Bridge to Nowhere: the Executive vs. the Legislative
September 10th, 2008 . by Serr8dJeff G posts a clarifying e-mail he received from UC-San Diego economics Professor Garey Ramey. Excerpted…
“…In the end, she chose the radical option of removing the project from the capital budget, precluding any future funding allocations or construction. Her claim to have “stopped the bridge” is entirely truthful.”To justify her decision, she argued that the bridge project had become too expensive, and that the state should investigate more cost-effective alternatives. In political terms, her decision was viewed as a blow to the state’s Republican establishment, which had strongly championed the project. Without question, the episode buttresses Palin’s reputation as an executive who “stands up to her own party.”
“It is important to note that Palin has worked to overhaul the earmark process, in parallel with Congressional efforts to limit the practice. Alaska’s earmark requests have fallen from 54 last year to 31 this year, with only four new requests. Total requested funding has dropped from $550 million to $200 million. Clearly, Governor Palin has made strong progress in reducing the use of earmarks in Alaska.”
Interesting to note that Senators Obama and Biden voted for the first Senate bill containing this earmark.
Oh, earmarks closer to home: Bart Gordon in 2008 sponsoring an ‘Intermodal Transportation Hub’ at MTSU, for $200K. See Table 1, here, for more MTSU ‘Federal Initiative requests’ (earmarks) for FY 2007.
From that document…
“Eight different faculty groups having related or complementary research interests have been invited to thematic brainstorming sessions for the purpose of fostering dialog aimed at forging collaborations that result in the development of a potential ‘earmarking’ idea. These were followed up with the submission of a number of two-page proposals suitable to be included in a collection of such proposals. These meetings have resulted in several innovative earmarks that have been presented to the MTSU Congressional delegation.
“Dr. Allen has presented a set of these proposals to lobbyists in DC and to
Congressman Bart Gordon and his staff. The strategy of the OoR is to gain a few earmarks in niche areas where MTSU has strengths and use that success to demonstrate competitiveness and thus increase the chances for success in competitive proposals submitted to federal and state funding agencies.”
It’s a virtual pig trough, MTSU.
I didn’t see an earmark request for guitar picks. Prolly buried in the “Center for Physical Activity in Youth” request. Heh.
Oh. Speaking of MTSU, and a certain Professor (who represents MTSU to, you know, the world…)
Go rape your daughter. Palin want you to increase your family for jesus
Nice, William.
Dr. Allen would be so proud..
For the public vetting !!!1!!1111!!1!!
The actual timeline of events:
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Ha. “The Feds” . . . “Congress”had said “thanks, but no thanks.” Apparently not all “Feds,” right JP?
Apparently not all “Feds,” right JP?
Right. Ted Stevens (R-AK, under indictment) fought to keep the pork, and it was kept. It just wasn’t earmarked for the “Bridge to Nowhere.”
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If you’d bothered to read the link, it was the Alaskan legislature that she struck the bridge funding from.
If you’d bothered to read the link, it was the Alaskan legislature that she struck the bridge funding from.
AFTER the earmark was removed in the federal spending bill, yes.
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