Academic

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: More earmark shenanigans. Groups that monitor government transparency and the?

By Glenn Reynolds

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: More earmark shenanigans.

Groups that monitor government transparency and the use of federal funds are especially troubled by the trend of members on the powerful House and Senate appropriations committees — which are in charge of setting specific money expenditures — earmarking taxpayer money to fund lawmaker-created non-profit organizations. Rogers and Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who like his Kentucky counterpart hails from an economically strapped region struggling to bring in new industry, stand out as prime examples of this practice, said William Allison, senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for transparency in government.

“You’re using federal money to create organizations that wouldn’t exist,” Allison said. “They’re hiring people — sometimes bringing in political supporters. Sometimes (those supporters) promote the lawmaker as much as the group, because they’re out in the community and people identify the group with the member. It amplifies the member and it raises a lot of questions.”

Taxpayer advocacy groups also say such practices are an abuse of power, an example of Rogers using his political clout to channel millions in federal homeland security funds into pet projects for his district.

Read the whole thing. This should be illegal — but how likely is such a law to pass?

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).