Recently, the U.S. Army gave the company $1 million to work on its advanced explosives detection program. U.S. Rep. Bill Young (R) of Pinellas County and two congressmen from Hawaii simply slipped the $1 million for Alaka’i into the Army’s budget via the practice known as “earmarking” — no need for competitive bidding.
 What is an earmark? An earmark is a kind of pork-barrel spending in which legislators insert money into the federal budget outside the budgetary review process — usually for specific projects or programs in the lawmaker’s home district or state. The process is legal but controversial because it circumvents debate and prevents input from executive branch agencies that will administer the money. [Photo: Getty Images] |
Earmarked projects aren’t necessarily unworthy. Alaka’i’s IED detection system, if perfected, could save American soldiers’ lives. Florida colleges and universities use earmarks to fund cutting-edge research. Dozens of Florida cities and counties, meanwhile, rely on earmarks to pay for improvements to their wastewater infrastructure, roads and public transit systems.
The practice is controversial, however, because it blatantly end-runs Congress’ budgetary review process. No committees review or prioritize earmarked appropriations. There’s no debate and no input from the executive branch agencies that will administer the funding. As with Alaka’i’s $1 million, money for specific projects, private companies, non-profit groups or state and local governments is simply slipped into larger spending bills.
Often, lawmakers tack on the earmarks at the last minute at the behest of lobbyists hired by the companies or local governments. Earlier this year, Alaka’i hired Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Van Scoyoc Associates, where two former Young aides now work, to help it get more federal funding. Alaka’i has paid the firm $90,000 since January, federal lobbying records show.
Not surprisingly, many of the employees and political action committees of companies that get earmarks contribute to the campaigns of the lawmakers who sponsor the earmarks, creating a pay-to-play culture on Capitol Hill.
And while earmarking accounts for less than half of 1% of the annual federal budget, the spending isn’t inconsequential. Young and other lawmakers slipped a total of $18.3 billion worth of projects into 2008 spending bills, according to a tally by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non-partisan group that works to eliminate wasteful government spending. Florida raked in about $477 million of those earmark dollars — about 2.6% of the national total.
Next page: The article continues, along with charts on Florida's Top Earmarkers.
| State Rankings | ||
| Florida ranked fifth in the nation in the total amount of congressional earmarks received in 2008, with $477 million. On a per capita basis, however, at $26.14 per person, Florida ranks 41st. Alaska received more earmark money per capita than any other state — $506.34 per person. | ||
| Rank/State | Total Earmarks | |
| 1 | California | $929,217,800 |
| 2 | Texas | 649,242,180 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania | 523,033,080 |
| 4 | Mississippi | 511,478,000 |
| 5 | Florida | 477,044,050 |
| Rank/State | Earmarks Per Capita | |
| 1 | Alaska | $506.34 |
| 2 | Hawaii | 225.86 |
| 3 | West Virginia | 197.86 |
| 4 | Mississippi | 175.24 |
| 5 | North Dakota | 165.48 |
| 41 | Florida | 26.14 |
| Source: Taxpayers for Common Sense | ||
Politicians don’t distinguish between earmarks and other appropriations when touting the money they deliver to their districts, of course. In recent press releases, Sarasota Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan, for instance, hailed the more than $17 million he has already scored for local projects in the 2009 budget. Those dollars include plenty of earmarked goodies, like $7.6 million for a dredging project at Wares Creek to help reduce flooding in a Bradenton neighborhood, $1.6 million for a public safety center in Sarasota County and enhancements to the county’s 911 system and $1 million for a renewable/alternative energy center in Sarasota County. Buchanan also secured through earmarks $157,000 for a beach renourishment project at Lido Key, $200,000 for a voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) emergency notification system at Manatee Community College and $200,000 for a police cruiser in-car video system for Bradenton.
Earmarking has received heightened scrutiny after scandals involving federal lawmakers and now-incarcerated lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who famously referred to the Appropriations Committee as an earmark “favor factory.” Earlier this year, the U.S. Senate asked the Justice Department to investigate a 2005 earmark orchestrated by Alaska Rep. Don Young (R) for a $10-million study about building an I-75 interchange at Coconut Road in Naples that would have benefited one of Young’s campaign contributors, Florida developer Daniel Aronoff.
