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Politics

Young brings home bacon

Only one House member delivers more money for earmarked projects.

By WES ALLISON and BILL ADAIR, Times Staff Writers
Published November 8, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Graphic Rep. Young's political pork Rep. C.W. Bill Young, 76, the senior Republican on the defense appropriations subcommittee, says every request for federal money is carefully reviewed by his office. [Douglas R. Clifford | Times (2006)]

WASHINGTON - After being zinged by voters for unflattering pet projects like the Bridge to Nowhere and favors to big political donors, many members of Congress this year vowed to cut the pork they stuff into federal spending bills.

But that hasn't slowed Rep. C.W. Bill Young, who will send more money home than all but one member of the U.S. House.

Young, 76, a Republican from Indian Shores, has slipped $128-million for pet projects into federal appropriations bills, mostly for defense contractors and colleges in Pinellas County.

Although the figures could change slightly as Congress finishes work on its spending bills, Young's goodies - known around the Capitol as earmarks - range from $5-million for bioterrorism research at the University of South Florida in Tampa to $3-million for "battlefield sensor netting" by SAIC, an international defense contractor with an office in St. Petersburg.

The Florida National Guard will get $2.8-million to help coordinate with civilian authorities in case of a major attack, while Enable America Inc., a Tampa firm that helps disabled people find jobs, will get $1-million to help rehabilitate injured veterans.

Only Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who is chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, will send home more bacon - nearly $180-million next year. Young's earmarks are nearly double those of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the full Appropriations Committee.

But Young, the senior Republican on the defense appropriations subcommittee, says every request for federal money is carefully reviewed by his office.

"Whenever I get a request for earmarks from a company in my district ... we visit the facilities, and we don't always agree to the requests," Young said this week. "We think we know what they're doing, and what they're contributing to the overall national defense."

He and his staff also check each project with the Defense Department or relevant federal agency, he said. "If they tell us they're not interested in that request, we don't do it."

Not surprisingly, the defense industry is a major contributor to Young's campaigns, donating $117,000 of the $635,000 he raised for last year's election, federal campaign finance records show. Defense interests have given him $57,000 for the 2008 campaign so far.

Young said there's no connection between his earmarks and those donations. "There are a lot of folks that contribute that don't get earmarks," he said. Federal campaign finance records show that's true. "I never ask anyone for campaign contributions."

His largesse comes in spite of a major - and, so far, fairly successful - push from Democratic congressional leaders to cut back on earmarks this year.

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group that tracks federal spending, said the attempts by the new leadership to reform the earmark system has cut the total dollar value by about half, compared with recent years when the Republicans ran Congress.

But that's created a big disparity in terms of who gets earmarks between Appropriations Committee leaders, like Young and Murtha, and rank-and-file members, he said.

Young's earmarks amount to far more than the earmarks of all the other Tampa Bay-area lawmakers combined, according to a database compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense.

The figures could change slightly when the House spending bills are reconciled with the Senate's, but for now Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, has $5.3-million in earmarks, Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, has $15.4-million, Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, has $16.4-million, and Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, has $18.5-million.

"They are being put on a crash diet, but the people who control the money are feeding at the trough," Ellis said.

It's difficult to compare Young's earmarks year-to-year because this is the first year in which the lists are being disclosed. But last year, Young announced that he secured $90-million for local projects and the year before that he announced $240-million.

"He's in the minority, he's not the chairman of the full committee, he's not the chairman of the subcommittee, but he's still raking in the bucks," Ellis said.

That's partly because of his longtime friendship with Murtha. Young chaired the defense appropriations subcommittee before the Democrats took over this year, and he and Murtha have been helping each other bring home the bacon for years.

The other part of the reason is simply Young's subcommittee. This week, the House panel met with its Senate counterpart and agreed to spend a whopping $459.6-billion on defense in 2008.

Young's earmarks will go toward the development and manufacturing of an array of weapons systems, sensors and next-generation war-fighting tools: precision targeting for artillery, safer Humvees, ship and port security.

"The chiefs, the joint chiefs, all of them like what we've done with this bill," Murtha said.

The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have ensured that defense spending stays high, as does the value of earmarks for members on the committee. In fact, the value of the Senate and House defense appropriations earmarks approved Wednesday comes to about $8.2-billion, compared with almost $10-billion for the 11 other appropriations subcommittees combined, Taxpayers for Common Sense calculated.

Wes Allison can be reached at allison@sptimes.com or 202 463-0577. Bill Adair can be reached at adair@sptimes.com or (202) 463-0575.

Where the money goes

U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, is on track to bring nearly $130-million in federal pork home to his district, the second highest total in the House. The bills are not yet finalized, so amounts still can change, but here's a sampling of where the money is going:

[Last modified November 8, 2007, 00:37:06]