Kingston Praises Earmarks

WASHINGTON — Controversy and suspicion have long overshadowed the congressional practice of inserting local projects into federal spending bills.

Derided as pork or bacon, and inserted — until this year — anonymously through so-called "earmarks," such projects were held up by critics as examples of bad government and wasteful spending.

But Rep. Jack Kingston is making no apologies for being the House champion for Georgia when it comes to snagging federal dollars for his home state and his home district around Savannah.

In the current spending bills working their way through Congress for the new fiscal year that begins next month, Kingston has sponsored or co-sponsored earmarks estimated at $83 million, more than any other Georgian in the House. Despite being a conservative Republican, Kingston argues that reeling in programs and projects is a time-honored tradition in his state.

"Why do you think we have 13 (military) bases in the state of Georgia?" Kingston said in an interview. "That doesn't happen by accident."

He credited legendary Georgia lawmakers such as Sens. Richard Russell and Sam Nunn and Rep. Carl Vincent for "being entrepreneurial about bringing something home" by building up the military installations.

Those lawmakers had unusual clout, said Robert Hurt, who worked on the staff of then-Rep. Richard Bryan (Bo) Ginn, a predecessor to Kingston. At the military peak in the 1960s, Georgians "controlled the authorizing and appropriations for the military" during the expansion, and after the post-Vietnam war wind-down, the Georgia delegation found new federal installations to fill the vacancies.

Hurt, now a lobbyist representing a number of Georgia concerns, recalled that when the naval training facility was pulled out of Glencoe, Ga., members of the state delegation joined forces to replace it with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, which now serves almost every federal agency involved in security.

As Kingston put it, "I think when you become a member of the Georgia delegation, you're supposed to perform, as opposed to grandstand."

The "bacon" he brings home does not reach the levels of the defense expansions of decades ago or even the $155 million that Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Penn., has chalked up for his pet programs in the House defense bill alone.

Even so, Kingston, as the state's senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, is in a position to deliver.

Among the "earmarks" he has inserted into the spending bills for 2008:

— $14.5 million for a variety of computerized systems to upgrade training for the state's National Guard.

— $6.4 million to dredge Brunswick Harbor to open the way for ship traffic.

— $2.5 million for dredging Georgia's intracoastal waterway.

— $300,000 to purchase "clean fuel" buses for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (also sponsored by Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat).

— $1 million for two projects at the University of Georgia to investigate poultry diseases as well as funds for researching various crops, including peanuts, pecans, peaches and blueberries.

At Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group that tracks earmarks and urges reducing them, spokesman Steve Elllis said the pet project style of budgeting has gotten out of hand, reaching a high point of $30 billion in 2005, but he said they are now trending downward.

"Earmarks are not inherently evil," he said. "But they represent making funding decisions on federal dollars based on political muscle rather than the merits of projects."

Noting that members of the House and Senate appropriations committees "get a bigger slice of the pie," he said, "I don't think it happens coincidentally that all the important projects just happen to be in the districts of the appropriators."

The only other Georgian on the spending committee, Rep. Sanford Bishop of Albany, has toted up 61 earmarks for a total $63 million in projects that he has either sponsored or co-sponsored for the coming year.

As a member of the new Democratic majority, Bishop could soon outdistance the Republican Kingston.

In fact, among pet projects sponsored by a solo lawmaker without a cosponsor, Bishop has 38 for a total $40 million, and Kingston has 33 solo projects for a total $32 million, as calculated by Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Among other Georgians in the House, those with the most total earmarks, sponsored jointly or solo, include Jim Marshall (D) with $37 million for 46 projects and Phil Gingrey (R) with 15 projects totaling $23 million. The member with the fewest is Nathan Deal (R), with 5 projects totaling $1.4 million.

(Other members include Hank Johnson (D) with 12 projects at $14 million; John Barrow (D) with 19 projects at $12 million; David Scott (D) with 8 totaling $11.6 million; John Lewis (D) with 18 totaling $10.3 million; Lynn Westmoreland (R) with 12 totaling $7.4 million; John Linder (R) with 4 projects at $1.9 million; and Tom Price (R) with 6 projects totaling $1.7 million).

Congressional scandals and excessive spending have prompted new rules, including requiring members to disclose their earmarks, which in the past were often inserted anonymously in late-night sessions.

Kingston said he welcomes the new scrutiny.

"My view is, if I can't justify that spending within the budget, then it shouldn't be in there," he said. "So to me, the transparency is good."

He is also taking new precautions. For years he has sponsored earmarks for the small firm Firearms Training Systems, Inc., which provides computerized simulations for combat and law enforcement instruction.

A few months back, Kingston drove to the company's Suwanee, Ga., headquarters for the first time to see its operations.

"We want to be able to kick the tires," said Kingston, who generally relies on military aides to vet military projects.

He watched a demonstration of the firearm training system, which uses life-like weapons that shoot laser beams instead of bullets. He also checked to be sure the National Guard wanted the product. Kingston said he was then satisfied and inserted $4 million into the 2008 annual defense spending legislation for the program.

At the Firearms Training Systems company, vice president of sales Bob Dare said he was pleased Kingston came to the Atlanta metro plant, which is several hours outside of his district.

"With all the sensitivity to earmarks, he wanted to make sure that this project had value," Dare said.