"Amid that growing concern, Boustany invited 30 of the most powerful Louisianans living in Washington, D.C., to his home in mid-February to discuss the state and its priorities."
"I called a meeting of Louisiana lobbyists ... to let them know that I'm willing to be the conduit to the rest of the delegation to make sure that we are setting our priorities and all working toward common goals."
As if hanging out with powerful Louisiana lobbyists so they can dictate his agenda was not enough, did you know that Congressman Boustany once attempted to buy an English Title? There was one small problem ... it was a fraud (pdf alert). Apparently, two con artists hoodwinked dumb wealthy Americans like Congressman Boustany that they could buy an English Title, which would give them all sorts of goodies like being called Lord Boustany and a seat to ride in the Queen Mum's 100th Birthday celebration back in the mid-1990's.
Most millionaires like Congressman Lord Boustany would let the money go. But not Congressman Lord Boustany. Noooo.
He went and filed a lawsuit that never went anywhere in Lafayette Parish, and it is available to the public ... I have all three pages of the complaint, but the most relevant one is page 2, which shows how much he paid for the Title - $18,500 - and lists both his name and that of his wife in the pleading, and why they are filing suit.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, a Republican, toes the line against pork-barrel projects, but Cravins argues that earmarks can have a positive impact, especially for a district still struggling to rebuild in the wake of 2005's Hurricane Rita. "How can Congressman Boustany not believe in earmarks for a district that has been devastated by a hurricane?" Cravins asks. "We need the money, and that's a lack of leadership."
... but like most snobbish Congressmen Lords, he is merely against earmarks for us mere commoners, as he will help out his wealthy friends who donate thousands to his campaign according to a Gerald Shields' article in The Advocate entitled Earmarks remain in 'pay to play' Congress, dated June 8, 2008, which is no longer available online:
One of those members is U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette. Boustany last year sponsored an earmark worth up to $1 million for C&C Technologies in the defense spending bill.
Donors associated with C&C Technologies have contributed $20,300 to Boustany's campaign since his election in 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes federal campaign contributions.
I guess we common folk don't have the dough to play on Congressman Lord Boustany's level.
Wow. I know that John Kennedy thinks he's probably the smartest politician in the state, but I would hope he respects the people of Louisiana enough to tell them the truth. You know, that traditional American value of honesty? Apparently, John doesn't believe in it, as the Kennedy campaign believes they can pull a fast one on the people of Louisiana.
A Kennedy campaign email alleges:
But not everyone agrees. After legislators stalled on an opportunity to bring transparency and accountability to our broken earmark system, our opponent in Washington - who still refuses to disclose her own earmarks - inexplicably applauded its defeat after telling the Monroe News-Star just days earlier that she disagreed "with anyone who is against earmarks."
There's only one BIG problem with that. Senator Landrieu discloses her earmarks at her official website - http://landrieu.senate.gov/appropriations/index.cfm. Hell, she even breaks them down by parish!
I'm guessing the Kennedy campaign has no clue how to work the internets, or the tubes, which is apparently what technologically illiterate Republicans think they are. Actually, they have a website for their campaign, so I guess they might know how to work the tubes.
They just don't think Louisianans know how to navigate the world wide web.
Speaking of their campaign website, I noticed something very interesting ... the basic format is plagiarized from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee! The screen shots for you to make an informed decision about that below the jump ...
[UPDATE: The $18 million for the barataria Land Bridge Project is NOT an earmark. It's in legislation that Senator Landrieu authored.]
Oh, I love all the material that Republican Senate Candidate John Neely Kennedy is giving us all to work with these days. I received an email from his campaign last night:
On the same weekend The Associated Press (AP) released a comprehensive report on our broken system of earmarks saying there is "no end to what has become ingrained behavior in Congress," State Treasurer John Kennedy's opponent for Senate vehemently defended more of the same in Washington.
In a shocking defense of the status quo, the Monroe News-Star quoted Mary Landrieu saying: "I beg to differ with anyone who is against earmarks."
Huh. I guess Mr. Kennedy doesn't appreciate the most recent earmarks for health care and national defense that Senator Landrieu has recently been able to get for Louisiana:
$300,000 for Community Hospital Telehealth Consortium information technology networks
$350,000 for Point Coupee Better Access Community Health to sustain a community-based clinic and diabetic outreach program
$1,500,000 for Saint Bernard Health Center, Inc. for construction, renovation and equipment
$750,000 for Dillard University, recruitment and training program for nursing assistants and home health aides
$200,000 for Northwestern State University of Louisiana, nursing education program
That's $3.1 million that Senator Landrieu was able to secure for Louisiana. You know what's even more impressive about these earmarks?
I would hope that Mr. Kennedy would recognize the bullshit his team is spinning about earmarks being necessarily bad. In this case, those "terrible and evil earmarks" would help the health care system take better care of Louisianans.
And I'm not even mentioning the stunning hypocrisy of Mr. Kennedy in this attack on Senator Landrieu, as he himself has, on occasion, you know, approved earmarks himself:
As treasurer, Kennedy serves as chairman of the state Bond Commission, which has approved hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years for groups that otherwise appear as earmarks in Louisiana's budget bills. Between 2004 and 2007, the Bond Commission approved $225,000 for the Louisiana Yambilee Building, $2.6 million for the Shreveport Little Theatre, $77.9 million for the Audubon Institute and $12.9 million for the Acadiana Arts Council.
Can you PUH-LEEEEZE stop with the hypocrisy, Mr. Kennedy? Pretty please?
So what's all this controversy about earmarks? "Pork-Barrel Spending" shout editorial writers all over Louisiana. On the national level, Republican presidential nominee John McCain has "vowed to veto all earmarks as president, and to make the authors famous." All these so-called pet projects by legislators have even caused Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to threaten line-item vetoes of special projects added in to the new state budget. So can any of these local requests be justified?
The state capital's local newspaper editorialized that no earmarks or local grants should "beyond state government's tab unless they have a direct relevance to state agencies' missions." But the devil is in the details. Who's going to define the mission of any state agency? Isn't that the job of the state legislature? Where is it written that only the executive branch can pad its budget with local projects funded to private groups? You might be surprised to read that in a number of state governmental agencies dole out tax dollars to private groups all the time.
