Democrats Earmarked Their Way To Election Win (Op-Ed)

“As a lobbyist, I thought it only natural and right that my clients should reward those members of Congress who saved them such substantial sums with generous contributions.” – Jack Abramoff

Image Credit: Victoria Pickering / CC

By William Haupt III [Tennessee Watchdog Journalist, Columnist, Author, and Citizen Legislator via The Center Square] –

An earmark is a provision inserted into spending bills that sends funds to a politician’s voting district, circumventing the merit and competitive funding process. The term comes from farmers who cut the ears of their domestic livestock as ways to distinguish them from those in neighboring farms.

In 1991, the term earmark was a pejorative used to describe special interest spending by Congress to benefit them. They lobbied for federal funding to build a state pier in the budget bill to win voter support. This was the first earmark and the first time federal budget money was used to buy votes.

Earmarks are not based on merits or needs, but go to powerful politicians. Statistics show that more than half of these generous gifts go to politicians with leadership positions. This process is always open to corruption since lobbyists go after high profile people in office to pass earmarks.

“Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.” – Milton Friedman

Politicians that secure earmarks for their district benefit disproportionately from federal money that is taken away from the rest of the nation. Taxpayers outside that region don’t gain a thing yet they are shouldering the cost of these gratuitous political awards. This is an unorthodox political practice that has been abused for decades by incumbents for only one illegitimate purpose: to buy votes.

Spending has been out of control for decades and these gratuitous awards for darling sons and daughters as well as special interests add millions to the debt. We currently have the largest debt in history relative to U.S. GDP. Biden’s partisan stimulus bill and his erroneously named Inflation Reduction Act mushroomed our national debt to $31 trillion, the largest debt in the history of our nation.

A few years ago, a number of lobbyists and lawmakers were convicted for using earmarks for their personal gain. This ended the career of Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio, who admitted that he took bribes from lobbyist Jack Abramoff to secure favors for Indian tribal leaders. Abramoff also illegally coerced funding for their gambling industry. He was convicted of bribery and sent to federal prison.

“They locked the prison when I arrived. There was no place to hide from media.” –Jack Abramoff

Earmarks have always been a bone of contention for voters. Those that get something jump for joy while those paying for them cry government waste. They were banned in 2011 by the House Republicans amid the outcry from the Tea Party movement that demanded financial accountability.

After losing seats in 2016, it’s no coincidence why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resurrected “earmark spending.” And Democrats spent millions on projects for their districts and it bought them power and votes.

“Earmarks don’t increase spending. They just let us spend money how we wish.” – Nancy Pelosi

Democrats claim that they reintroduced earmarks to secure votes needed to pass major parts of President Joe Biden’s progressive wish list. They said it was necessary to bypass partisan gridlock standing in their way from spending billions of federal dollars on projects Biden included in this year’s budget.

Only a fool would believe this! Biden destroyed the economy and they had to buy midterm votes.

Colin Strother, a Texas-based Democratic consultant, recently said. “Earmarks can easily alter the outcome of elections since freshmen and juniors who cannot pass legislation or add budget riders have the chance to secure multiple, multimillion-dollar projects for their districts with little effort.”

Democrats realize for the past few years voters have grown weary of them using the House floor as a national stage to do anything but govern. After their losses last election, they feared they’d lose the House in the midterms. They are aware voters like “free stuff” and hedged their bets they could buy votes with earmarks and keep the House, or at least cut their losses and that is what they did.

Every member of Pelosi’s thin Democratic House majority filed earmarks. Of the 57 House Democrats considered at risk of losing their seats during the midterms, every one requested earmarks from the House Appropriations Committee and only a few lost their seats.

“The American people need somebody who will tell them what’s really happening in Washington.” – Jack Abramoff

Rep. Cindy Axne, the only incumbent Democrat to secure reelection in Iowa last year, requested $10 million in earmarks. Her requests are spread over 10 projects that include improving child care and upgrading bridges and water systems. Last election, she retained her seat by less than 1%.

Democratic Rep. Colin Allred, who represents a swing district that voted heavily Republican before shifting moderately left last election, requested nearly $242 million in earmarks. The money will be used for projects that would help upgrade Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, in his district. He essentially guaranteed his reelection in a swing district that is always for sale to the highest bidder.

Republicans are ideologically opposed to this practice but are not without fault. But their requests were “meek” compared to the Democrats. This is the first year they felt that they needed to offset those that the Democrats had obtained in swing districts where they had to compete this election.

“Government spending is never equally distributed and always a burden on someone.” – Ron Paul

Texas Senate Republican Ted Cruz said, “Earmarks are the gateway drug to excess spending.” Politicians are addicted to spending to buy votes once they are in office. Earmarks give the career politicians another vehicle to continue their free ride on American taxpayers. They kick the debt can down the road knowing the more bones they throw to their voters the longer they’ll remain in office.

We all remember “The Bridge to Nowhere.” Rep. Don Young obtained funding to build a bridge connecting a small town and an island in his home state of Alaska. He secured $223 million for the project in 2005 and continued getting money until costs for the bridge grew to $400 million by 2011. The project was abandoned a decade after it was started and is a monument to earmark failures.

Abramoff told us, “Money is a tool used to buy votes.” The Magna Carta defined the highest principle of governing as the power that appropriates public funds should not be the same power that spends them. Yet Congress appropriates funding and doles out money to party favorites for their districts. Democrats cut their losses this election by buying votes with taxpayer earmarks.

Earmarks are tax dollars used by incumbents to buy votes and keep them in power. Earmarks are simply a legal way to do nothing for your constituents for an entire term in office and buy back their support at election time.

“The earmark favor factory needs to be boarded up and demolished, not turned over to new management that may have a better eye for earmarks with merit.” – Tom Coburn

About the Author: William Haupt III is a retired professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California for over 40 years. He got his start working to approve California Proposition 13. His work also appears in The Center SquareThe Western JournalNeighbor NewspapersKPXJ 21 (Shreveport, LA)Killeen Daily HeraldAberdeen American NewsInsideNovaKankakee Daily JournalMonterey County WeeklyOlean Times HeraldThe Greeneville Sun and more. Follow William on Twitter @iii_haupt.

2 thoughts on “Democrats Earmarked Their Way To Election Win (Op-Ed)

  • December 6, 2022 at 12:35 am
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    This GARBAGE needs to be stopped by both parties.

    Reply
  • December 6, 2022 at 5:09 am
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    “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”
    Benjamin Franklin.

    There is no evidence that Franklin ever actually said or wrote this, but it’s remarkably similar a quote often attributed, without proper sourcing, to Alexis de Tocqueville and Alexander Fraser Tytler:

    “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy”.

    Reply

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