| [UPDATE: The $18 million for the barataria Land Bridge Project is NOT an earmark. It's in legislation that Senator Landrieu authored.]
Oh, I love all the material that Republican Senate Candidate John Neely Kennedy is giving us all to work with these days. I received an email from his campaign last night:
On the same weekend The Associated Press (AP) released a comprehensive report on our broken system of earmarks saying there is "no end to what has become ingrained behavior in Congress," State Treasurer John Kennedy's opponent for Senate vehemently defended more of the same in Washington.
In a shocking defense of the status quo, the Monroe News-Star quoted Mary Landrieu saying: "I beg to differ with anyone who is against earmarks."
Huh. I guess Mr. Kennedy doesn't appreciate the most recent earmarks for health care and national defense that Senator Landrieu has recently been able to get for Louisiana:
$300,000 for Community Hospital Telehealth Consortium information technology networks
$350,000 for Point Coupee Better Access Community Health to sustain a community-based clinic and diabetic outreach program
$1,500,000 for Saint Bernard Health Center, Inc. for construction, renovation and equipment
$750,000 for Dillard University, recruitment and training program for nursing assistants and home health aides
$200,000 for Northwestern State University of Louisiana, nursing education program
That's $3.1 million that Senator Landrieu was able to secure for Louisiana. You know what's even more impressive about these earmarks?
Senator Vitter co-sponsored them with Senator Landrieu.
I would hope that Mr. Kennedy would recognize the bullshit his team is spinning about earmarks being necessarily bad. In this case, those "terrible and evil earmarks" would help the health care system take better care of Louisianans.
And I'm not even mentioning the stunning hypocrisy of Mr. Kennedy in this attack on Senator Landrieu, as he himself has, on occasion, you know, approved earmarks himself:
As treasurer, Kennedy serves as chairman of the state Bond Commission, which has approved hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years for groups that otherwise appear as earmarks in Louisiana's budget bills. Between 2004 and 2007, the Bond Commission approved $225,000 for the Louisiana Yambilee Building, $2.6 million for the Shreveport Little Theatre, $77.9 million for the Audubon Institute and $12.9 million for the Acadiana Arts Council.
Can you PUH-LEEEEZE stop with the hypocrisy, Mr. Kennedy? Pretty please? |
