WASHINGTON — Even though he has come under investigation for his ties to a lobbyist whose clients have benefited from millions of dollars in congressional earmarks, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) was among the top lawmakers securing money for special projects in this year's spending bills, a watchdog group's analysis has found.
Lewis, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, secured $137 million in earmarks on his own or working with other lawmakers. His was the fifth-highest total in the House and more than eight times the average secured by a member of Congress, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Democrats highlighted earmarking scandals in their successful 2006 campaign to win control of Congress, but spending bills drafted under their rule for the 2008 fiscal year were still loaded with 12,881 earmarks costing more than $18 billion, the group said.
That is down from the earmark high set in 2005 when Republicans were in the majority, but short of the 50% cut in earmarks that House Democratic leaders had promised. Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), said that Democrats had "promised earmark reform in the 2006 campaign and we have kept that promise."
Earmarking is a practice in which funds for special projects are inserted into appropriations bills without going through normal budgeting and review procedures. Critics say this often occurs at lobbyists' behest and with little, if any, public scrutiny. Lawmakers from both parties have defended earmarking as a way to show their constituents that they are getting something back for the tax dollars they send to Washington.
The analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense was possible because Congress only recently began requiring lawmakers to identify their earmarks, opening to public scrutiny what had been a largely secret process.
Although Pelosi has spoken of "draining the swamp" of earmarks, she was among the top 25 earmarkers, the analysis found. Working alone and with colleagues, she secured $94.3 million in earmarks for special projects.
By contrast, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) neither requested nor received any earmarks for his district.
Earmarks have been a hot topic on Capitol Hill because of their explosion -- from 1,439 in 1995 to more than 13,000 in 2005 -- and because of scandals involving former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe) and lobbyist Jack Abramoff, both of whom are now in prison on corruption-related charges.
