An editorial sets forth “It’s been next to impossible to wean Congress off earmarks, the taxpayer money that goes for lawmakers’ pet projects in their home districts. This year alone, there have been some 9,500 earmarks worth nearly $16 billion, sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats.”
WATCHDOG: We appreciate the surface logic to such a position, but practically how will the state legislature, let alone Congress, properly determine which relatively small local projects are to be funded if some discretion is not given to local representatives? Do we really think that a committee in Harrisburg can best make those decisions for hundreds of communities throughout the state?
The failure isn’t in the earmarks. The failures, when they occur, are because the local community isn’t insisting that their share of state revenue be invested wisely. A case in point in Lancaster was the local newspapers remaining silent while earmarked funds went to their company’s convention center / hotel project at the expense of the Lancaster Public Library to which they had been promised.
Let’s hold our elected representatives responsible. If they violate our trusts or have bad judgment, vote them out of office.
