Hoffman swears off all earmarks
WASHINGTON — Rep. John M. McHugh won a reputation as a friend of Fort Drum by securing tens of million of dollars in congressional earmarks that may have helped save the post from closure in 2005.
Douglas L. Hoffman, the Conservative seeking to replace him, has sworn to oppose just those sorts of projects if elected to Congress.
To obtain the endorsement, and campaign cash, of the conservative Club for Growth, Mr. Hoffman signed a statement promising not to request earmarks, which the group defines as any spending requested by only one chamber of Congress or not requested by the White House. By that definition, a total of $114 million in construction at Fort Drum — including weapons training facilities, improvements at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield and a family support center — would not have been built this decade.
Sixteen projects at Fort Drum since 2000 have met the definition of earmarks followed by the Club for Growth and were listed in the annual Congressional Pig Book published by an allied group, Citizens Against Government Waste. That total does not include other items related to Fort Drum, such as the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization, a joint effort between north country hospitals and the post that received $400,000 and made the 2008 Pig Book.
In a telephone interview, Mr. Hoffman's campaign spokesman gave no indication that Mr. Hoffman would make an exception to his no-earmarks promise to pursue improvements at Fort Drum. He said questions about earmarks at Fort Drum are "hypothetical," although they were the rule rather than the exception during Mr. McHugh's 16 years in Congress.
Mr. Hoffman considers earmarks — which gain limited or little scrutiny from Congress — "a handout to special interests, with no oversight," said his spokesman, Robert H. Ryan. "The perspective from how Doug sees it is everything is broken."
Opposition to earmarks is one of the hallmarks of the Club for Growth, which has championed lawmakers who fight so-called pork-barrel spending. Its top recipient of campaign cash is Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who tussled with Mr. McHugh last year over money the north country congressman sought for the Strand Theater in Plattsburgh.
The group also opposes the Essential Air Service program, a federal subsidy that enables airlines to fly to Watertown, Massena and Ogdensburg, and has supported cuts in federal impact aid, which helps school districts around Fort Drum handle the added cost of educating many children from military families.
Mr. Flake and a few dozen other lawmakers have made similar pledges not to request or support earmarks, including Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., the chairman of the House Republican Conference. Mr. Pence has declined to support the GOP nominee, Dierdre K. Scozzafava, splitting with Minority Leader Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, who also signed the Club for Growth pledge but endorsed Ms. Scozzafava.
Some Democrats have signed as well, most notably President Obama when he was a senator.
Mr. Hoffman plays prominently on the Club for Growth Web site. The group has been his biggest source of campaign money, other than Mr. Hoffman himself, contributing about $95,000 so far toward the Nov. 3 special election.
Neither of Mr. Hoffman's opponents has sworn off earmarks, although the Republican, Dierdre K. Scozzafava, supports more transparency in how they are requested and approved, her spokesman, Matthew A. Burns, said.
"To blanketly say you're not going to fight for the 23rd Congressional District is a kind of reckless statement to make," Mr. Burns said.
He said Ms. Scozzafava supports additional earmark reform, including giving lawmakers more time to read the massive bills in which earmarks are typically buried. The Democratic majority in the House has made progress on some promises, including requiring lawmakers to post earmark requests on their Web sites. But pledges to give members more time to read bills have gone unfulfilled.
A spokesman for the Democratic candidate, William L. Owens, did not return messages seeking comment about earmarks.
Mr. McHugh was an unapologetic supporter of earmarks and maintained that his requests were anything but frivolous. He also took issue with Citizens Against Government Waste's definition, saying that he did not believe Congress should cede decisions about regional priorities to the White House and that securing money for his district was part of his job as a congressman.
On Fort Drum projects, Mr. McHugh filled what he considered gaps in White House budget requests, working behind the scenes with Fort Drum officials to determine their highest priorities. In some years before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Fort Drum received little or no requested projects from the White House.
And while New York's U.S. senators have supported the post, the workings of legislation at the Capitol made it easier for Mr. McHugh to request the projects on the House Armed Services Committee, then ask the senators to advocate on their side of the Capitol.
At times, he was a fierce defender of hometown spending. In 2004, he made headlines for a heated argument — some witnesses said it almost came to blows — over earmarks that Rep. Ernest J. Istook, R-Okla., sought to strike from a transportation spending bill. Mr. Istook, also among the Club for Growth's favorite lawmakers, had removed the projects for every lawmaker, including Mr. McHugh, who supported increased funding for Amtrak.
In some cases, those Republicans were in tight re-election contests.
Mr. McHugh, through his position on the House Republican Steering Committee, helped engineer Mr. Istook's ouster from an Appropriations Committee leadership post.
Perhaps because of his support for earmarks, Mr. McHugh was never popular with the Club for Growth and received a score card rating of 25 percent last year. Mr. Flake received a perfect 100 percent score.
ON THE NET
Hoffman pledge:
www.doughoffmanforcongress.
com/files/NoPorkPledge.pdf
