Published: June 08, 2008 08:14 am      

Pulled Pork: A closer look at Federal Earmarks impact on Southern Indiana

In a laboratory at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany sits a computerized plastic man who will attempt to die at least 150 deaths over the next semester.

Each time he does, it’ll be up to the students at the University’s School of Nursing to bring him back from the brink.

One day, students will treat his breathing trouble. The next day, they’ll have the opportunity to treat his mortal wounds. But more importantly, said Mimi McKay, the school’s dean, they’ll get the opportunity to learn clinical nursing in a laboratory setting.

“The beauty of it is you can try over and over again without him dying,” she said.

SimMan, as he’s known — along with about 50 classroom laptops — was paid for by approximately $73,000 in federal money. The school’s main campus in Bloomington received a similar cut.

The purchases are just a few examples of how federal earmarks, procured by Rep. Baron Hill last year, are being spent locally. The congressman, sometimes alone and sometimes with help from fellow house members or senators, earmarked about $17 million in 2007.

Some Indiana representatives tagged far more for projects, others had far lower amounts. Northwest Indiana Democratic Rep. Peter Visclosky — who earmarked more than any other Indiana representative — had his name on $130 million worth of earmarks. Republican Rep. Mike Pence — who’s district covers the east-central portion of the state — earmarked the fewest dollars, about $6.9 million. On average Indiana representative had their names on about $28.3 million in earmarks.

The earmarks are requested by various agencies around the country. Hill, who declined to be interviewed for this story, uses federal appropriation request forms, which are available on his Web site.

The forms explain that it’s a competitive process by which money is awarded. And that he must present the merits of projects to the House Appropriations Committee, which gets the final say in the matter.

The forms contain a questionnaire in which applicants go over the fine details of the project for which they are requesting money.



Who received what locally?

Clark County received about $1.7 million in earmarks.

About $127,000 was awarded to the Sellersburg Police Department, though chief Russ Whelan says he’s still waiting to receive the money.

“That would actually be the biggest grant that Sellersburg has ever received,” he said. It’ll be spent on a new camera and radio systems.

“We’ll actually have a camera system that provides 360-degree coverage around the headquarters and the court,” he said. A new book-in area that would cut off prisoner’s access to the station is also on the to do list.

Other local police agencies such as Charlestown and Clarksville have similar camera systems, according to officials at each department.

Nearer to the Ohio River, about a half million was earmarked for a new water treatment plant in Charlestown that would never be.

Former Mayor Mike Hall recalls traveling to Washington D.C. to submit plans — first to the Senate, then the House — in order to procure the money. Then as negotiations started between Congress and the White House, Hall was told his project was among those on the chopping block as President George Bush pushed for a more fiscally conservative spending bill.

“It was touch and go as to whether the president was going to veto it,” said Hall.

That plant, the subject of a local political quarrel, was later canceled locally when Hall lost re-election last November.

Also in Southern Indiana, about $2.7 million was procured for Floyd County.

A $983,000 earmark went to stabilizing the eroding banks of the Ohio River in New Albany, where plans are under way for the Ohio River Greenway project. The project seeks to construct continuous parks space between New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville, along the banks of the Ohio River. It is intended to connect to a similar path in Louisville creating a large loop.

Part of the earmark will be spent on stabilizing the banks, part of the earmark will go toward constructing a multi-use trail near the New Albany Amphitheater, said Phil Hendershot, chairman of the Ohio River Greenway Commission.

Getting money for the greenway is easier because it’s a pre-authorized federal project, through the Army Corp of Engineers. In year’s past the Corp has provided money in its budget.

Other dollars went to flood protection in the city, which Hendershot said is not related to the greenway.

“That’s the easiest way for us to get our federal money,” he said.

Despite that, the project has relied on earmarks for the last few years.

The New Albany Police Department received an earmark for advanced fingerprinting technology.

Elsewhere in the district, federal dollars paid for an emergency room expansion in Seymour; a new senior center in Columbus; and a security fence around the perimeter of the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center.



A wise use of federal dollars?

Whether or not the money earmarked for 9th District projects is a wise use of federal dollars is a matter of opinion.

Hill issued multiple press releases touting his efforts to bring money to the district for the projects listed above.

The House’s omnibus appropriations bill included a number of those earmarks when it passed late last December.

