The pork barrel's been good to us (barf alert)

Auburn (NY) Citizen ^ | 6/10/02

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Former Minnesota Rep. Tim Penny has long been an outspoken opponent of pork barrel spending because he says so many projects don't merit federal aid. In "Pig Tales," an article which Penny contributed to in the most recent edition of Reader's Digest, he held up Cayuga County's Merry-Go-Round Playhouse's receipt of $150,000 in discretionary funds from Rep. James Walsh to help pay for renovations as "Beltway Robbery."

"One reason so many pork projects pass is that few people know about them," Penny wrote. "They're slipped into bills without debate or a committee vote. If Congress openly debated their merits, how many of these projects would be considered a national priority?"

Also on his list with Merry-Go-Round was $190,000 for a racing car museum in Spartanburg, S.C., and $50,000 for a tattoo-removal program in San Luis Obispo, Calif. What he doesn't mention, however, is that the tattoo program helped get kids out of street gangs, and the racing car museum boosted the slumping economy of a depressed Southern city.

The bottom line is the majority of these so-called pork-barrel projects improve the quality of life, particularly in small communities where projects - meaningless to some politicians in Washington and Albany - mean the world to the people who live there. The bottom line is that without federal or state help, whether in the form of pork or budgeted spending, some local initiatives wouldn't get done because municipalities can't afford to pay for them without the federal or state help. While it may not be as impressive, or as paramount as paying for the nation's defense or contributing to end world hunger, there is nothing wrong with spending tax dollars to do good on a local level.

Here are some things that got paid for in Cayuga County with state discretionary money, which is what people such as Sen. Michael Nozzolio and Assemblyman Gary Finch would rather call pork. Most of these projects also received member-item federal dollars:

• Owasco Sea Wall: $1 million in state aid.
• Contaminated wells: $100,000 emergency grant to provide water filters in Aurelius, Fleming and Springport.
• Aurora Free Library/Morgan Opera House restoration: $30,000.
• Schine Theater restoration and preservation: $350,000.
• Harriet Tubman Home restoration: $50,000.
• NASA Center at Cayuga Community College: $4.6 million in state aid.

Can these be considered national or state priorities? Penny would like to say they are not. It's not to say there aren't abuses, but there are bound to be abuses in any system. People in Cayuga County pay federal and state taxes, and they deserve to see some return on their money. It's easy for an outsider to call a project unnecessary when they're only looking at line-item votes and the other representatives associated with that "Beltway Robbery."

[Behind Liberal Lines]

The bottom line is that without federal or state help, whether in the form of pork or budgeted spending, some local initiatives wouldn't get done because municipalities can't afford to pay for them without the federal or state help.

That's because the federal government takes OUR money away from US and sends it to Washington.

Using the logic of these idiots, a guy who robs my house, steals my TV and then brings back the remote control should be applauded for giving me a remote control.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

ping

[Clemenza]

Isn't Cayuga a Republican County? It only proves that non-Kosher diets (pork, pork and more pork) are epidemic among both Republicans and Democrats.

Do you happen to know if Tompking County receives alot of pork? Isn't there some "Klingon Embassy to the United States" in your county? Maybe they can pick up the slack!

[Huck]

SO let's agree on what constitutes pork. Let's come up with an objective standard, and measure against that.

[WIMom]

      

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[Behind Liberal Lines]

Isn't Cayuga a Republican County?

From what I see it is overall Republican but there are two major "infestations" of Democrats there: Aurora (home of Wells College) and the City of Auburn.

And, let's face it, even in conservative areas, the media tends to be left of center.

[Chuckster]

Oh, that's easy.

It's "Pork" when the money's spent in someoneELSE's district.

When the money's spent in MY district, it's for much needed jobs, infrastructure, crucial to the economy, defense ....blah......blah...............Not "Pork" at all you see.

[Huck]

Pork: It's someone else's white meat.

[Ahban]

Their reasoning is so vapid. Here is an article that demonstrates why money spent on pork will be spent less rationally than money spent by private citizens, ..... when true costs are hidden people will buy things that they ordinarily would not buy.

Maybe I should give that article its own thread????