Bill Passes 415-2, Kagen Demands Cookie

Given how Ellyn Ferguson is; Gannett Wisconsin's DC Correspondent, this will be in the Appleton Post-Crescent tomorrow.

Personally, I think press releases on bills that pass 415-2 are a cry for attention.

They're also nothing new.

Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. and a bipartisan coalition in the House acted Wednesday to address the growing problem of child exploitation and protect children from online predators.

The PROTECT Act (Providing Resources Officers and Technology to Eradicate Cyber Threats to our children Act), H.R. 3845, was approved by the House of Representatives 415-2. The bill was co-sponsored by Congressman Steve Kagen.

It commits resources to build a strong nationwide network of highly trained law enforcement experts to track down and put away known sex predators who target children on the Internet.

The rest of the press release is boring U.S. Code speak. The Recess Supervisor should be pleased to know no green license plates were harmed in the typing of this press release.

I'd love to see just once from a Congressman or Senator, a press release that berates the guys who voted "Nay" on bills like this. I mean, what the hell are the reasons for opposing a bill that helps the police tackle cyber predators?

Yes, one wants to practice Chamber "Comity" (gotta love homonyms...) but sometimes you just wonder; especially in a world Post-Mark Foley.

Oh, and another sign Kagen's running scared on the issue of illegal immigration (or running as hard as Rahm Emanuel tells him to); he's touring the U.S.-Mexico border this weekend. He'll be one of eight Democratic Congressmen on the "fact-finding trip."

Of the eight, seven are Freshman Democrats from NRCC-targeted districts.

We've Found Kagen His Man

Steve Kagen hasn't endorsed anyone on the Democratic side of the aisle for President yet. Heck, once to prove his hero worship of Nancy Pelosi, he once told WFRV 5 in Green Bay that she should run for President.

Truth be told; Kagen's playing it safe. He's going to need whoever wins the nomination to come to Appleton and Green Bay to help in his not-so-reassured re-election, so he can't play favorites. With the exception of Ron Kind, the rest of the Wisconsin Democrats in the House have picked a dancing partner. Obey's with Edwards, Baldwin's with Hillary, and Moore's with Obama.

So, to help the Good Doctor out, I'd like to suggest Rep. Steve Kagen, MD, endorse John Edwards.

Michelle Malkin helps explain why:

Oooooh, watch out. John Edwards has a new ad and he’s threatening to take away health insurance from members of Congress unless they pass his Hillary-style universal health care plan:

SCRIPT: John Edwards: “When I’m president I’m going to say to members of Congress and members of my administration, including my Cabinet: I’m glad that you have health care coverage and your family has health care coverage. But if you don’t pass universal health care by July of 2009 — in six months — I’m going to use my power as president to take your health care away from you. There’s no excuse for politicians in Washington having health care when you don’t have health care. I’m John Edwards and I approve this message.”

You get where I'm going with this? Sure you do. It's a match made in populist B.S. heaven.

Kagen gave up his Congressional Health Coverage (never mind the fact he's loaded, has family who can treat him for free, and rarely have I met a Doctor who doesn't go to a Doctor buddy for free care as it is) as a blatant political stunt. Edwards is organizing this ad as a blatant political stunt.

How blatant? Well, the WaPo's Howard Kurtz writes that Edwards is claiming powers no President can have: Setting Congress's own benefits. Only Congress can do that. (Edwards campaign says they'll rectify this by introducing legislation. Paging Dr. Kagen to sponsor?)

John Edwards's new Iowa ad is very effective rhetorically--and based on a false premise. A president has absolutely no power to rescind federal health insurance for members of Congress, as the Edwards campaign admits.

"He would introduce legislation, that's all it is," spokesman Eric Schultz said. "He would introduce legislation and ask them to set a deadline for themselves." While a President Edwards could mount public pressure based on the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance, Congress is, to put it mildly, unlikely to relinquish its own coverage. In fact, some experts argue that such a law would violate the 27th Amendment's ban on "varying the compensation" of members of Congress without an intervening election. Schultz said Edwards would ask senior administration officials to voluntarily give up their health coverage if he fails to pass universal coverage.

