Posted on 04/18/2009 9:18:24 PM PDT by Steelfish
Murtha's Earmarks Keep Airport Aloft
State-of-the-Art Pennsylvania Facility Sees Few Travelers but Lots of Funding
By Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, April 19, 2009
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- The John Murtha airport sits on a windy mountain two hours east of Pittsburgh, a 650-acre expanse of smooth tarmac, spacious buildings, a helicopter hangar and a National Guard training center.
THIS STORY Murtha's Earmarks Keep Airport Aloft More Than A Little Help From Murtha Inside the terminal on a recent weekday, four passengers lined up to board a flight, outnumbered by seven security staff members and supervisors, all suited up in gloves and uniforms to screen six pieces of luggage. For three hours that day, no commercial or private planes took off or landed. Three commercial flights leave the airport on weekdays, all bound for Dulles International Airport.
The key to the airport's gleaming facilities -- and, indeed, its continued existence -- is $200 million in federal funds in the past decade and the powerful patron who steered most of that money here. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) is credited with securing at least $150 million for the airport. It was among the first in the country to win funding from this year's stimulus package: $800,000 to repave a backup runway.
The facility, newly renamed the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport, is a testament to Murtha's ability to tap streams of federal money for pricey, state-of-the-art projects that are rare among regional airports of comparable size.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
i think the Washington Compost is in need of some earmarks....
Wow, touting corruption openly. Utterly disgusting!
“Tickets can cost hundreds more than they do when flying out of a bigger city”
Shoot. Folks taking direct flights when it’s even cheaper to fly from that podunk place to Pittsburgh to catch a major connection.
Boon. Doggle.
bttt
A poster boy for Democrat corruption.
This was featured on Hannity. Pork like this keeps Murtha in power. His constituents are as bad as he is.
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