Bob Novak has a great earmark column out there today.
(This is the heart of the corruption story. The GOP has not solved it, and the Dems are no better. The culture of corruption is a pox on both parties, in both the House and the Senate. Nothing has been solved, despite the Abramoff scandal, etc.)
’Jeff Flake, a 44-year-old third-term Republican congressman from Mesa, Ariz., last Wednesday burnished his credentials as “Miss Uncongeniality” in the House of Representatives. He introduced 12 amendments to the Transportation-Treasury-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill removing earmarks of individual House members, including two by chief appropriator Jerry Lewis. All of Flake’s efforts failed.
That brought to 26 earmarks unsuccessfully proposed by Flake for removal from appropriations bills since May 24. There was no close vote and no serious debate. Republican and Democratic leaders alike voted to preserve earmarks’