It's the last one he does have control over. But I'm guessing officials in a Democratic Administration are gonna have issues with fending in the free market.

Give Me a Break

Apparently, being the winner Politico.com's "Pander of the Week" in back-to-back weeks has only encouraged the little press-seeker.

This is just pathetic and if the Gannett Wisconsin papers in the Fox Valley run with this, then they really are rooting for the little jerk.

(APPLETON) Tensions are high on Capitol Hill - and it has nothing to do with politics.

Monday’s Packers game against the Broncos is pitting roommate against roommate, imperiling domestic tranquility for Green Bay’s Congressional representative.

Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. shares his Washington rental with Congressman Ed Perlmutter – the representative from suburban Denver, and a devoted Broncos fan.

The two have a gentleman’s wager riding on the outcome of Sunday’s game.

“When the Packers win, my esteemed colleague from Colorado, the Honorable Ed Perlmutter, will deliver a case of Coors beer. In the unlikely event the Broncos prevail, he will receive a case of Miller. My staff is looking forward to enjoying the Coors,” Congressman Kagen said.

I'm gonna take a guess here and say the amount of Americans and 8th Congressional District constituents helped by this news is a big fat zero. Because, I don't think it's the type of Miller-Coors joint venture news they've been looking for.

Makes you wonder if we'll get pictures too. Or a press conference to boot? That'd be fun, also show the folks back home that "Steve Kagen's working for YOU...to get beer for a bunch of underpaid Congressional staffers in their 20s and 30s."

UPDATE: The Appleton Post-Crescent bit on the news, or at least an AP writer did since they don't give a byline. You can read the online article here and please check out the message board beneath the article. My favorite thread is the Appleton-based moonbat who wants Kagen to dump the Coors beer in the toilet because the Coors family helped provide the seed money that helped start the Heritage Foundation, is "anti-labor," and had the audacity to help fund anti-communist freedom fighters (That would be the "Contras" to you and me.) in Nicaragua.

These are Steve Kagen's people folks!

Geez, I'd hate to think what this person would do if they found out the Miller family provided tons of cash for social conservative and Roman Catholic causes before they sold the brewery to Mister Philip and Mister Morris.

False Advertising

This isn't happening.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) House of Representatives’ resident physician Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. will bring the words of Wisconsin families to the floor of the House for a full hour tonight.

This is the opening installment of a week-long campaign by Kagen. He will speak on health care and children’s health insurance on the floor of the House every day until the House votes to override the President’s veto of the State-Children’s Health Insurance Program. The vote is scheduled for October 18.

Congressman Kagen has refused the health insurance plan offered to members of Congress until the same coverage is available to all citizens. Kagen currently has no health insurance whatsoever.

Congressman Kagen’s hour long address on the House floor is scheduled to begin at approximately 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time tonight.

The speech will be carried live on C-SPAN.

It's about 11:00 PM on the East Coast. C-SPAN is showing what happened at the American Enterprise Institute today. They had a seminar about Vaccination Regulation.

Trust me, it's a much more interesting bunch of doctors and economists talking right now.

Finally, could the Kagen folks list some honesty about his health insurance situation. Not even the big lefty blogs are buying it anymore. They have access to his financial records just like anyone else. Even they know that if he wasn't worth at least $6.2 million, it'd be more of a sacrifice.

Tainted Beef Has Wisconsin Ties

Yeah, this is never good.

Frozen ground beef patties produced at a Butler, Wisconsin facility are being pulled off Sam's Club store shelves nationwide after four kids in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area became ill with e-coli-related illness.

The plant is owned by beef producer Cargill - spokesman Mark Klein says the company has been cooperating with state and federal health and agriculture officials.

Sam's Club is owned by Wal Mart. The frozen patties were sold under the name American Chef's Selection Angus Beef Patties.

The frozen patties have an expiration date of Feb. 12, 2008. Cargill asks consumers to either return any patties purchased after August 26 to the store, or throw them away.

Butler is in Waukesha County.

And since I've been told in the comments that I only post on Steve Kagen-related items, I guess I'm going to have to see if I can connect this to him some how.

Gosh, I hope this isn't too far a stretch.

