I once wrote a spending bill thiiis big.

With GOP colleagues like Tom Delay and Dennis Hastert, Rick Santorum was very much apart of that infamous class. For Delay, he was then ,just as he is now, an outspoken supporter of earmarks. When the new GOP class promised to curb earmark spending, Delay was quick to voice his opposition.

“I am not one of those guys. The purse strings belong to the House of Representatives, and earmarks are one of the ways to keep the executive-branch honest,” DeLay said. “Why would you give up your responsibility and your authority to the executive branch?”

As for Dennis Hastert, the former longest serving speaker in Republican history left a long legacy of earmarks and questionable deals (but not illegal from Congress’s exemption to insider trading laws) that netted both him and his associates major profits. The story goes that Hastert owned some land that was of minimal worth, so he used appropriated funds stuffed inside a transportation bill that funded a highway project near the property. The new access road caused the value to increase. Hastert then later sold the property for a substantial profit, clearing $2 million. That seems easier than bending down to pick up a quarter on a sidewalk.

These were the dark days of “compassionate” conservatism, where wild discretionary spending was available for anyone in Congress with a pen. For Rick Santorum, he used his pen towards the sum of at least $1 billion in pork-barrel projects.

In the 2003-2004 session of Congress, Santorum sponsored or cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending, and failed to sponsor or co-sponsor even one spending cut proposal.  In his last Congress (2005-2006), he had one of the biggest spending agendas of any Republican — sponsoring more spending increases than Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Lincoln Chafee and Thad Cochran or Democrats Herb Kohl, Evan Bayh and Ron Wyden (Club for Growth).

His Senate career lasted from 1995 to 2007, and the Club for Growth estimated during that time Santorum “requested billions of dollars for pork projects” (National Review).

Santorum’s remarks addressing his earmark legacy sounds exactly like Tom Delay’s defense of the practice.

“We appropriate funds,” Santorum said about Congress’s role in an interview Wednesday with CNN’s John King. “And as Ron Paul did, as Jim DeMint did, as just about, I think, every single member of Congress did, when you go to Congress, you make sure that when taxes go from your state to Washington, D.C., you fight to make sure you get your fair share back.”Later on in the interview, he added, “I also said that when earmarks got abusive, that we should end them.”

And in 2009, he said, “I’m not saying necessarily earmarks are bad. I have had a lot of earmarks. In fact, I’m very proud of all the earmarks I’ve put in bills. I’ll defend earmarks.”

Nothing is abusive to the fox guarding the hen house. It’s always open season, and as long as Congress removes itself from legalities preventing insider trading and misappropriation of funds, there will never be a standard on when the practice becomes abusive. There are no better angles on Capitol Hill. Just ask Congressman Jeff Flake of Arizona.

It was the Mother of All Earmarks…
Liberal Rep. Emanuel Cleaver proposed a whopping $48 BILLION EARMARK that would redistribute wealth to the inner cities and gift money to the poor and thereby produce a much larger consumer class to buy the goods and services produced in this country.

Rep. Cleaver will lead the Congressional Black Caucus next year. (CBC Blog)

Now get this…

The $48 billion would go to Cleaver’s friend, a gentleman named Lamar Mickens, president of the not-for-profit Quality Day Campus who runs the organization out of his Kansas City home.

The Southeast Missourian reported:

Currently Mickens operates this massive proposal out of his home but with Cleaver’s help, this earmark could put him on the road to success.

Cleaver provides a link to a Mickens “manifesto” where a lengthy agenda is outlined — but again with no specifics other than the rich should provide money to the poor so that the poor will have more money to spend.

There’s more…

Lamar Mickens is the President and the Treasurer of Quality Day Campus, Inc.
His wife Cynthia is the Vice President of Quality Day Campus, Inc.

It says so on their handwritten Annual Report!

And get this… It’s classified as a child day care center that he runs out of his home!

This is UNBELIEVABLE!
Rep. Cleaver is asking for $48 billion to donate to his friend’s shady day care center that is run out of a Kansas City home?
Rep. Cleaver has some explaining to do!

The Mother of All Earmarks…
Liberal Representative Emanuel Cleaver has proposed a whopping $48 BILLION EARMARK that would redistribute wealth to the inner cities.

Rep. CLeaver will lead the Congressional Black Caucus next year. (CBC Blog)

Democrats push for one last humongous earmark.

The Southeast Missourian reported:

Rep. Cleaver has proposed a $48 billion earmark
When absurdity gives way to hilarity, you must be talking about politics.

In the midst of a colossal global concern for the economic stability of our great nation, Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri’s 5th Congressional District representative, has one small earmark on his wish list that deserves some attention.

Cleaver has listed a new earmark — one of several — and he promises to “fight for every one.” But this is a whopping $48 billion package that must go down as the grandaddy of all earmarks.

Proposed by a gentleman named Lamar Mickens, president of the not-for-profit Quality Day Campus, the $48 billion earmark would funnel money into the inner cities to give money to the poor and thereby produce a much larger consumer class to buy the goods and services produced in this country.

