Trio Broke Campaign Earmark Pledge

WASHINGTON – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named freshmen Representatives Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), and Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) as its April 2009 Porkers of the Month.  The three members of Congress broke their signed earmark reform campaign pledges with CAGW’s lobbying arm, the Council for Citizens Against Government waste (CCAGW).

“Every year members of Congress betray the taxpayers’ trust by bloating the budget with earmarks, but this betrayal is particularly acute because these three representatives broke their signed campaign pledges just a few months after being sworn into the 111^th Congress,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.

Specifically, the three pledged “not to request any earmarked funding or targeted tax benefit that does not serve a federal interest and/or have a federal nexus.”  Contrary to this pledge, all three requested multiple earmarks in the FY 2010 appropriations bills that violated that plank of the ten-point pledge.  The earmark requests are listed on the members’ websites, as required by recently passed earmark reforms.

Among the requested items violating the earmark pledge:  Rep. Hunter requested $2 million for the Shoal Creek Pedestrian Bridge in San Diego, noting that “completion of the bridge will conclude an effort that has been ongoing over 10 years supported by the local community and elected officials,” as well as $250,000 for the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center in Santee; Rep. Jenkins requested $2 million for reconstruction of Kasold Drive in Lawrence, Kansas and $500,000 for water conservation research at Kansas State University; and Rep. Lance requested $896,400 for downtown streetscape lighting upgrade to energy efficient lighting in the township of Cranford; $350,000 for the hike and bike path in Bedminster Township; and $225,000 for the Hunterdon Family Dental Center.

“These three have broken their word,” Schatz continued.  “They have joined the politics-as-usual crowd by talking like fiscal conservatives on the campaign trail, but spending like Washington insiders once they’re safely in office.”  Copies of the members’ signed pledges are available to members of the media.

For their record-breaking race to drink the congressional earmarking Kool-Aid and throwing their earmark reform pledges overboard, Reps. Hunter, Jenkins and Lance are CAGW’s April Porkers of Month.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.