Georgia Lawmakers Snag More than 150 'Earmarks' in Budget Bills

WASHINGTON — Louisiana entrepreneur Sy Wiley struck up an acquaintance with Georgia Rep. Sanford Bishop a few years back when Wiley was part of a plan to provide lightweight rifles and ammunition for the U.S. Army infantry at Fort Benning, which is in the Democratic lawmaker's district.

Although the Defense Department put the small-arms proposal on hold, Wiley's dream of developing lead-free, polymer ammunition casings intrigued Bishop, who has the inside track on spending decisions as one of two Georgians on the House Appropriations Committee.

And so was born an "earmark," one of the thousands of pet projects that lawmakers insert into spending bills — usually without public hearings or full competition. The projects are not part of formal budgets but lawmakers can add them whether an agency wants them or not.

Despite promises by the new Democratic leaders of Congress to drastically reduce this practice, an "omnibus" spending bill patched together this week includes more than 8,983 earmarks, reports Taxpayers for Common Sense.

That's a reduction over recent legislative spending binges, said the watchdog group's vice president, Steve Ellis. "But Congress still has a long, long way to go before earmarks get to manageable levels," he said.

When the catch-all spending bill is added to the Pentagon budget — the only budget bill to be passed and signed by President Bush before the 2008 fiscal year started three months ago — the grand total for earmarks reaches 11,144, costing an anticipated $15.3 billion.

Twelve Georgia members of the House individually placed about 150 earmarks in various spending bills – including more than 25 requests for a total $41 million in the Defense Budget alone. Among those requests is Bishop's provision for $1.6 million for producing and testing Wiley's lightweight ammunition.

About 30 additional earmarks were requested jointly by two or more Georgians, bringing the total value of requests for Georgia in the budget to $208.4 million.

Georgia's requests came from virtually every corner of the state, from Atlanta to Valdosta, and ranged from $10,000 for Norman Park Police Department equipment to $7.5 million for Soldier Center at Patriot Park in Fort Benning.

Bishop and Rep. Jack Kingston, a Savannah Republican and the only other Georgian on the House Appropriations Committee, carried the lion's share of Georgia's requests. Between them they submitted about 60 earmark requests and co-sponsored 60 more, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense and House Appropriations documents.

"I've always been very proud of the earmarks that I've been able to generate for the people of the 2nd District," Bishop said. "When I'm able to do something that enhances ... the health, the education, the welfare of the people of my district, I'm happy to do that."

Some of Bishop and Kingston's requests were for their districts. Some were made on behalf of other Georgia lawmakers. Others were made to out-of-state companies or projects that Bishop and Kingston said benefited Georgia, like Bishop's earmark for PolyTech Inc., the six-person start-up company that Wiley runs in Minden, La., whose ammunition will be shipped to Fort Benning.

Kingston requested $9 million for companies based in Virginia, Ohio and Texas. Each was connected to a Georgia military base, including one Ohio firm that will be fixing roofs at Fort Benning.

Asked about the help he provided PolyTech, Bishop said, "It was a good project when presented to me. It seemed like something that would help our soldiers on the battlefield."

The beneficiaries of Kingston's and Bishop's requests are also their campaign contributors, but the lawmakers and company officials insist that the money the lawmakers secure for them and the money they give to lawmakers are unrelated.

Bishop said the fact that Wiley's company is in another state "was irrelevant to me." Over the last two years, Bishop has directed $2.4 million in research dollars to PolyTech. Wiley, in turn, made campaign contributions to just one congressman: Bishop, who has so far received $5,500 for his re-election campaigns.

"My donations aren't contingent" on getting earmarks, Wiley said in a phone interview. "I'd like to say that it's something I do on principle."

Asked about Wiley's campaign support, Bishop said, "I would like to think that the contribution is because he believes in good government and responsive government" and added that Wiley "saw the process working in a way that would benefit our troops and benefit his enterprise."

Twelve of Georgia's 13 congressmen have requested earmarks this year. The exception was Rep. Paul Broun, an Athens Republican, who arrived on Capitol Hill in July after winning a special election to replace the late Charlie Norwood, who died in February. Broun doesn't have any earmarks but Norwood's name still appears on one: $3.5 million for the Richard Russell Dam and Lake.

Georgia lawmakers have been relatively successful. They don't have everything they wanted, but during the yearlong budget process, and with help from Georgia's two Republican senators — Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson — they often managed to get more than they originally sought.

Rep. Hank Johnson, a DeKalb Democrat, requested $500,000 for safety improvements along Glenwood Road. After House and Senate budget negotiators crafted a compromise Transportation Department bill, Johnson got $1 million.

When Kingston and Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat, put in a joint request for $300,000 for clean-fuel Marta buses, they got $3 million instead – a tenfold increase.

Indeed, 12 of 13 non-defense earmarks requested by Kingston were at least doubled during private budget negotiations. The $3.6 million he requested grew to $7.9 million.

It was a solid showing in comparison to some other states. For as much as the Georgians get, however, their success is dwarfed compared to Congress' most senior lawmakers.

Reps. John Murtha, D-Pa., Bill Young, R-Fla., and Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., each tallied more than $150 million in earmarks proposed for the current year, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. And that doesn't include the earmarks submitted by the other 94 lawmakers from those states.

Senate numbers eclipse even those. Taxpayers for Common Sense recently proclaimed Sen. Thad Chochran, R-Miss., the former Senate Appropriations chairman, the "undisputed earmark King," with $774 million in earmarked projects for the current fiscal year.

Once inserted in secrecy in overnight sessions, earmarks are far more visible this year, thanks to new disclosure requirements enacted in the aftermath of corruption and bribery convictions against a handful of lawmakers and lobbyists.

For example, it's now easy to track how companies backed by Murtha, who chairs the defense appropriations subcommittee, have expanded to win earmarks in states such as Georgia.

The West Virginia-based software company ProLogic, Inc., has set up offices in the home districts of key House Appropriations Committee members from Pennsylvania to the West Coast. Last year, the contractor established a toehold in Kingston's Savannah hometown at Armstrong Atlantic State University. Marketing chief Paul Maguire said ProLogic plans to expand to an off-campus site in Savannah early next year.

Kingston sponsored a $2.4 million earmark in this year's defense bill for a ProLogic project to provide military aircraft at the Townsend range and to give Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center an electronic network so that Marines and Air National Guard can share information, even while airborne. With the latest earmark, Kingston has poured a total $5.5 million into the project since 2006.

ProLogic, like most private contractors that benefit from earmarks, has generated substantial donations to lawmakers, particularly appropriations committee members. A computerized study of federal election records by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics found that ProLogic's executives and employees have contributed $411,600 to congressional campaigns since 2005. Of that total, $20,500 went to Kingston's re-election campaigns and his political action committee.

In an interview earlier this year, Kingston played down the effect of a few thousand dollars of campaign money "in a world where you have to have $700,000 to $1 million" to be re-elected.

As a member of Congress who considers what projects to fund, he said, "You can't just say, 'Are they on the list (of donors) or not?' "

"I think if somebody is doing something that you philosophically support, it's a good idea to let your face be shown off-hours at a fundraiser," he continued. "But it doesn't really (matter) whether you're on or off the list."