On November 14, 2007, Rep. Marcy Kaptur voted in favor of HR 3074, a $106 billionDepartments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) and Related Agencies bill that contained, coincidentally, 2007 earmarks (Roll Call 1102).

Included among those earmarks was $200,000 to the Alpine Heritage Preservation in Thomas, West Virginia, for renovation and build out of an historic Opera House, our #6 in the countdown of her most wasteful pork projects.

The city of Thomas has a population of 452, considerably less than the 741 pork projects totaling $178 million that were included in the Economic Development Initiative (EDI) grants section.  The Opera House is just one of the EDI grant pork projects.

As Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) said at the time the bill was passed,“The ostensible purpose of EDI is to increase economic development and revitalization, but it has increasingly become a perennial repository for the self-interested projects of pork-barreling members of Congress.”

CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.

There were so many other pork projects in the EDI section of the bill that we had a hard time picking our #5, especially because this category was supposed to be for economic development.  They included:

• $700,000 to the Chicago Parks District in Chicago, Illinois for the renovation of the historic Theatre on the Lake;
• $500,000 to the East Mississippi Community College-Golden Triangle for construction of a metal-working facility for job training;
• $500,000 to the City of Bellflower, California for construction and build out of the Los Angeles County Fire Museum;
• $469,000 to the City of College Park, Maryland for blight removal along the Route 1 Corridor;
• $450,000 for the Coastal Heritage Society to repair to the Georgia Central Railway Historic Paint and Coach Shops in Savannah, Georgia;
• $301,500 for renovations to the International Peace Garden in Dunseith, N. Dakota;
• $300,000 for streetscape improvements and sidewalk furniture in the village of Ellenville, New York;
• $300,000 for an education broadcast program at the Houston Zoo;
• $275,000 to the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Massachusetts for renovation and build out of the Berkshire Music Hall and Octagon House;
• $250,000 for construction of the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Prosser, Washington;
• $200,000 to complete renovations and transform the Las Vegas Post Office into a museum on local history;
• $200,000 for the Native Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Garden community learning center in Kalaheo, Kauai;
• $170,000 to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Brooklyn, New York for renovation and construction of the museum;
• $150,000 to the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Flushing, New York for design and construction of a visitors center;
• $150,000 to the City of Astoria, Oregon for planning, design and construction of the Chinese Heritage Park;
• $150,000 for completion of construction of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras, N. Carolina;
• $100,000 for renovations to the Wakely Resort Lodge, in Hamilton County, New York;
• $100,000 for signage and streetscape improvements in the Los Angeles Fashion District;
• $100,000 to develop a walking tour of Boydton, VA;
• $100,000 to the City of Romney, West Virginia for continued renovation andadaptive use of the Coca Cola bottling plant as a cultural and arts center;
• $100,000 to the Carlisle Regional Performing Arts Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for renovation of the Carlisle Theater; and
• $50,000 for construction of a National Mule and Packers Museum in Bishop, CA.

Fortunately for the American taxpayer, this THUD bill landed with a thud on the President’s desk and was never signed into law.  Unfortunately for the American taxpayer, Rep. Alan Mollohan requested $250,000 for this same Opera House in 2009, claiming that “(t)he opera house is a cornerstone of the revitalization of downtown Thomas.”

Here is where we mention – again – that the earmark system is, firstly, unconstitutional and, secondly, a wild abuse of the federal treasury mostly for the benefit of members of Congress who want to make friends and fatten their campaign war chests.  Marcy Kaptur fits this bill, as The Kaptur Files continues to make clear time and again.

Details on #5 of The Kaptur Files are available here: http://www.thekapturfiles.com/5.html

The Kaptur Files:  www.thekapturfiles.com