Just call this redistribution on steroids.

Cleaver’s office says this of the proposal:

“The Epicenter is a proposed estimated $48 billion (Phase One) mass scale urban reclamation project for combating, reducing, reversing and/or eliminating poverty within under served communities by utilizing mass scale economic redevelopment to bring about stability and self reliance.

Hat Tip Lee

You sure wouldn’t wouldn’t have heard this if you only followed the state-run media. They’re too busy attacking Republicans for their hundred thousand dollar earmarks.

UPDATE: Rep. Cleaver told the Southeast Missourian that the story was false and that he never proposed the earmark but just listed it.

Although, the $48 billion listing is still posted on his government website, the representative assures us that he would never ask for such a large earmark.

The reckless spending is encouraged with holiday decorations, radio stations playing Christmas music long before Thanksgiving, advertisements meant to cajole you into spending, and the false urgency created by the now ubiquitous Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.  Despite my best efforts I often succumb to the urge to join everyone else in this nouveau holiday tradition… this year the only question is whether to buy the Nook Color or the Kindle.

I just worry that this buy now, pay later, mentality is going to catch up with us all.

This reckless spending isn’t only seen in the actions of the America public, it’s seen in the attitude of our elected leaders, both in Congress and the White House.

The clearest example of Congress acting like a teenager set free with their parent’s credit card is our national debt.  As President Obama took office in January of 2009 our national debt stood at $10.6 trillion.  Today, less than two years later, the debt has expanded to $13.7 trillion.  The national debt has exploded — over $3 trillion in less than two years!

We can also see this mentality play out on an individualized basis via the earmarking process.  In order to curry favor in their home districts Members of Congress have sought earmarks to promote their pet projects that are oftentimes unnecessary, unpopular, and an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.

Dr. Tom Coburn, Senator from Oklahoma, has documented Congressional pet projects and misuses of taxpayer funds.  His reports would serve as great comic relief but for the fact that they document terrible abuses of our Congressional system.  Recently Dr. Coburn has detailed bizarre niche projects found within economic stimulus programs.

Some egregious examples include over $750,000 in stimulus funds being given to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to design an interactive dance software program called “Dance Tube.”  At least $1.9 million dollars is being given to the California Academy of Sciences to photograph exotic ants.  Nearly $500,000 will be spent providing BlackBerrys to individuals who are attempting to quit smoking.  There’s over $750,000 going to a Georgia Tech assistant professor to study improvised music.    The list goes on and on.  I don’t know about you, but I’d rather spend my hard earned dollars buying a concert ticket than helping the government finance an assistant professor’s dreams of becoming a rock star.

I give credit to the incoming Republican members of the 112th Congress.  Both the Senate and House Republican caucuses have pledged not to seek any earmarked funding.  Some have gone so far as to demand that President Obama exercise some fiscal restraint and veto any measure that contains earmarked funding.  It’s a start, but a lot of damage has already been done.

If all that government spending wasn’t enough, members of Congress and President Obama fought for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, better known as Obamacare.  Not content to spend the tax dollars you’ve already given them, Congress and the President have mandated you spend your own money on government approved healthcare plans.  Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli points out that this is just like the government ordering you to purchase a Chevy Equinox.  We would never stand for that.  By way of disclosure, Attorney General Cuccinelli owns a Chevy Equinox, and can vouch for the fact that you don’t want one.

This spending leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  We need to change our attitudes towards spending and debt.  Rather than buying that Kindle or Nook this Friday I’m going to exercise some fiscal restraint.  I’ll lead by example — I’m going to sleep in this Friday.  If only our government would follow my lead, we’d truly have something to be thankful for.

Problem #1: Three years earlier, SALF had been the subject of a series of hard-hitting ABC7 Chicago investigative reports that raised serious questions about every aspect of the organization: its founder, its operations, and its funding.

Problem #2: The Chicago Public Schools can’t or won’t produce records that support SALF’s claims.

Problem #3: Rep. Schakowsky won’t answer easy questions like these:  What was the dollar amount of her intended earmark for SALF? Why was she funding a non-profit that years before had been the subject of four scorching ABC7 exposes? What’s her relationship with the charity’s founder/president Carol J. Spizzirri, a convicted shoplifter who obtained millions in federal and state funds over the years? Does Rep. Schakowsky think SALF should be investigated in order to determine if those millions were properly spend?

The Progressive Politician

Jan Schakowsky’s district is north of Chicago and includes Evanston, Skokie, and west to Des Plaines. She’s the Democrat’s Chief Deputy Whip in the House and serves on the Steering and Policy Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, and chairs the House Select Committee on Intelligence’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. A member of the Democratic Progressive Caucus, she’s considered one of the most liberal members in Congress.

