If the House highway bill is an excrement sandwich, the Senate version is…well, it’s a lot worse.  The one saving grace of the bill was that it supposedly did not contain any earmarks.  Well, indeed there is one earmark in the bill, and it’s directed to Nevada.  The earmark is ensconced in the bill very cleverly.  On page 463 of the bill (lines 8-14), it states the following language:

(d) CERTAIN ALLOCATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any unobligated balances of amounts required to be allocated to a State by section 1307(d)(1) of the SAFETEA–LU (23 U.S.C. 322 note; 119 Stat. 1217; 122 Stat. 1577) shall instead be made available to such State for any purpose eligible under section 133(c) of title 23, United States Code.

In case you were wondering which “allocation” of SAFETEA-LU (the 2005 highway bill) is being directed to “such state,” you can look back into section 1307(d)(1) of that bill.  It contains the following provision:

(d) Allocation- Of the amounts made available to carry out this section for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate 50 percent for the MAGLEV project between Las Vegas and Primm, Nevada, and 50 percent for a MAGLEV project located east of the Mississippi River.

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If the House highway bill is an excrement sandwich, the Senate version is…well, it’s a lot worse.  The one saving grace of the bill was that it supposedly did not contain any earmarks.  Well, indeed there is one earmark in the bill, and it’s directed to Nevada.  The earmark is ensconced in the bill very cleverly.  On page 463 of the bill (lines 8-14), it states the following language:

(d) CERTAIN ALLOCATIONS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any unobligated balances of amounts required to be allocated to a State by section 1307(d)(1) of the SAFETEA–LU (23 U.S.C. 322 note; 119 Stat. 1217; 122 Stat. 1577) shall instead be made available to such State for any purpose eligible under section 133(c) of title 23, United States Code.

In case you were wondering which “allocation” of SAFETEA-LU (the 2005 highway bill) is being directed to “such state,” you can look back into section 1307(d)(1) of that bill.  It contains the following provision:

(d) Allocation- Of the amounts made available to carry out this section for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate 50 percent for the MAGLEV project between Las Vegas and Primm, Nevada, and 50 percent for a MAGLEV project located east of the Mississippi River.

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I suppose being the front-runner in a campaign is a double-edged sword; most folks have likely heard of you before, but everyone behind you is gunning for you. In Frank Guinta’s case he also has a paper trail as the former Mayor of Manchester that he just can’t seem to run away from fast enough.

Now, for the record, if he clears New Hampshire’s September 14 primary I have already said I will vote for him – Carol Shea-Porter is the worst thing that’s ever happened to my beloved adopted home. Having said that, and with little more than a month to go before the primary, now is the time to find the right fit for the person we need in Washington to clean up the mess…not make it worse. In the matter of Guinta, so far I’m not sold.

The latest flap starts with Beth LaMontagne’s Article on August 1st in the Manchester Union Leader. She tells us that NH-1 GOP House candidate Frank Guinta:

…”may not have asked for any federal earmarks when he was mayor, and he says he won’t ask for them if elected to Congress. But he now says he did take advantage of funds specifically earmarked for Manchester, including for sewer overflow, an anti-crime Operation Streetsweeper, and a bridge named for U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg.”

We’ve been here before with Guinta; being against a thing NOW after having been FOR it in the past…or used it to his advantage…and when pressed, blaming everyone else for having forced him to go along with it. His Mayoral paper trail (here, and here) regarding earmarks for Manchester during his watch puts him at direct odds with his campaign rhetoric, especially when you consider that he is poking the pointy stick at Shea-Porter over…

wait for it…

earmarks.

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I suppose being the front-runner in a campaign is a double-edged sword; most folks have likely heard of you before, but everyone behind you is gunning for you. In Frank Guinta’s case he also has a paper trail as the former Mayor of Manchester that he just can’t seem to run away from fast enough.

Now, for the record, if he clears New Hampshire’s September 14 primary I have already said I will vote for him – Carol Shea-Porter is the worst thing that’s ever happened to my beloved adopted home. Having said that, and with little more than a month to go before the primary, now is the time to find the right fit for the person we need in Washington to clean up the mess…not make it worse. In the matter of Guinta, so far I’m not sold.

The latest flap starts with Beth LaMontagne’s Article on August 1st in the Manchester Union Leader. She tells us that NH-1 GOP House candidate Frank Guinta:

…”may not have asked for any federal earmarks when he was mayor, and he says he won’t ask for them if elected to Congress. But he now says he did take advantage of funds specifically earmarked for Manchester, including for sewer overflow, an anti-crime Operation Streetsweeper, and a bridge named for U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg.”

We’ve been here before with Guinta; being against a thing NOW after having been FOR it in the past…or used it to his advantage…and when pressed, blaming everyone else for having forced him to go along with it. His Mayoral paper trail (here, and here) regarding earmarks for Manchester during his watch puts him at direct odds with his campaign rhetoric, especially when you consider that he is poking the pointy stick at Shea-Porter over…

wait for it…

earmarks.

Read More →

An incredibly arrogant, venal and stupid move from an incredibly arrogant, venal, and stupid Member of Congress:

A plan by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) to ban “monuments to me” in this year’s appropriations bills has been sharply criticized behind closed doors by a senior Democrat who wants to direct $1 million to an employment center in her district bearing her name.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) confronted Obey in the Democratic whip meeting Thursday, complaining about his refusal to fund her earmark request for the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center in the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill, according to another Democratic Member and aides.

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An incredibly arrogant, venal and stupid move from an incredibly arrogant, venal, and stupid Member of Congress:

A plan by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) to ban “monuments to me” in this year’s appropriations bills has been sharply criticized behind closed doors by a senior Democrat who wants to direct $1 million to an employment center in her district bearing her name.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) confronted Obey in the Democratic whip meeting Thursday, complaining about his refusal to fund her earmark request for the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center in the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations bill, according to another Democratic Member and aides.

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