Washington, D.C.—An article of faith among jaded Congress-watchers is that pork-barrel politics arises from an entrenched political class that is too powerful, too removed from the people, too willing to trade public money for personal power, and too much in bed with special interests and lobbyists.  Thus, when someone comes to Congress for a limited term, with no desire for re-election, no hopes of climbing the power ladder, and no ties to party politics or special interest lobbies, we have a higher than usual hope that such a fresh face—think Jimmy Stewart’s Mr. Smith—will be an independent voice for taxpayers and good government.

Thus, imagine our dismay upon hearing that interim Sen. Dean Barkley’s (I-Minn.) priority for his limited time in Congress is to get more transportation projects for his home state.  Ugh.  For arriving in Washington and immediately contracting Potomac Spending Fever, CAGW awards Dean Barkley its Porker of the Month Award for November 2002.

Usually we give a new pol a few months to settle in and get oriented before criticizing him or her publicly.  But this case provides an exceptional “teaching moment” for those fed up with the Washington waste status quo and points out what is wrong with today’s politics.

Riding into Washington on his white horse, Independent, one would think Sen. Barkley would offer a refreshing, outside-the-beltway critique of the capital’s culture of back scratching, bureaucracy, and wasteful spending.  Pork —amounting to $20.1 billion in 2002—is the currency of the realm in the federal city.  For a newcomer, surely the process of congressional offices interfering in the Dept. of Transportation’s formulaic distribution of highway funds for home state advantage should seem absurd, arrogant, and like parochial political pandering at its worst.

Alas, we live in an age when too many politicians of all parties believe politics is not about restraining government’s size, cost, and power, but about public works and self-aggrandizement at other people’s expense.  One wonders, will there soon be a freshly paved Barkley Highway running through Minnesota farm country?  Or perhaps a new Ventura Wing at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, named for Barkley’s patron?

So, another one bites the dust.  Instead of using his unique opportunity to raise his voice for the people against the Washington waste status quo, Barkley wants some roads projects.  He has been seduced by the temptation of power, the ability to manipulate public resources for parochial benefit, and therefore endorsed the congressional spending cult.  For not missing a beat before bellying up to the pork trough, Citizens Against Government Waste names Sen. Dean Barkley its Porker of the Month for November.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way home, Senator.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.