House minority leader John Boehner of Ohio and Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina have labored long and hard to make an issue out of Democratic phoniness in supposedly cleaning up the dubious practice of earmarks. Remember earmarks? Those are the items of special interest spending–pork in its purest form–that senators and House members stick into bills without any deliberation or vote. Indeed, earmarks are largely hidden from public view. Democrats promised that once they controlled Congress they would reform the process and put a spotlight on earmarks. They’ve done some reforming, but have still found ways to keep many earmarks from being exposed to the light of day. Boehner, who has never authored an earmark, pointed this out in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday. Coburn and DeMint have been screaming bloody murder. So you might think earmarks are on the verge of becoming a good Republican issue. Nope. And there are several reasons for this. It was under the 12-year Republican reign in Congress that the number of earmarks skyrocketed. It was the crooked use of earmarks that sent Republican congressman Duke Cunningham to jail–he traded them for money and gifts–and put other Republicans in hot water. At the moment, Republican senator Ted Stevens of Alaska is Capitol Hill’s most famous earmarker. He’s under investigation by a federal grand jury–and earmarks are part of the probe. Last year Republicans actually took steps to reform earmarks, but those steps weren’t enough. It didn’t change the story line, popular with the media and Democrats, that Republicans alone are the abusers of earmarks. This idea dovetailed with the “culture of corruption” that Democrats accused Republicans of cultivating. The result: It’s hard for Republicans to pass the blame for earmarks to Democrats. But there is a way, one most Republicans balk at, especially those on the House and Senate appropriations committees. It’s simply to propose to ban earmarks altogether and ask President Bush to veto any spending bill with earmarks in it. My guess is that nothing short of a death-to-earmarks stance will lift the burden of earmarks from the backs of Republicans. When something is killing you politically, the only way out is to get rid of it entirely.
