Political Equinox

Let me start this post by saying I hate pork projects. I hate them with a passion. I’d go as far as putting the line item veto in place to stop all those meaty projects. That’s why I have a problem with Ron Paul saying he never votes for pork.

Ron Paul touts himself as a fiscal conservative. No doubt he is, but he goes to the extreme of condemning all spending that isn’t in direct correlation with The Constitution. Ron Paul seems to be posting himself as the poster boy for the anti-Pork proponents. Surely, he would be my candidate.But Paul cannot escape his own statement unscathed.

A Houston-based newspaper did some research on Ron Paul’s own pork projects. It turns out that even if Ron Paul continues to claim to hate these projects, he sure is getting his fair share.

Ron Paul’s Pork Projects

• $25,000 for the Brazoria County Sheriff to establish a “Children’s Identification and Location Database.”
• $8 million for the marketing of wild American shrimp.
• $2.3 million for shrimp fishing research.
• $3 million to “secure the acquisition of the McGinnes tract, protecting its critical natural resources and helping consolidate refuge inholdings.”
• $5 million to expand the cancer center at Brazosport Hospital.
• $200,000 for the Matagorda Episcopal Health Outreach Program to fund a “National Health Service Corp Scholar.”
• $4.5 million to study the effects of the health risks of vanadium.
• $3 million to test imported shrimp for antibiotics.
• $10 million to repair the Galveston railways causeway bridge.
• $1.18 million for “Personalized Medicine in Asthma”
• $100,000 for a “data-driven automated system for nursing students on the Texas Gulf Coast.”
• $257,000 to “prepare graduates from the doctoral program at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing to assume faculty roles in schools for nursing with a deficient number of doctoral level faculty.”
• $1.4 million to buy buses for the Golden Crescent Regional Commission.
• $2 million to buy buses for Galveston.
• $5 million for highway spending.
• $2 million to replace facilities for Galveston bus service.
• $3 million to replace facilities for the Golden Crescent Regional bus facility.
• $2 million to repair the Galveston trolley.
• $2.14 million to renovate the Edna Theater.
• $13 million for I-69 highway project.
• $30 million the Texas Maritime Academy to refurbish a ship.
• $4.5 million to maintain Cedar Bayou.
• $15 million for “construction at GIWW Matagorda Bay.”
• $100,000 to maintain Chocolate Bayou.
• $2.5 million to maintain Double Bayou.

Now, maybe some of those were “necessary,” but according to Ron Paul all spending must be constitutionally directed. Shrimp Fishing Marketing doesn’t exactly sound like it is constitutionally necessary.

We must give Congressman Paul credit though. He voted against this outrageous spending bill. Congressman Paul is able to include his earmarks in the bill before voting against that same bill. He is able to do this because he knows the bill has plenty of support.

Because he continues to vote against these spending bills, Paul can state with complete truth that he has does not vote for pork projects. But this practice doesn’t seem as if it is very moral.

If Paul hopes to stand on principle against earmarks and other worthless spending, then he must begin to practice what he preaches.

Tags: America, candidate, Congress, Earmarks, Pork Projects, ron paul, spending, tution, voting