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Liberals admit using earmarks for re-election

December 18th, 2007 by Brendan Steinhauser

Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) is calling for an immediate suspension of the earmarking process after learning that a House Democrat suggested to Speaker Nancy Pelosi that additional earmarks could assist the campaigns of vulnerable Democrats.

“Inherently, we understand that this earmark process is not equitable… There are a few examples of where your help could significantly assist a few members in highly contested races,” wrote Rep. Kilpatrick (Rep. Kilpatrick letter to Speaker Pelosi, 12/13/2007).

Want to ask Speaker Pelosi whether she believes granting earmarks to re-elect Democrats is ethical and an appropriate use of tax dollars? Give her a ring at 202-225-4965 and ask her.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 at 1:40 pm and is filed under 2008, Budget, Earmarks and Corruption, Elections, U.S. Budget. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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4 Responses to “Liberals admit using earmarks for re-election”

  1. Sickle Says:
    December 18th, 2007 at 3:30 pm

    Your headline is inaccurate, since no dem has actually admitted to doing this, it’s just been a suggestion. Still, this is how politics works. The Republicans were even more brazen about it. Interesting how the “non-partisan” FW/CSE wrote not a word on the politicization of government offices to win races for Republicans. And not a word on Stevens (R-AK) earmarks and corruption in Alaska, or the Duke Cunningham case, etc. etc. etc.

    It would seem that earmarks only bother FW/CSE when the Democrats use them. I suppose that’s unsurprising, though.

  2. CKinVA Says:
    December 18th, 2007 at 4:20 pm

    I agree, Republicans are just as bad as the Dems on this.

  3. Brendan Steinhauser Says:
    December 18th, 2007 at 4:46 pm

    Sickle,

    We’ve written quite a bit about how bad the Republicans were on earmarks, spending and the growth of government generally.

    Here: http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009218

    Thanks for the comments!

  4. Sickle Says:
    December 19th, 2007 at 12:41 pm

    I meant on the pages of this blog, but thanks. I’m curious, though, whether or not Armey wrote anything prior to the Repubs losing Congress. One story from last year isn’t exactly convincing me of your non-partisan credentials.

    That said, I’m sure we were all excited about the Dems plan to post all earmarks online, until they shelved it…no party is innocent, obviously.

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