Congress added some sunshine to the earmarking process in 2007 when it adopted rules requiring that each spending bill be accompanied by a list of all earmarks. The rules also require disclosure of each earmark’s congressional sponsor, the name and address of the recipient and the intended location of the earmark. Taxpayers for Common Sense used the disclosures to compile a database with detailed information on all of Congress’ earmarks.
| Floridas Top Earmarkers (2008) | |||
| Lawmaker | Solo Earmarks | Earmarks with Other Lawmakers | Total |
| Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R) | $103,840,000 | $65,187,000 | $169,027,000 |
| Rep. Allen Boyd (D) | 36,871,000 | 46,293,500 | 83,164,500 |
| Sen. Bill Nelson (D) | 28,169,700 | $132,981,050 | $161,150,750 |
| Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R) | 11,008,800 | 26,983,500 | 37,992,300 |
| Sen. Mel Martinez (R) | 9,808,000 | 118,402,050 | 128,210,050 |
| Rep. Kathy Castor (D) | 9,015,800 | 10,836,000 | 19,851,800 |
| Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) | 7,308,000 | 10,594,100 | 17,902,100 |
| Rep. Adam Putnam (R) | 7,086,000 | 8,866,000 | 15,952,000 |
| Rep. John Mica (R) | 5,180,000 | 11,808,100 | 16,988,100 |
| Rep. Tim Mahoney* (D) | 5,102,400 | 15,776,200 | 20,878,600 |
| Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R) | 4,833,000 | 1,643,000 | 6,476,000 |
| Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R) | 4,707,600 | 13,085,000 | 17,792,600 |
| Rep. Vern Buchanan (R) | 4,420,000 | 10,665,500 | 15,085,500 |
| Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) | 4,355,000 | 19,305,000 | 23,660,000 |
| Rep. Corrine Brown (D) | 4,335,700 | 36,448,700 | 40,784,400 |
| Rep. Ric Keller* (R) | 4,299,000 | 4,813,100 | 9,112,100 |
| Rep. Ron Klein (D) | 3,935,500 | 9,490,500 | 13,426,000 |
| Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R) | 3,717,500 | 7,328,500 | 11,046,000 |
| Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) | 3,697,000 | 10,082,500 | 13,779,500 |
| Rep. Dave Weldon** (R) | 3,522,000 | 8,969,800 | 12,491,800 |
| Rep. Tom Feeney* (R) | 3,245,000 | 7,437,000 | 10,682,000 |
| Rep. Connie Mack (R) | 2,677,500 | 4,015,500 | 6,693,000 |
| Rep. Alcee Hastings (D) | 2,623,500 | 11,027,500 | 13,651,000 |
| Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R) | 2,366,000 | 2,893,500 | 5,259,500 |
| Rep. Robert Wexler (D) | 1,952,000 | 8,624,000 | 10,576,000 |
| Rep. Jeff Miller (R) | 1,743,000 | 11,946,500 | 13,689,500 |
| Rep. Cliff Stearns (R) | 1,631,000 | 33,249,100 | 34,880,100 |
| *Defeated in 2008 election **Retired in 2008 Source: Taxpayers for Common Sense |
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Next page: More charts on earmarks for Florida's colleges and universities.
