Call it 'pork' or 'earmarks,' Coburn is right to object
By Editorial
The Norman Transcript (Oklahoma)
February 14, 2006
It's no secret we didn't support Tom Coburn in his quest for the U.S. Senate two years ago. While we liked a lot of his straight talk, he often made off-the-wall statements that made us question the image Oklahoma might be given, were he to act similarly in Washington. However, Coburn's taken some of that straight talk and made a lot of people uncomfortable.
Coburn's been railing for much of his time in Washington against "earmarks," those designations of funds placed into legislation that serve one particular project or another in a member's district. It's what most of us would call "pork." but as has been noted before, one man's pork is another man's economic development.
This weekend, Sen. Coburn, speaking to the members of the Oklahoma Press Association, once again attacked the earmarking. Coburn, who's been applauded for challenging Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere," told the audience that federal authorizations paid for part or all of 200 museums in the last session. Not that he's against museums, but with spiraling deficits, he asked, is this how best to spend taxpayer dollars?
We agree. But his challenges of the status quo have ruffled more than a few well-coiffed feathers. One Washington senator, quoted in George Will's column last week said, "We are not going to watch the senator pick out one project and make it into a whipping boy. I hope we do not go down the road deciding we know better than home state senators about the merits of the projects they bring to us. ... If we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next." Personally, that sounds like a threat.
At the end of the day, we'll stand by Sen. Coburn's objection to $223 million for Alaska's bridge and $500,000 for that sculpture garden in Washington state. As he said Saturday, some believe no one knows better than your home-state congressman where money is better spent. If that's their money, we'll agree, but as long it it's ours too, we'll call it pork, rah-rah Coburn's doggedness and his straight talk. That may not fit well in Washington, but it's more like Oklahoma.
