Earmark Alert

The Sunlight Foundation -- the geek in me *loves* how they mix WebDev and politics -- is keeping tabs on which members have disclosed their earmark requests, and is asking for your help (this is supported by CAGW and the Club). Please call your Congressman using the widget below and ask if they'll be come clean about their earmarks.

Tonight, I was able to knock one more off the list. On Twitter, I asked John Culberson, the Qiking Congressman, if he'd disclose his. He replied back within two minutes saying he has, every year since 2001, with request letters posted on his website.

I came across this blogpost from a village president in Illinois's 14th district (where Democrat Bill Foster replaced Dennis Hastert) who's already on the receiving end of the earmark gravy train. In the post he talks about how his lobbyist got it done. So much for "change."

I was contacted yesterday by our former lobbyist in Washington, DC to inform us that Carpentersville has been included on the House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee Bill for a $400,000 earmark for our Community Response Team (CRT). This earmark was due to the efforts of our new Congressman, Bill Foster, who myself and our Village Manager Craig Anderson met with not long ago to give him our list of projects that we have been attempting to get some federal assistance. The money most likely will not be seen until early next year. But this money will help our Police department combat gang crime in Carpentersville. It will be a big help in that ongoing effort.

He also pledges his support for Foster's reelection because of the earmark:

Congressman Bill Foster has shown some very good skills since being sent to Washington to represent the 14th Congressional District. He has come through for Carpentersville and I will not forget that in November.

He has open comments on his blog. Perhaps someone should ask Mr. Sarto (politely) why it's okay for members of Congress to use our tax dollars to buy the support of local officials like this. How can we make it so that Foster and this guy DO NOT get credit for this earmark once people see the corrupt process by which it was awarded?

BTW, Foster is a newly elected Democrat in a Bush +10 district, so this looks like firsthand proof that Pelosi is fast tracking his earmarks.

Because not everyone can be as unscrupulous with your tax money as the village president of Carpentersville, Illinois, it was reported last week that an Ohio company turned down a $1.6 million earmark because they didn't want it getting in the way of their private sector funding. Bravo!

This marks the launch of The Next Right's newest feature: Earmark Alert. We'll be collecting clips of the most outrageous earmark news from across the country -- the stuff you likely haven't heard about on the blogs -- and presenting it in a digestible format. We hope to use this information to inform the grassroots and build pressure on the GOP to stand up for real earmark reform. I hope to do this several times per week, if not daily at times. Success will be when this feature becomes obsolete.

Let's get started. Our first story's a doozy: the #3 Democrat in the House caught red handed earmarking to $6.2 million to his nephew, and groups that employ his daughter and sister-in-law:

MYRTLE BEACH — South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn has earmarked millions of taxpayer dollars this decade for projects that could directly benefit his friends and family members, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sun News of Myrtle Beach found that Clyburn has set aside at least $6.2 million for such projects.

That includes money for two projects his nephew was to help design, a community center that runs a program employing his sister-in-law and a Columbia wellness center that employs his daughter.

At least he didn't try to get a loan from Countrywide Financial.

There's more. Read on.