress for money to send back home, as well as the struggle to pin down exactly what constitutes an earmark to be covered under the new rules.
He and Mr. Kyl are seeking the money through a free-standing bill introduced in December, an approach that Mr. McCain's aides call a far cry from what he finds most objectionable: furtive efforts to slip through last-minute spending projects without prior Congressional scrutiny.
UPDATE: RNC spokesman Danny Diaz tells On Call that the DNC is misleading voters by noting the NYT story in the context of McCain's call today to nix earmarks. Diaz notes that the Rehnquist Center funding was not requested through an earmark. "The DNC is again off the mark on this alleged earmark," he writes in an e-mail. "The same article it cites makes clear that the spending is not in the form of an earmark but a “free-standing” bill, and McCain in the past has made clear that he does not oppose all federal spending on local projects, but all earmarks, because they have no oversight and lead to waste.”
Posted at 11:32 AM
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