Terry McMahon's Awesome Blog

You know I enjoy pointing out the various foibles and inadequacies of the Bush administration. Here's a good one, care of a pretty decent op-ed from the Manchester Union Leader:

President Bush signed a $286 billion transportation bill that was $30 billion higher than the amount he had pledged to veto.

"This bill is by far the most expensive, wasteful highway bill in the nation's history," Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told The Washington Times. "It is filled to the brim with 6,371 projects at a cost of $24 billion for almost every congressional district in the country."

Now, when I think transportation-based pork projects, I think of U.S. Rep. Anne Northup. Here's why: Anne Northup was the first Republican to win Louisville's congressional seat in at least 25 years. Since she had turned it into such a swing district, House Republican leadership immediately put her on the Appropriations Committee. Since Appropriations decides where your tax dollars go, committee members have a better chance of getting their pork projects funded, upping their chances at reelection. Smart move, seriously.

The reason I think of Anne Northup in particular, though, is that she brings up pork projects in all of her campaigns, specifically, the Ohio River bridges project. See, Louisville really needs two more bridges across the Ohio River into Indiana, and Northup has won reelection to Congress every two years, in part, by claiming that the bridge project is invariably just around the corner. We just hired someone to start the design work. We just finished the design work. We're about to pick a construction company. Always one more step, that will only come with Appropriations Committee member Anne Northup returned to Congress. Again, smart politics, but again, I don't take her seriously.

So, now that we have that outrageously porkish transportation bill, I thought I'd see if there were any news on the Louisville bridges. Sure enough, there is!

For the Ohio River Bridges Project to move forward, Kentucky and Indiana must commit significant money in the coming years, U.S. Rep Anne Northup said yesterday.

"I want them to step up, and I want them to fund this project," Northup, R-3rd District, said during a luncheon meeting of the Regional Leadership Coalition.
...
Yesterday's meeting came on the heels of Northup and [Indiana U.S. Rep. Mike] Sodrel securing $58 million last week for the bridges. The money was included in the six-year federal transportation bill.

The bridges project is estimated to cost $1.9 billion in 2003 dollars -- but with inflation factored in, the estimate is $2.5 billion.

Oh ho, ho ho, ho ho. See what's going on here? Northup said she should be sent back to Congress to get bridges money, she got bridges money, and now she's saying the Indiana and Kentucky state governments need to put up the other 95% of the dough. Oh ho. Ho ho. Sounds like someone's not too effective after all, huh? At least no one will blame her when they're raising state taxes to pay for all this. Anne Northup: the worst legislator in America.