A provision in the House version of the Farm Bill would allow state-inspected meat to cross state lines. Currently, only federally inspected beef can be sold out of state.

Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer says the recall of 22-million pounds of tainted beef justifies maintaining federal inspection, “Can you imagine the timing of this when we are seeing almost every day more and more of these recalls?”

Wisconsin Democrat Steve Kagen proposed the amendment. He thinks the criticism is unwarranted, “I don’t think we’re doing away with any safeguards. As long as the meat packer or meat processor meets or exceeds Wisconsin standards and the federal standard, the consumer has nothing to worry about.”

Boxer says she is willing to stay on the floor indefinitely to stop the bill from passing in the Senate.

Yeah, maybe I am grasping at straws here.

I Just Find These Things...

He does them.

Last time I posted on Kagen, I mentioned his ego and God-complex.

The Hill was nice enough to give us an example of it in action.

U2 frontman Bono showered attention on House freshman Democratic lawmakers Wednesday during their weekly breakfast meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

The Irish-born rocker-slash-philanthropist was on the Hill to solicit ideas for publicizing the successes of U.S. government programs and his own charitable initiatives in combating poverty, AIDS and other ills in Africa.

Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Wis.) started the morning meal by giving Bono a pop quiz in U.S. geography, asking whether he could locate the congressman’s home state on a map, according to sources.

He responded that he knew America’s Dairyland well.

The rest of the article is about how Freshmen Democrats fonded all over Bono, not pretended to be a geography teacher for a man whose band has played in either Madison or Milwaukee on every North American Tour they've ever had!

At least he didn't call Bono's wife the wrong name... (It's Ali by the way.)

Now excuse me, I'm off to find my Pop Mart '97 t-shirt. It will allow me to think back to how disco ball-shaped lemons, a single golden arch, and a TV the size of the UW Field House all fit into Camp Randall Stadium that June.

A Bad Ad Goes Global

How bad were the NRCC's "Dr. Millionaire" ads from last year?

It's being used as an example of "dirty, ugly smear ads" in Australia.

STEVE Kagan is a Democrat politician in the US state of Wisconsin. When he made a run for the House of Representatives in 2006 he was a doctor.

His Republican opponents unearthed details about civil suits Kagan had taken out against 80 patients who were late or defaulted on their bills.

They ran deathly TV spots which finished with an ugly shot of the doctor and a voice-over saying: "Why not tell the truth, Dr Millionaire?".

And then there were the defensive smear ads, including one run by the Democrats in California which began with an announcer saying: "Trash, rubbish, a sleazy smear campaign, that's how the Union Tribune described the campaign . . . against (Democrat) Francine Busby . . ."

I've never understood the entire concept of the "Dr. Millionaire" ads. Yeah, he's rich, yippie! Are we supposed to give the liberal kook a cookie or something?

Though, in retrospect, the Dr. Millionaire ads did have one lasting effect, and it wasn't on the campaign. It was on Kagen's ego.

One of the things I've noticed watching the 8th District last year about the "good Doctor" (A questionable assessment from those in the Fox Cities medical community that know Kagen personally.) is that he's an egomaniac.

Hell, most doctors are. The position comes with a God-complex free at most medical school commencements. And somewhere along the line, the campaigning and rhetoric became personal for Kagen.

He simply couldn't let it go, and had to have the last word; even after winning the prize. This was best demonstrated by Kagen's "alleged" behavior at the White House. It was "allegedly" to Karl Rove he said "Hi, I'm Dr. Multi-Millionaire, and I'm the one who kicked your @$$ in Wisconsin."

And well, that one's still smarting the Appleton Democrat; no matter what his story is these days about what happened in the White House.

'This [Farm Bill] is the Very Best We Could Do in Committee'

- Rep. Steve Kagen, M.D. (D-Appleton) July 21, 2007 in the Appleton Post-Crescent

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this is the look of "the very best."

The red dots are people deemed "farmers" who collect subsidy checks greater than $250,000 a year. The big red dots are those getting checks in essence of $2 million.