Lawmakers funneled earmarks for 2,300 projects worth $2.25 billion to 920 colleges and universities across the country in 2008 — a 25% increase over 2003, according to an analysis by the Chronicle for Higher Education. Florida colleges and universities raked in more than $111.5 million in federal earmark money in the 2008 fiscal year for everything from library upgrades to manufacturing training programs. A sample of projects at various Florida institutions: |
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| School | Earmark | Sponsor | Project | Amount Spent on Federal Lobbying (2007) |
| St. Petersburg College | $2.4 million | Rep. Bill Young (R) | National Terrorism Preparedness Institute |
Less than $10,000 |
| Saint Leo University | $1.2 million | Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R) | Continuing education through distance learning | Less than $10,000 |
| Florida Gulf Coast University | $500,000 | Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) |
Develop and test environmentally safe biocides for bio-defense | $60,000 |
| Miami Dade College | $343,000 | Sen. Mel Martinez (R) | Cuban American Historical Museum | $160,000 |
| New College of Florida | $215,000 | Rep. Vern Buchanan (R) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D) | Funding for a public archaeology laboratory, including purchase of equipment | $35,000* |
| Florida Southern College | $196,000 | Rep. Adam Putnam (R) | Construction of a library to house historic documents of Frank Lloyd Wright | None reported |
| Florida Memorial University | $162,000 | Sen. Bill Nelson (D) | Upgrades to the Nathan W. Collier Library | $35,000 |
| * New College of Florida Research Foundation | ||||
| School | Earmark* |
| University of South Florida at Tampa | $22.9 million |
| University of Miami | 12.2 million |
| University of Florida | 10.9 million |
| St. Petersburg College | 6.2 million |
| Florida State University | 5.4 million |
| Florida International University | 4.8 million |
| University of North Florida | 3.7 million |
| Florida Gulf Coast University | 2.5 million |
| Florida Institute of Technology | 2.4 million |
| Eckerd College | 2.3 million |
| University of Central Florida | 1.8 million |
| New College of Florida | 1.7 million |
| Florida Atlantic University | 1.6 million |
| Florida Community College at Jacksonville | 1.6 million |
| Saint Leo University | 1.2 million |
| Tallahassee Community College | 1.2 million |
| St. Thomas University | 1 million |
| Florida A&M University | 800,000 |
| School | Earmark* |
| Florida Southern College | $800,000 |
| University of West Florida | 800,000 |
| Barry University | 600,000 |
| Jacksonville University | 500,000 |
| Miami Dade College | 500,000 |
| Stetson University | 500,000 |
| Broward College | 300,000 |
| North Florida Community College | 300,000 |
| Palm Beach Community College | 300,000 |
| Polk College | 300,000 |
| Florida Memorial University | 200,000 |
| Bethune-Cookman University | 100,000 |
| Central Florida Community College | 100,000 |
| Edison College | 100,000 |
| Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences | 100,000 |
| Indian River State College | 100,000 |
| Lake City Community College | 100,000 |
| * Does not include shared projects Sources: Chronicle for Higher Education, Senate Office of Public Records |
|
Next page: Article on Rep. Bill Young (R), and a chart of his defense-related earmarks.
King of Earmarks
 Rep. Bill Young [Photo: Diane Bradford] |
In 2008, Rep. Bill Young (R), the 37-year veteran of the House of Representatives from Florida’s 10th congressional district in Pinellas County, inserted more earmarked dollars into spending bills than any other member of Florida’s congressional delegation and more than all but two other members of Congress. Young doled out close to $104 million in earmarks in Florida for the current spending year, with nearly 90% of the money going to the Tampa Bay area. He sponsored another $65 million with other lawmakers.
How does Young manage to bring home so much bacon? As the ranking minority member of the powerful House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Young plays a key role in deciding how billions of Pentagon dollars are spent each year.
Not surprisingly, companies in the Tampa Bay region have received a significant chunk of federal money to work on missile technology, navigation technology, bio-terrorism detection programs and other military-related projects. ATK Corp. of Clearwater, for instance, received $4 million for a project related to its “AN/AAR-47” missile warning system. SRI International in St. Petersburg received $1 million to work on “underwater acoustic imaging for maritime domain awareness.”
