By Shira Schoenberg
In a fight to be seen as the most fiscally conservative presidential candidate, Republicans Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have been attacking one another for requesting federal spending.
Santorum, as Pennsylvania senator from 1995 to 2006, requested more than $1 billion in earmarks. Romney collected millions as Massachusetts governor and as the manager of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games. In both cases, the use of an established political practice is coming back to haunt the GOP candidates as they campaign on platforms of cutting government spending.
“Probably the biggest differences in the race in Maine may revolve around Senator Santorum and myself,” Romney told the TV station WCSH-Portland last week. “He’s a strong defender of earmarks. I oppose earmarks.”
A Santorum aide pointed to Romney’s own record. “It’s just confusing as to why Governor Romney would attack Rick Santorum for doing his constitutionally obligated job on behalf of the people of Pennsylvania, just as Governor Romney once did for the people of Massachusetts and as a private citizen while running the Olympics,” Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley e-mailed reporters.
Congress did not start disclosing earmarks until 2007, so there is no database of the earmarks Santorum requested. But Steve Ellis, vice president of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said based on Santorum press releases and the group’s database of defense earmarks, he estimates that Santorum’s earmark requests “easily exceed” $1 billion.
“He wasn’t the most prolific [senator], but he certainly wasn’t a slouch,” Ellis said of Santorum’s record requesting earmarks.
The conservative Club for Growth, which issues “white papers” on the candidates’ economic positions, said Santorum voted for a 2005 highway bill that included an earmark for the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska. The group, citing a story on the website Slate, said Santorum “requested billions of dollars for pork projects in Pennsylvania.”
Romney noted in one press release that Santorum told reporters at the Pittsburgh Zoo that he secured $500,000 in federal spending for a luxurious polar-bear exhibit there that includes underwater tunnels. He secured $400,000 for the Philadelphia Zoo to develop exhibits on bird migration.
Santorum’s press releases illustrate a wide range of federal spending requests benefiting Pennsylvania: $2.55 million for agricultural research into disease-resistant coffee and cocoa crops, $500,000 for a riverfront trail system, $37 million for a improvements to a health-care facility for veterans.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in January, Santorum said he opposed abuses of the earmark system but did not regret getting resources for the people he was elected to represent. He has said it is Congress’s role to appropriate money, and talks about earmarks as a check on executive power. Campaigning in Oklahoma this month, Santorum said there are “good earmarks and bad earmarks.” The Associated Press reported that Santorum specifically defended earmarks for the V-22 Osprey helicopter and a human tissue medical program.
Despite his criticism, Romney also has a history of requesting federal money.
In his 2004 book “Turnaround,” Romney wrote a chapter about getting money from the federal government to pay for public transportation and public safety for the Olympics. Romney detailed his meetings with the Utah congressional delegation, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, Arizona Senator John McCain, and Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy. He hired staff to focus on lobbying for federal appropriations.
Romney also requested federal spending as Massachusetts governor. The Associated Press reported in 2004 that Romney met with appropriations committee member Robert Bennett, a Republican senator from Utah, to secure extra money in the defense budget for security in Boston during the Democratic National Convention. Boston got an additional $25 million, on top of $25 million that was previously approved.
In 2003, Romney wrote a letter with Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, which was signed by 41 other governors, asking President Bush for an additional $100 million in funding for AmeriCorps, a volunteer service program with a large presence in Massachusetts.
Also in 2003, the AP reported that Romney met with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Stevens, and White House political strategist Karl Rove to ask for federal anti-terrorism money. Romney also lobbied on behalf of the Big Dig highway project.
According to the office of US Representative Michael Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat, Romney requested a $30 million earmark for the Longfellow Bridge between Boston and Cambridge as part of a transportation reauthorization bill. A letter written by then-Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Daniel Grabauskas to Lloyd Jones, chief of staff to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, noted that the bridge “is featured in many movies and television shows,” serves 28,600 vehicles a day, and needs major rehabilitation. Ultimately, $3 million was included in the final bill. When the bill was being debated, the Romney administration met with Capuano and other members of the state’s congressional delegation to talk about project priorities.
Today, Romney says he wants to permanently ban earmarks. Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said the difference between Romney and Santorum is that Santorum was in a position to change the federal funding mechanism, while Romney had to abide by existing rules.
“Every state budget in the country is dependent on federal funding, but governors do not get to decide how Congress appropriates money,” Williams said. “Earmarks were created by Congress, and abuses in the system by individuals like Senator Santorum are among the reasons why Washington has a spending problem.”
But Romney’s opponents are using Romney’s record against him. “Mitt Romney criticizing Rick Santorum over requesting earmarks is so blatantly hypocritical it is outright laughable,” said Ty Matsdorf, spokesman for the Democratic group American Bridge 21st Century. “As both governor and head of the Olympics, Romney actively and aggressively pursued federal funding, which makes this line of attack nothing more than a cheap political shot.”
Ellis said it is no surprise that Romney asked for federal funds. “I’d be pretty shocked if Romney didn’t ask for them if he was governor of Massachusetts,” Ellis said. “If you’re a governor of a state, it’s money that you can get to do things that you don’t have to pay for out of your own state coffers. There’s probably 50 governors who have come to Washington asking for money.”
Discussion
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