These are the new numbers under "the very best" the House Ag Committee could do. (HT: The Corner)

The farm bill passed by House Democrats in July would continue giving millionaires farm subsidies (setting the income threshold for payments at $1 million a year, and keeping loopholes in place that allow some making much more to qualify). The Bush administration has proposed sharply reducing the income threshold to $200,000 a year and ending many of those loopholes. That would reduce the number of subsidy recipients by less than 40,000 (of the current million or so recipients).

For the best analysis on the 2007 Ag Bill, please read the Heritage Foundation's Brian Riedl, a Wisconsin-Madison graduate.

The 2007 Ag Bill is a joke. Editorials across the nation from the Washington Post to the Wisconsin State Journal have called it as such.

Some have called it what it truly is: More of the same.

Chief of Staffs Say the Darnedest Things

With power comes treasure, and no doubt the Democrats are bringing it in for the 2008 election. PACs have come calling, businesses trying to stay on the offensive against potential regulation are cutting checks, and so on and so forth.

Dan Bice was nice enough to look at the numbers for the Wisconsin Democrats in the House. Everyone's making out like bandits; especially Obey; as Appropriations Chair, and Kagen; being the rookie they need in place to maintain the majority.

Obey's office wasn't willing to comment on campaign finances. (Wonder why...)

David B. Williams (See how much he makes in three months here.), Chief of Staff for Rep. Steve Kagen, M.D. (D-Appleton), was surprisingly open about it.

(He clearly doesn't know you only give Bice tips, not full-fledged interviews. He'll learn.)

Next in line after Obey: first-termer Steve Kagen, who collected nearly $450,000 from January to June. Of that, about $325,000 came from PACs - more than eight times what he took in from special-interest accounts during his entire election run last year.

"Two things," said Kagen chief of staff David Williams, describing his boss' sudden popularity on the money circuit. "He's now an incumbent, and he's in the majority."

[...]

Williams said it is Kagen's aim not to dip into his wallet to underwrite his campaign, even if it takes several million dollars to win. Last year, he pumped more than $2.5 million into the race.

"People here - for instance, in the D.C. PAC community - have gotten the message that it's important to (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic majority, including people like Dave Obey, that Steve return," Williams said. "So people are stepping up."

And they'll keep doing so as long as he's the incumbent and the Democrats are in charge.

And the clear reality is, as long as Kagen's in that seat; he's never going to have anything close to an easy re-election fight. He's going to need a gerrymander to ever end the constant looking over his political shoulder.

Funny thing is, I'd don't recall Mark Graul, Chris Tuttle, or Nicole Vernon -- Green's Chief of Staffs during his eight years in Congress -- ever openly talking about campaign finances and PAC donations in what was clearly their position as "Policy Guru and Congressional Office Manager."

Did ethics laws change for the worse since then?

Truth be told, none of this is news to me. Kagen's pulled in about 80% of his total contributions from PACs, as I've reported previously. His donations from individuals; particularly from his own district, are next to nothing.

As for his Chief of Staff's gaffe; hey par for the course. It's getting hard to tell the office and the campaign apart in recent months.

I'd also like to thank Williams for confirming what I've been saying for months: Kagen wants others to pay the bills this time. He's not going into his pockets a second time.

Perhaps, this just might end the "He's Loaded" talk from the Recess Supervisor once and for all. But from what I've been told, Gruber's always had a hard time with mea culpas since college.

It's Pretty Obvious, Ain't It?

Come on folks, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why Steve Kagen voted against the ability to wiretap terrorists.

They aren't on the plane yet. Only then will he take action, remember?

UPDATE: For those interested, the first Cook Political Report rankings for 2008 from Charlie Cook are out. No seats currently held by one party are currently listed as going to the other side, which at fifteen months out, is probably about right.

He lists WI-08 as "Lean Democratic," which is where I'd put it too at this stage in the game. You have a likely Democratic year coming up, the GOP potentially looking at a primary, and the standard bearer from 2006 given a lukewarm reception at his announcement he's considering a re-match.

Kagen Loses Again

I'm sensing a pattern here.

Man goes off on his own, when compromises have already been established, and then gets his head handed to him.

Nah, those decisions won't come back and haunt him next year at all!

A congressional conference committee has agreed to reauthorize the depth of the Fox River navigational channel to six feet, a victory for the paper companies that favor capping more of the river pollution.

