Posts tagged "Taxpayers for Common Sense"

LegiStorm adds all 2009 earmarks to site

Posted by LegiStorm on Wednesday, September 09, 2009

LegiStorm has now doubled its availability of legislative earmarks, adding $19.9 billion worth of so-called "pork barrel" projects from the 2009 fiscal year to its searchable database.

The earmark data is courtesy of the Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), a non-partisan group which scoured bills in Congress looking for the spending provisions, finding 11,286 in all. Earmarks are controversial because they are spending directed at a specific organization or purpose but do not undergo the usual competitive process.

Proponents say only elected representatives know best what their constituents need. Critics call them wasteful and corrupting, pointing to burgeoning scandals and even criminal charges aimed at some of the more seedy practices in this growth industry. 

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posted in earmarks, Taxpayers for Common Sense
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Power of revolving door seen in N.J. congressman's earmark requests

Posted by LegiStorm on Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Spring is in the air and earmarks are flowing to the well-connected. The Hill newspaper illustrates that point this morning with a tale of how a New Jersey congressman has requested approximately $40 million in earmarks for clients of a lobbying firm managed by his former chief of staff.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development subcommittee, has made 12 earmark requests for entities represented by Winning Strategies, the firm managed by his former chief of staff, Donna Mullins.

Three of the earmark requests, totaling $9 million, went to generous campaign donors. Winning Strategies was one of Frelinghuysen's top five campaign donors in the last election, with Mullins donating $13,600 since 2003. The Hill finds that neither Frelinghuysen nor Winning Strategies appear to be breaking any rules in their actions, but notes that the requests demonstrate the importance of the revolving door in the lobbying process. As Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense told The Hill, "People with very tight connections are able to deliver for their clients." Frelinghuysen says that his earmark requests serve the interests of his constituents. His office would not comment on the relationship between the congressman and Winning Strategies.

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posted in earmarks, lobbyists, The Hill, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Donna Mullins, Taxpayers for Common Sense
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