Somebody...

Theories and rumours abound as City Council Speaker Christine Quinn faces  in what I would call her toughest bout yet  in the face of what is a much larger national issue. Findings last week report that earmarks were made to fictitious companies and/or organizations as part of an slushy reservation process, then after dust settled, re-allocated to other entities. A practice known as pork belly/barreling, this has been commonplace in all levels of government for ages and has only recently faced stronger and stronger opposition with the introduction of legislature that requires stricter ethics when earmarking (less vagueness mainly).  According to today's front pager in the Times, "There were more than 10,000 [earmarks], costing nearly $20 billion last year, according to the Congressional Research Service." (NYT article) Not to say that every one of these allocations are in poor taste, the main issues here are clarity and oversight. I think we want to avoid more instances like this heinous appropriation by the esteemed gentleman from Alaska.....

The twisted case of Coconut Road, a stretch of pavement near Fort Myers, Fla., that touches five golf clubs on its way to the Gulf of Mexico, is the target of a $10 million earmark that appeared mysteriously in a 2006 transportation bill written by Representative Don Young, Republican of Alaska. . .Mr. Young, who last year steered more than $200 million to a so-called bridge to nowhere reaching 80 people on Gravina Island, Alaska, has no constituents in Florida . . . The Coconut Road money is a boon, however, to Daniel J. Aronoff, a real estate developer who helped raise $40,000 for Mr. Young at the nearby Hyatt Coconut Point hotel days before he introduced the measure. (NYT article )

Ridiculous. No one is accusing Christine of anything that absurd though. Actually it's rather unfortunate because it is an inherited system from times ago that I am sure she knew about, though she denies, and like everyone else assumed it would not come to a head under her helm. There has been talk this may be the end of Quinn's run as speaker but it is way to early to tell. We'll see how this plays out locally and nationally as again we are able to witness yet another way the hardworking taxpayers get fucked. . .