Kathianne
12-21-2007, 08:06 AM
Is Stevens going into competition with Chicago on weirdness?
The bridge to nowhere didn't get built, but Ted Steven's hopes he can change that plan to a ferry:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122002518.html?hpid=topnews
Spending Bills Still Stuffed With Earmarks
Democrats Had Vowed To Curtail Pet Projects
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 21, 2007; A01
Twice in the past two years, Alaska lawmakers lost congressional earmarks to build two "bridges to nowhere" costing hundreds of millions of dollars after Congress was embarrassed by public complaints over the pet projects hidden in annual spending bills.
This year, Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who are Alaska Republicans, found another way to move cash to their state: Stevens secured more than $20 million for an "expeditionary craft" that will connect Anchorage with the windblown rural peninsula of Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Now what Alaska has, budget watchdogs contend, is a ferry to nowhere.
"Earmarks are a bipartisan affliction," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group that tracks the projects. "It would take leadership in both parties -- and a lot more shame -- to ever rein them in."
.......
"Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have teamed up to waste taxpayer dollars on silly pork projects and egotistical projects named after themselves," said Brian Riedl, senior budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
The Alaska ferry project is one of the more expensive earmarks. Billed in Stevens's version of the legislation as an "expeditionary craft" to be used by the military, it is considered a passenger ferry by Young, according to his spokeswoman. It would follow roughly the same path as the second of the abandoned "bridges to nowhere." Stevens placed the earmark that will fund the ferry into the defense appropriations bill, which Bush signed last month.
Young's son-in-law owns land in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a remote region two hours by car from Anchorage. A ferry would shorten that commute to 15 minutes, making the borough valuable for housing development.
Meredith Kenny, a spokeswoman for Young, confirmed the family connection to the land. "Many Alaskans own land there," she said.
"They've been working on this since the mid-1990s," she said of the ferry project. "It's bipartisan, well wanted and needed. It's a bridge to growth and development."
The bridge to nowhere didn't get built, but Ted Steven's hopes he can change that plan to a ferry:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122002518.html?hpid=topnews
Spending Bills Still Stuffed With Earmarks
Democrats Had Vowed To Curtail Pet Projects
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 21, 2007; A01
Twice in the past two years, Alaska lawmakers lost congressional earmarks to build two "bridges to nowhere" costing hundreds of millions of dollars after Congress was embarrassed by public complaints over the pet projects hidden in annual spending bills.
This year, Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who are Alaska Republicans, found another way to move cash to their state: Stevens secured more than $20 million for an "expeditionary craft" that will connect Anchorage with the windblown rural peninsula of Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Now what Alaska has, budget watchdogs contend, is a ferry to nowhere.
"Earmarks are a bipartisan affliction," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group that tracks the projects. "It would take leadership in both parties -- and a lot more shame -- to ever rein them in."
.......
"Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have teamed up to waste taxpayer dollars on silly pork projects and egotistical projects named after themselves," said Brian Riedl, senior budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
The Alaska ferry project is one of the more expensive earmarks. Billed in Stevens's version of the legislation as an "expeditionary craft" to be used by the military, it is considered a passenger ferry by Young, according to his spokeswoman. It would follow roughly the same path as the second of the abandoned "bridges to nowhere." Stevens placed the earmark that will fund the ferry into the defense appropriations bill, which Bush signed last month.
Young's son-in-law owns land in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a remote region two hours by car from Anchorage. A ferry would shorten that commute to 15 minutes, making the borough valuable for housing development.
Meredith Kenny, a spokeswoman for Young, confirmed the family connection to the land. "Many Alaskans own land there," she said.
"They've been working on this since the mid-1990s," she said of the ferry project. "It's bipartisan, well wanted and needed. It's a bridge to growth and development."