The Discredited Foundation

A recent American Thinker article provided an overview of the Save-A-Life Foundation and asked why SALF employee turned whistleblower Annabel Melongo is now in Cook County Jail with a $300,000 bond for a minor felony charge of “eavesdropping.” From 1993 until it folded September 17, 2009, SALF received “at least $8.6 million in federal and state grants” as well as funding from the Ronald McDonald House, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and other foundations.

SALF also enjoyed support from a host of powerful public officials on both sides of the aisle including, but not limited to: IL Sen. Dick Durbin; IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan; Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives Michael Madigan (Lisa’s father); U.S. Secretary of Education and former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Arne Duncan: and current Republican senatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk.

SALF began unraveling in November 2006 when Chicago’s ABC7 aired the first of a series of investigative reports that exposed dubious claims about the numbers of students trained and that Spizzirri was not a Registered Nurse with a four-year college degree as she claimed. Most shocking, Spizzirri and her organization altered the facts surrounding her 18-year-old daughter’s death in a Labor Day 1992 car crash, presumably to enhance fundraising. When ABC7 Chicago reporter Chuck Goudie confronted Spizzirri about it, she stormed out of the interview.

On May 31, 2007, ABC7 broadcast the fourth Goudie story. It began with the statement that “Save-A-Life’s main government funding may be drying up.” In an interview with now-retired Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr., he acted as if he’d never even heard of Spizzirri’s organization, let alone helped fund it. But two years later, blogger Doug Ross uploaded tax documents that identified Sen. Jones, Barack Obama’s political mentor, as one of their corporate officers.

The Mystery Earmark

But, as Ross first reported, SALF’s government funding didn’t dry up in 2007. According to her press secretary Sarah Baldauf, Rep. Schakowsky submitted an earmark for SALF in February 2008 for the 2009 federal budget. Later, Schakowsky withdrew the earmark when the organization began having “troubles,” according to Baldauf, a former health writer for U.S. News & World Report. So Big Government submitted these questions to Baldauf in hopes of getting answers from her boss:

(1) ABC News Chicago investigative reporter Chuck Goudie’s four reports on SALF aired from Nov 2006 – May 2007. The Congresswoman pulled support for the SALF earmarks sometime after she originally proposed them in Feb 2008, 9-10 months after Goudie’s reports.

(a) What prompted the delay in withdrawing her support for the earmarks, particularly since the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) had ceased doing business with SALF as was communicated by DPS CEO Arne Duncan in a letter to SALF founder and director Carol Spizzirri in December 2005?

(b) Was Congresswoman Schakowsky unaware of the turmoil surrounding SALF? Or, was she misled as to the seriousness of the allegations against SALF by Spizzirri, ex-Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins [Spizzirri’s partner running SALF], or someone related to SALF in an official or unofficial capacity?

(2) SALF received, over the years of its operation, $2,633,000 in grants from the CDC. Has Congresswoman Schakowsky ever called for an investigation concerning whether those federal grant monies, and any other federal grant monies, were properly expended by SALF? If not, why not?

(3) What was the amount of the SALF earmarks Congresswoman Schakowsky originally proposed for the FY 2009 budget?

Despite multiple follow-up queries, here’s the only response Baldauf would provide:

As I’ve said, the Congresswoman withdrew her support for SALF when she learned of the group’s troubles. She never helped secure any money for the foundation.

Since Schakowsky’s husband went to prison for financial fraud involving another nonprofit of which she was a board member, you’d think she’d be more sensitive about such things. Instead, she gives the brush-off to those asking questions.

Who wants $1.5 million in stimulus funds? Apparently, no one.

$25,000 stimulus grant will provide a week of “free” concerts in Sacramento

Less than one percent of Columbus commuters ride bikes, but more than a half-a-million dollars of federal stimulus funds to add downtown bike facilities

Hollywood’s Elegance International makeup school getting a $80,000 stimulus grant and Wild Boar Media, which “writes and dreams up new animation, stories, comics and toys” receives $50,000 in stimulus assistance

Congress long ago earmarked $87 million for a commuter rail line in Georgia, but the state has spent little of the money

Federal program intended to help disabled veterans awarded at least $100 million in contracts to firms that were either ineligible or committed fraud to obtain the funds

Non-profit’s salaries consume much of federal grant intended to reward teachers

House committee earmarks $103 million of Defense funds to contractors who employ the congressmen’s former staffers-turned-lobbyists

National Science Foundation studies the bug splatter on the front bumper of a moving vehicle

National Historic Site in Maryland created by a congressional earmark costs $638,000 a year and has fewer visitors than some Alaskan parks that can’t even be reached by road

New USDA research agency already wants more money

Like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration might need a federal bailout

Most Interior Department law enforcement programs can not accurately account for the firearms under their control and some of their guns are vulnerable to theft

Bureau of Land Management employees too cozy with special interest groups and lobbyists, according to the Inspector General

A new computer system key to the nation’s air traffic control system has already run into problems, raising doubts about whether it can be operational when the current computers must be replaced

California has paid more than $8 million in late-payment penalties over the last two years because Sacramento did not pay the bills when they were owed