“Funds for these projects are critical to the economic development, infrastructure and safety of our communities,” Hill said in a press release at the time.

“This money will go toward improving our esteemed institutes of higher education, making our local police forces more secure and bringing new technologies to our community hospitals.”

Eric Schansberg, an IUS economics professor who’s running against Hill on the fiscally conservative Libertarian Party ticket this year, said he believes only three of the earmarks — the ones pertaining to national defense — were appropriate.

“The other things are state and local matters,” he said. “Why on earth are people in Minnesota paying for a water treatment plant in Charlestown?”

Despite that logic, he admits that swearing off earmarks all together would likely be an uphill battle for members of congress. Bringing that federal money back to the district certainly makes it easier to get elected, he said.

And it’s an easy way to get projects paid for, Schansberg reasoned. Hill’s $17 million, divided by America’s 300 million taxpayers adds up to less than 6 cents per person.

Former Congressman Mike Sodrel, who will again be Hill’s Republican opponent this November, said earmarks have their uses.

Locally, he said, the best example of that is the Ohio River Bridges Project, which seeks to build two new spans between Louisville and Southern Indiana.

“That’s interstate commerce,” he said. “And nobody knows the district better than the congressman.”

That said, Sodrel believes there has been abuses of the system — such as the infamous “bridge to nowhere,” in Alaska. Both Hill and Sodrel have cited it as the poster child for pork barrel spending run amuck.

Sodrel, who served in congress from 2004 to 2006, supports a one-year moratorium on earmarks.

He would have a bi-partisan committee from both chambers and both parties set standards for future earmarks.

“They need to agree on what earmarks are appropriate, constitutional and in the public interest,” he said. “If they cannot agree at the end of the year, the moratorium would become permanent.”



Is it politically necessary?

“Many congressman look to tout earmarks as kind of what they bring back to the district,” said Brian Howey, an Indiana political columnist. For about 98 percent of the body’s membership, pork is a bragging right. It’s why a seat on the appropriations committee is often one of the most coveted in the U.S. House, he said. Visclosky, whose earmark totals dwarf the rest of the delegation’s, has a seat there.

However, some fiscal conservatives don’t want to have earmarks attached to their names for ideological reasons.

For a long period of time — during the 1940s through the 1960s — there was a real culture in which Indiana congressional representatives didn’t want to accept federal money for any local projects, he said.

When the Environmental Protection Agency began leaning on communities across the country to fix problems with combined sewer overflows, Indiana representatives didn’t seek federal funding, Howey said. That’s part of the reason why many communities in Indiana are still dealing with the problems and other states are not.

Combined sewer overflows occur when storm water flows into the sanitary sewer system and flush bacteria out into the environment.

“I think that it has been such an important expectation for members of Congress,” said Linda Gugin, professor of political science at IU Southeast. She doesn’t remember a time when Hill or Sodrel have spoke out against them in their past three campaigns against one another. She noted that both have brought money back for projects such as the Greenway.

It represents tangible evidence of something that a member of Congress has brought back to their district, she said.

“Without earmarks we wouldn’t have interstates, bridges, new federal buildings,” she said. “Lots of people are going to benefit (from such improvements.)”



INDIANA EARMARKS REPRESENTATIVES

• 1st District Rep. Peter Visclosky : $130,084,000

• 2nd District Rep. Joe Donnelly: $18,103,600

• 3rd District Rep. Mark Souder: $17,857,700

• 4th District Rep. Steve Buyer: $8,058,000

• 5th District Rep. Dan Burton: $6,912,400

• 6th District Rep. Mike Pence: $6,865,400

• 7th District Rep. Julia Carson & Rep. Andre Carson*: $9,906,200

• 8th District Rep. Brad Ellsworth: $39,681,800

• 9th District Rep. Baron Hill: $17,575,500

SENATORS

• Sen. Evan Bayh: $430,693,000

• Sen. Richard Lugar: $179,486,000

* Julia Carson died last year while in office. She was succeeded by her grandson, Andre Carson.



9TH DISTRICT EARMARKS BY COUNTY

• Bartholomew: $803,600

• Clark: $1,746,840

• Dubois: $147,000

• Floyd: $2,723,140

• Harrison: $1,225,000

• Jackson: $383,000

• Jefferson: $95,000

• Jennings: $6,596,000

• Monroe: $3,609,920

• Washington: $246,000