DCRepublican.com

Thu 17 Apr 2008

Just when I thought that there was no Alaskan who could be less of a fiscal conservative than Senator Ted Stevens, the pitfalls of another Alaskan, Congressman Don Young are brought back into the spotlight, this time with the likely prospect of intervention from the Department of Justice.

Without a doubt, the actions of Congressman Young are far more appalling and apprehensible than any of the ridiculous earmarks that Senator Stevens has tried to push through Congress.

Here is a brief recap from CNN.com illustrating the problem Congressman Young now finds himself facing:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate voted Thursday to seek a federal investigation into a 2005 earmark on a highway funding bill that was altered after Congress approved the measure but before President Bush signed it.

Earmarks are requests for money by a specific legislator, usually for her or his constituency, added onto often-unrelated government spending bills.

The $10 million earmark — originally designated for improvements to Interstate 75 in Lee and Collier Counties in Florida — was changed to put the money into building an interchange in Lee County, an apparent violation of congressional rules.

The staff of Rep. Don Young made the changes, the Alaska Republican’s spokeswoman said Tuesday, saying the staff had “fixed” a mistake in the original bill.

A proposal put forward by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, to direct the Justice Department to investigate passed the Senate by a vote of 63-29.

Without a doubt, Congressman Young is in deep, and he’s known this for awhile.

Unlike bad earmarks from Senator Stevens that were for Alaska, this earmark was a pet project for Daniel J. Aronoff, a well known real-estate developer that helped Congressman Young raise $40,000 just a few days before the measure was introduced on the house floor.

It’s sad to think that even after all of these scandals, there are still Congressman (particularly Republicans) who are willing to do whatever they can to add to their war-chest. He wasn’t the first and probably wont be the last.

What’s even more appalling, is the response that one of Arnoff’s consultants gave the New York Times:

“We were looking for a lot of money,” said the consultant, Joe Mazurkiewicz. “We evidently made a very good impression on Congressman Young, and thanks to a lot of great work from Congressman Young, we got $81 million to expand Interstate 75 and $10 million for the Coconut Road interchange.”

Aside from this being a bold reply, I think it makes it quite clear that Congressman Young probably wasn’t the only member of Congress helping Mr. Arnoff get the projects that he needs.

Looking at what is being presented, and Congressman Young’s continuous “no comment” replies, I don’t see any way that he will get out of this. In fact, even though I am a Republican, if he is found guilty, I hope that the he has the book thrown at him. I’m guessing Senator Coburn probably agrees with me as well.

Congressman Young isn’t a rookie to Washington. In fact, he’s been here longer than I have been alive. As any member, hill staffer and lobbyist knows, there is a simple procedure in place to correct a bill that has already been passed by the House and Senate.

It’s called a “concurrent resolution.”

This isn’t an unknown process, in fact, I would argue that it is probably one of the most widely used processes amongst both bodies, especially when there are bills that have multiple earmarks and/or provisions. Regardless of how his staff tries to sugarcoat this, the procedure for correcting these bills is known and there is no way around the process, regardless of chairmanships and/or status.

Of course, one cant help but notice the timing of this.

This was something that happened in 2005, but for some reason it took over two years for major action to be requested? The Democrats have obviously been waiting and holding onto this one, and their timing is perfect.

For weeks, there has been virtually no talk of Republicans on the news, simply because John McCain has had smooth sailing after Mike Huckabee finally left the race. This means that all of the political coverage has been of Senators Clinton and Obama beating each other up, which has played a toll on mobilizing Democrats.

However, now the Republicans are back in the hot seat, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Democrats are able to use this a catalyst to raise a good deal of money for their candidates.

As unfortunate at it is, I think that this could very well be the straw that breaks the back of the NRCC… they just are having a horrible year.