Four Out of Five Utahs in Congress Prefer Earmark Secrecy

Only Democratic Congressman Jim Matheson is willing to publicly release his earmark requests

By Curmudgeon

Since politics seems to be in the air of late, thought I'd point out this interesting story in Sunday's Salt Lake Tribune. The paper asked all of Utah's Congressmen and Senators to release to the paper and the public all the earmarks they requested in the recent appropriations bills. Only one agreed: Congressman Matheson, Utah's only congressional Democrat. Hatch, Bennett, Cannon and Bishop all came up with whining reasons why they wouldn't make their earmark requests public.

Republican Senator Bennett said he didn't want to deal with angry calls from people whose requests he did not put into the budget as earmarks. That was Republican Congressman Cannon's excuse too. Republican Senator Hatch said he didn't want to see his earmark requests "appear in a newspaper." Republican Congressman Bishop said he wouldn't tell because the appropriations process was flawed.

But when the Trib asked Democratic Congressman Matheson to reveal his earmark requests to the paper and the public, his reply was "Sure."

The entire article is worth a read. And worth remembering next time Hatch, Bennett, Cannon and Bishop start whining about spendthrift Democrats and fiscal responsibility and open government. Well worth remembering.