Report: Lawmakers earmarked $305M

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan was one of the top spenders, the report said.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Members of Ohio’s congressional delegation inserted $305 million into 2008 spending bills for projects in the state that include building a factory to convert coal into diesel fuel and researching whether black raspberries can fight cancer, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Budget watchdog groups say the practice of earmarking taxpayer dollars for pet projects in home districts has contributed to runaway federal spending. But lawmakers say the projects are important to constituents.

“We know our communities better than these bureaucrats in the executive branch, who don’t even know where our districts are most of the time,” said U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo.

The Democrat, working with other Ohio lawmakers, obtained $922,497 for research that Ohio State is conducting with a Wilmington farm on whether chemicals found in black raspberries could be used to fight esophageal, oral and colon cancer.

An analysis by The Plain Dealer of government records, made available because of newly adopted disclosure rules, found that Kaptur, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles and Republican U.S. Reps. David Hobson of Springfield and Ralph Regula of Navarre were the top spenders in the state’s congressional delegation this year.

Both Hobson and Regula are retiring from Congress. All four are members of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which allows them to earmark money for projects and makes them magnets for lobbyists’ campaign contributions.

Hobson secured almost $88 million on his own and by working with other lawmakers, according to a database compiled by the Taxpayers for Common Sense. That ranks Hobson first in the delegation, and 22nd in the U.S. House.

Kaptur is 25th in the House, with close to $77 million in earmarks. Ryan and Regula each got more than $28 million and, respectively, ranked 143rd and 146th. In the Senate, Republican George Voinovich brought home about $162 million for Ohio projects, while Democrat Sherrod Brown obtained almost $111 million. Voinovich ranked 48th among the Senate’s 100 members, while Brown was 72nd.

“The only criteria I use are creating jobs or improving the health, safety and welfare of the district,” said Ryan, who along with Democratic Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville got $2.25 million for a proposed coal-to-liquid-fuel plant in Columbiana County.

Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner of West Chester, the only Ohio member of Congress who doesn’t seek earmarks, has urged his colleagues to eliminate them.

Regula has been criticized by the nonpartisan budget watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste for securing funds for the National First Ladies Library in Canton, of which his wife is the founder and his daughter the director, and the Akron-Canton Airport, where his son is customer service manager.

Family ties have nothing to do with the earmarks, Regula said.

Earmarks can be used to fund good projects overlooked by the federal bureaucracy, Hobson said. A device developed by 3M several years ago that allows more current to pass through electrical lines without restringing the line is one example, he said.

“They couldn’t get into the Department of Energy,” Hobson said. “We funded the earmark and told them to look at it. After three years, DOE put out a big notice saying, ’Look what we found. Isn’t it wonderful.’ The only reason they looked at it was because we did the earmark.”