Senator Bond
one of worst
GOP offenders
Washington — Sen. Christopher S. Bond regularly railed against President Obama’s economic stimulus plan as irresponsible spending that would drive up the national debt.
But behind the scenes, the Missouri Republican quietly sought more than $50 million from a federal agency for two projects in his state.
Bond was not alone: More than a dozen Republican lawmakers — while denouncing the stimulus to the media and their constituents — privately sent letters to just one of the federal government’s many agencies seeking stimulus money for home-state pork projects.
The letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, expose the gulf between lawmakers’ public criticism of the overall stimulus package and their private lobbying for projects close to home.
“It’s not illegal to talk out of both sides of your mouth, but it does seem to be a level of dishonesty troubling to the American public,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Bond noted that one project applying to the USDA for stimulus money would “create jobs and ultimately spur economic opportunities.”
Watchdog groups say the lawmakers’ public talk and private letters don’t square, highlighting a side of government spending largely overshadowed by the “earmarking” process.
While members of Congress must disclose their earmarks — or pet projects they slip into broader spending bills — the private funding requests they make in letters to agencies fall outside of the public’s view.
“There is a definite disconnect between the public statements and the private letters,” said Thomas A. Schatz, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste. “It does seem inconsistent to say you’re against the bill — but then you want some little piece of it.”
At a televised meeting with the House Republican caucus late last month, Obama chided GOP lawmakers who, he said, took credit for projects funded by the same stimulus bill they voted against — adding that some were even attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
But the USDA letters also reveal a more discreet way for lawmakers to try to steer money to home-state projects.
According to records, at least eight other Republican lawmakers who voted against the stimulus later sent letters to the USDA backing various projects’ stimulus applications.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but Senator Bond is a hypocrite who has played politics with this issue from the very beginning,” said Derrick Plummer, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.
“He — and every Republican who voted against the stimulus, bemoaned it as wasteful spending and then requested funds from it — should be awarded a prize for Hypocrite of the Year,” Plummer said.
“This is just more evidence that Republicans were wrong for opposing the Recovery Act,” he said. “And by pursuing funds from a bill they opposed, they are admitting they were wrong.
“The Recovery Act saved an economy that was on the brink of depression and has begun to turn things around with two consecutive quarters of growth — no thanks to Sen. Bond,” Plummer said.
“If Sen. Bond wants to request money from a bill he opposed and railed against, the least he could do is admit that he was wrong,” he said. “But since this is all about playing politics, we won't hold our breath.”
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