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate before Congress adjourns at the end of the week.

The conference committee accepted the Senate version that changes the authorized depth of the channel from the Georgia-Pacific turning basin to the De Pere dam from 18 feet to six feet. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials have said that the 18-foot depth would have made it virtually impossible to cap polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as part of the $390 million river remediation project.

U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen, D-Appleton, pulled the 6-foot option from the House bill earlier this year but Sen. Herb Kohl left it in the Senate version.

“It was an honor to serve on the conference committee,” Kagen said late Tuesday in a statement. “I look forward to working with everyone in the House and Senate to improve the health and economic well-being of rivers across the country, and especially our Fox River.”

Georgia-Pacific officials could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Good. G-P doesn't need to reached for comment. They thought they had a deal in place that was years in the making before the fruitcake "doctor and scientist" came along and damned near blew it up.

Notice the wording of the Kagen press flack statement. He got taken to town, and Herb Kohl was chauffeur.

Kagen's Interesting Friends

Appears the John Birch Society loves the good Doctor.

He can have them.

(Pat Buchanan too while I think of it...)

What is it with the whack-jobs from Appleton? Did history just decide to play a grand, cosmic joke on that city?

Bottom of the Class

Sunday was the day all FEC reports were due for second quarter, and as I pointed out earlier; Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D (D-Appleton) didn't have an impressive showing.

How bad?

Well, according to the Hill he's the one with the worst fund-raising record of the DCCC's Frontline candidates with only $420,000 for the first half of the calendar year. Frontline is the DCCC's program meant to protect what they deem as vulnerable candidates or attack vulnerable GOP candidates.

In fact, many of the DCCC's Frontline candidates didn't hit their targets, and some freshmen Democrats are already whining behind the scenes their target donation amounts were set too high.

Soon after the 2006 election, DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) announced that Democrats in the committee’s Frontline program would aim to raise between $600,000 and $1 million by June 30.

According to Federal Election Commission reports that were due Sunday, 10 of the 24 Frontline freshmen did not hit the fundraising objective, and some missed the mark by more than $100,000.

Frontline is a program designed to help vulnerable incumbents raise money, and it is dominated by freshmen following the Democratic takeover in 2006.

One source close to a Frontline member was critical of the DCCC for setting such an ambitious goal and making it public. The source said members were frustrated with the goal.

“To publicize your goals, especially in some of these smaller districts that have a smaller donor base or, frankly, are poorer — it’s just harder to raise money,” the source said, adding that it is difficult for members in rural districts to approach small donors so soon after the 2006 election and ask them to give again.

[...]

Freshman Frontline Reps. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Ron Klein (Fla.) led the pack, each exceeding the goal with more than $1 million. Rep. Steve Kagen (Wis.) had the lowest fundraising total, at $420,000, and Reps. Michael Arcuri (N.Y.) and Ciro Rodriguez (Texas) also raised less than $500,000.

Most Democrats fell just short of the fundraising goals. In addition to Ellsworth and Walz, Reps. Heath Shuler (N.C.), Zack Space (Ohio), Nick Lampson (Texas), Paul Hodes (N.H.) and Chris Carney (Pa.) raised more than $500,000.

Rep. John Yarmuth (Ky.) raised $600,000.

Kagen is showcasing the two things many observers from the sidelines saw was going on last cycle, he never developed any sort of in-district (in-state, or hell ANY!) fund raising network, and his millions are still a deterrent for people to give.

After all, people don't like giving to a millionaire, that's always been the case. Kagen's problem with campaign money this cycle seems to be that no one outside of his campaign seemed to have gotten the memo others were supposed to pay the bills this time.

I mean, what's $180,000 to Kagen; one-tenth the sale of his Florida home if it comes to that?

One final point. The majority of Kagen's money is designated for the 2008 Primary, something that the Congressman is unlikely to face. What that means is the $300,000+ in Primary COH is going to two key places: early ads to puff himself up while the GOP candidates are clubbing each other, and his own pocket since he still has $469,300 in debt to pay off of the $2.6m he pulled from his pocket in 2006.

Money designated for a Primary fight, must be spend during a primary fight. You can't carry it through to the General Election if you're a federal candidate.

