Senator Arlen Specter is Porker of the Year for 2003

Citizens Against Government Waste ^ | February 5, 2004 | itizens Against Government Waste

[Choose Ye This Day]

Washington, D.C. — Citizens Against Government Waste announced today the final results of its online poll for Porker of the Year for 2003. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) finished first with a whopping 51 percent of the vote, outdistancing his “porky” competitors by a 2 to 1 margin. The other finalists, in order of votes received, were: Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) (25 percent), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) (14 percent), Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) (6 percent), and Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) (4 percent).

The five finalists were chosen by CAGW staff from among the 11 Porker of the Month winners throughout 2003, and voted on by more than 3,300 participants. Several people wrote in other responses, such as “the entire Congress,” but were too few to factor into the final tally.

Senator Specter was selected as the October Porker of the Month for including language in the fiscal 2003 Emergency Supplemental portion of the fiscal 2004 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act that provided $1.4 million for three pork-barrel projects in Pennsylvania. He also added several provisions to last April’s War Supplemental Appropriations bill including language that removes wording limiting the number of mailings senators can send to their constituents in counties of less than 250,000 people. While Sen. Specter claimed that such a move was vital to the war effort, it is an obvious benefit to incumbent senators, like Sen. Specter, who are up for re-election this fall.

Senator Stevens finished a strong, but distant second. Named Porker of the Month in July for vowing to filibuster a resolution proposed by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would make it more difficult to insert pork projects into appropriations bills, Sen. Stevens has a long-standing reputation of bringing home the bacon. Sen. Stevens’ powerful position as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee has allowed Alaska to lead the nation in pork per capita year after year. In fiscal 2003, Alaska received $610.99 in pork per person, compared to a national average of $34.33.

Finishing third was Sen. Tom Harkin. The April Porker of the Month was “honored” for securing $98 million for an agriculture research station in Ames, Iowa in the War Supplemental Appropriations bill. Sen. Harkin defended his actions by claiming the funds were crucial in an effort to combat bioterrorism in the form of animal disease. The facility had previously received $33 million two months earlier in the fiscal 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Act and $50 million in a supplemental the year before through earmarks obtained by Sen. Harkin.

More information on all the finalists, along with the remaining six Porker of the Month winners for 2003, can be found at The Porker of the Month Hall of Shame at www.cagw.org.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Way to go, Arlen.

Let's hope this is the ONLY thing he wins this year.

[GEC]

Gotta keep bumping this one.

[KantianBurke]

GO TOOMEY!! NO MORE RINOS!!

[.cnI redruM]

Pork; it's the other white meat.

[George W. Bush]

Toomey is another outstanding member of the Liberty Caucus, a coalition of more than twenty of the most conservative congressmen. With Paul, Hostettler, Tancredo, Toomey and more, their focus is constitutionality, gun rights, and immigration reform.

Please consider signing up for their email action updates. It's one of the best ways to help Mr. Toomey in his own chosen caucus. Sending him to the Senate would let him to join forces with conservatives like Richard Shelby, another friend of the Caucus.

[Bushbacker]

Pat Toomey has almost zero chance
ofbeating Specter in PA..and if he does, he will lose to the better known former congressman Joe
Joeffel and the GOP will lose the
seat.

[dead]

Do the Scots put pork in haggis?

[dead]

the GOP will lose the seat.

The GOP deserves to lose any seat with Arlen’s ass in it.

[KantianBurke]

Sources for such claims please. Quite telling you haven't remarked upon either the article that started this thread or the fact that PA seems perfectly fine with Senator Santrom and his hard right positions.

[GalaxieFiveHundred]

[KantianBurke]

done. Let's not forget the Club for Growth!

And the ACU can kiss my ass.

[George W. Bush]

done. Let's not forget the Club for Growth!

And the ACU can kiss my ass.

Thanks, man. Every voice does count. We on Liberty Committee actually have an influence that is thousands of times more influential than ordinary voters on key issues. We've proven it repeatedly. And we already have the toughest congressmen around. All except DeLay...

And Club For Growth looks like a great organization to promote growth through limited government. The classic Reagan agenda. Just my cup of tea. We need more tough grassroots conservative organizations to battle the rise of liberalism and careerism among GOP congresscritters.

[hotpotato]

bump

Californians: click on image for more info

[JohnnyZ]

Beating out Ted Stevens for a pork award is HUGH!

[Doug Loss]

I'm from Pennsylvania. I will vote for President Bush in November (it's too important to screw around with protest votes), and for Pat Toomey in the primary. If Specter wins the primary, I will not vote for him again. I'll vote Constitutional for Senator, or make no vote at all. The possibility of losing the PA Senatorial seat to a Democrat is less injurious to our values than having Arlen as the chair of the Judiciary Committee.

[Naspino]

. . . What's the origin of the saying "pork barrel" politics?"

The phrase is derived from the pre-Civil War practice of distributing salt pork to the slaves from huge barrels. By the 1870's, congressmen were referring to regularly dipping into the "pork barrel" to obtaining funds for popular projects in their home districts.

[MeekOneGOP]

[af_vet_rr]

and the GOP will lose the seat.

It would be a well-earned lesson to anybody in Congress if he could be booted for being such a porker.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

BUMP!

[GeneralHavoc]

Hey Doc! Bump!