Earmarks: Still for Pigs

My still-kinda-new job demands a bit of attention to the sordid phenomenon of earmarks, described in the Washington Post as "home-district projects funded through narrowly written legislative language." As attendees of a recent conference said over and over, many of the federal programs which support academic activities - scholarly research, curriculum refinement, faculty development, even buying computers and building new facilities - are in constant danger of getting slashed or eliminated when some bozo from Hicksville figures out a way to raid the program's appropriations and put the money toward an earmarked project.

In 2005, for instance, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education had to cancel its open competition for much-needed support of meritorious higher-ed projects when 418 lawmaker-chosen handouts ate up the entire appropriation. The money went to oh-so-worthwhile projects like the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center at the University of South Carolina. I'm sure the $5 million was put to good use on their indoor climbing wall and sand volleyball courts, and I'm equally sure that five mil wouldn't have helped some middling state school improve its academic offerings.

These kinds of hijinks are bad enough when they cripple a much-needed source of money for higher ed, which is still America's most powerful engine of personal and social improvement. Earmarks are all the worse when they facilitate outright corruption. The Post has an excellent article today on the big money made by several congressmen (no prizes for guessing their party) who earmarked highway projects, then sold parcels off land near the new highways and made hefty profits. It's a shameful situation, and one that makes it even clearer that the GOP is more interested in personal profit and grandstanding on issues like flag-burning than in actually trying to run the country. I can't wait for November.