Hillary, Queen of Pork

October 8, 2007 in 2008 Presidential Election, Corruption, Democrats & The Left, Hillary Clinton, News, Politics, Senate, Spending
Tags: Earmarks, Pork Barrell Spending

One of the biggest issues of the 2006 election was uncontrolled pork spending.  Democrats like Pelosi and Reid offered up “Culture of Corruption” as a campaign slogan.  It turns out that a Campaign Slogan is all it ever amounted to.  One of the biggest culprits in the padding legislation with various earmarks is none other than Hillary Clinton.

From Bloomberg

Democrats came into power this year promising meaningful earmark reform to a U.S. electorate that was rightly disgusted with Congress’s free-spending habits. Today, earmarks continue to be out of control, and the predictable result is that the Democratic Congress is now even less popular in national polls than the Republican one before it.

There is an underappreciated angle to the story of how lawmakers steer federal funds toward their pet projects that may yet swing the next presidential election. Democrats have been so busy preparing the coronation of Hillary Clinton that they have failed to train a critical eye on her record.

According to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, Clinton has secured 360 earmarks worth a combined $2.2 billion from 2002 to 2006 in all spending and authorization bills, including $250,000 to the Seneca Knitting Mill, and $200,000 to the Buffalo Urban Arts Center.

Many projects I am sure are well worth the investment, but if those projects actually have the merit that proponents claim then there would not be the need for the secrecy involved.  

Uncontrolled earmark spending by congress and the associated corruption that comes with it, is the one issue that does more to undermine public confidence in our elected Representatives. The author of the Bloomberg article had a great question towards the end of the piece.

How can someone who is one of the biggest contributors to the problem be part of the cure?