| Rep. Bill Young's Defense-related Earmarks: | ||
| Recipient | Amount | Project Description |
| AAR Composites (Clearwater) | $1.6 million | Tactical Operation Centers (ELAMS/ESAMS/MECCS) |
| ATK Corp. (Clearwater) | $4 million | AN/AAR-47 Missile Warning System |
| CME (St. Petersburg) | $2.4 million | Lightweight Theater Transportable TOC |
| CME | $2.4 million | Foliage Penetrating Acoustically Cued Imagery Sensor Integration and Technology Evaluation |
| Coda Octopus Group (St. Petersburg) | $2.4 million | Port and Hull Security 3D, Real Time Sonar-System Echoscope |
| Coherent Systems (Largo) | $1 million | SOF Special Purpose Tagging, Tracking and Locating Tool Kit |
| CONAX Florida Corporation (St. Petersburg) | $4 million | HMMWV Restraint System |
| CONAX Florida Corporation | $2.4 million | Inertia Reel Restraint System Retrofit |
| Concurrent Technologies Corporation (Largo) | $1.2 million | SOF Mission Training and Preparation Systems Interoperability |
| Constellation Technology Corp. (St. Petersburg) | $2 million | Continuation of Advanced Materials Research for Nuclear Detection, Counter-proliferation and Imaging |
| Constellation Technology Corp. | $1.6 million | Continuation of Unmanned Vehicle CBRNE Unitary Sensor Suite Development and Demonstration |
| DRS Surveillance Support Systems (Largo) | $1 million | AN/SPY-1 Radar System Readiness Improvement |
| DRS Technologies (Largo) | $4 million | C-Band Active Array Radar System |
| DRS Technologies | $1.6 million | Back Fit Engineering Support for Air Search Radar System |
| DRS Technologies | $1 million | SCOUT Mk3 |
| Eclipse Energy Systems (St. Petersburg) | $1.2 million | Advanced Dynamic Optics Program |
| Enable America, Inc. (Tampa) | $1 million | Warrior Wellness Program |
| Enser Corp. (Pinellas Park) | $1 million | Advanced Battery Technology |
| General Dynamics (St. Petersburg) | $3.2 million | Super High Accuracy Range Kit - 105mm Artillery Technology |
| Honeywell(Clearwater) | $4 million | Ballistic Missile Technology |
| Honeywell | $4 million | Ballistic Missile Range Safety Technology |
| Honeywell | $3.2 million | Precision Terrain Aided Navigation |
| IMC (St. Petersburg) | $1 million | Enterprise-wide Data and Knowledge Management System to Enhance USSOCOM Mission |
| IMC | $2.4 million | NMEC Intelligence Community R&D Lab and Better Service to Combatant Commands |
| IMC | $3.2 million | Improved Information Transfer for Special Forces |
| ITAC (St. Petersburg) | $1.6 million | SOCOM Imagery Dissemination System |
| Marine Desalination Systems (St. Petersburg) | $1 million | Atmospheric Water Harvesting |
| National Forensic Science Technology Center (Largo) | $1.6 million | Expansion of Mobile Forensic Labs and Technical Assistance and Training Support |
| Orion (Clearwater) | $1 million | Modeling and Simulation for Rapid |
| Raytheon Company (Largo) | $4 million | Cooperative Engagement Capability |
| SAIC (St. Petersburg) | $2.4 million | Battlefield Sensor Netting |
| SAIC | $2 million | Environmental Bioterrorism Detection Program |
| SRI International (St. Petersburg) | $4.5 million | Comprehensive Maritime Domain Awareness |
| SRI International | $1.6 million | Application Specific Integrated Circuits Fabrication |
| SRI International | $1 million | Underwater Acoustic Imaging for Maritime Domain Awareness |
| SRI International | $1 million | Micro-systems and nanotechnology for Advanced Technology Development |
| Source: Taxpayers for Commonsense | ||
Next page: A sampling of earmarks put forward by Florida lawmakers.
A Sampler
Florida lawmakers slip earmark dollars into the federal budget for everything from museums to ferry boats:
- The Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg received $287,000 for exhibits and programming. The earmark was sponsored by Reps. Bill Young (R) and Robert Wexler (D) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D).
- Thanks to Rep. Ron Klein (D), the South Florida Science Museum in West Palm Beach received $310,000 for “educational and outreach” programs.
- The Young At Art Children’s Museum in Davie received $167,000 for a permanent exhibit called the Global Village Project, where kids make passports and create music and learn about different cultures. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) sponsored the earmark.
- With help from Rep. Vern Buchanan (R), Mote Marine Laboratories in Sarasota received more than $2.5 million in federal earmark money in 2008, including $1.5 million for migratory shark research. The research center spent $60,000 on federal lobbying in 2007.
- Rep. Allen Boyd (D) secured $95,000 for a prescription assistance program in Gadsden County. The program will improve access to medicines for the county’s 46,000 residents, 20% of whom live below the poverty line. The county paid two D.C.-based lobbying firms $80,000 in 2007.
- The St. Johns River Ferry, which crosses the St. Johns River and connects Fort George Island to Mayport, received $490,000 to replace its aging backup boat. Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R) sponsored the earmark.
- This year, the Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando received $192,000 for “facilities and equipment” thanks to Rep. Ric Keller (R).