Correction: My sources on the above paragraphs were in correct, since they all ran campaigns before McCain-Feingold became law. Rules on Primary / General election accounts changed with its passing.

It's an "Improvement"

2nd Qtr Fundraising of 2007 is out for Freshman Congressman Steve Kagen. Compared to others' numbers in his Freshmen Democratic Class, Kagen's fundraising is not that impressive.

After raising $155,000 in the first quarter, Dr. Kagen "improved" his second quarter by roughly $60,000 to $214,500. (Spending $2,500 for a "National Fund Raiser too. -- Ask for your money back Steve!)

And since these are always of interest; from the rough numbers I've seen:

74% - % of $-Value of Kagen's Itemized Donations from PACs and Candidate Committees.

In Q1 this amount was 85%.

6.3% - % of $-Value of Kagen's Itemized Donations from residents of Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District.

In Q1 this amount was 3%.

It looks like Kagen is going to have others fit the bill until it looks at its cheapest for his pocketbook before he can cut some huge check to "bury" the airwaves in ads.

P.S. Another sign Kagen's may be getting scared. Eric Hogensen, his 2006 campaign manager -- who ran a great campaign I will say -- and is now a political consultant based out of Milwaukee, was put back on retainer for $4,500 in May.

Attention Steve Kagen

Your quest for Socialized Health Care is over!

San Francisco, home of Nancy Pelosi, started it's own program on Monday. (Do they still pay the homeless cash out there?)

But Steve, bit of a warning -- you may have to get in line. But relax, the wait apparently isn't long.

Mary Katharine Ham reports that a total of 29 signed up on Monday.

Hey Idiot, Wrong Bill

At first I was going to have a post on how this press release from Cong. Steve Kagen (D-Appleton) was a sign on how vulnerable he is.

For a man who has a near identical voting record as Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- a woman he once hoped would run for President -- you need all you can to highlight "bipartisanship" when it occurs. So, today, you see a press release giving high-fives for a 409-2 vote.

That's what Kagen's press office gives us today. Self-serving political excrement.

But then I realized why I was glad Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel only brow beat the Kagen Press Office for the January Incident (WH Story) and not fired anybody.

The place is still occupied with idiots.

They got their facts wrong.

President Bush had threatened to veto the bill and its critical expenditures. "President Bush must not veto this bill. He shares a solemn responsibility to take of our troops he placed in harms way," Kagen said.

Actually, the bill the President is threatening to veto is the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill for FY 2008. It passed the House by a narrower 268-150.

Kagen didn't issue a release for that vote.

In fact, a simple search of Google News will give you this fact from the AP about what happened with the Veteran's Affairs bill.

But the White House is giving a free pass to a politically sacrosanct bill funding veterans' programs, which passed the House Friday afternoon by a 409-2 vote. That measure exceeds Bush's request by $4 billion, or 7 percent.

The Homeland Security Bill is roughly 6 percent higher than the President's initial budget request. It's got about $2.1 Billion in pork barrel earmarks.

Kagen used to think this way about earmarks in October of last year.

Appleton, WI - Saying that professional politicians in Washington need to start showing more respect for middle-class Wisconsin taxpayers, Dr. Steve Kagen today said that a top priority for the next Congress must be ending pork-barrel projects and special-interest spending.

"The old Congress that left town last week amid scandal and controversy will be replaced on November 7 with a new Congress," Dr. Kagen said. "We will stand up for true Wisconsin values by balancing the federal budget, putting an end to pork, and enacting strict new spending limits to bring down the record deficits we are inheriting."

Dr. Kagen said Congress this session set records for padding legislation with special-interest spending. Last year, some 15,877 pork projects were slipped into bills, costing taxpayers more than $47 billion.

"That's five times as much pork, at more than twice the cost, as a decade ago and more than last year's entire $41 billion budget for homeland security," Dr. Kagen said. "Instead of refocusing resources on supporting our troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq or investing in a more competitive economy, they have squandered the taxpayers' money on special-interest projects."

The Dr.'s since refused to disclose his own earmarks, and said nothing when Dave Obey wanted to create slush funds from inside the Appropriations Committee.

Washington does change you I guess.