Young tries to explain Coconut Road earmark

[Blue_In_AK]

Source: Anchorage Daily News

WASHINGTON - For the first time, Rep. Don Young has offered a public explanation for a secret transportation earmark that so angered fellow lawmakers they called on the Justice Department to investigate it.

Speaking today on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Young acknowledged that he had "been the subject of much innuendo" for the 2005 earmark, which shifted $10 million from a road widening project in southwest Florida to a study of an Interstate interchange that promised to benefit one of Young's campaign donors.

After his speech, the House voted to join a Senate call for a Justice Department investigation into the earmark. The request for an investigation was attached to a bill that makes technical corrections to Young's original 2005 highway spending plan. The bill also allows Florida to spend the $10 million on road widening and not the Coconut Road interchange study.

Young said that the earmark, part of a $286.4 billion highway bill he oversaw as chairman of the House Transportation committee, was never designed to benefit anyone in particular. The accusations have "little if any connection with what actually occurred," Young said in an 11-minute speech on the House floor.

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Read more: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/391523.html

[seafan]

1. Yes, Mr. Young. We want a full explanation.

US Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) involved in Coconut Road earmark controversy with Don Young (R-Alaska), June 15, 2007

[Arctic Dave]

2. He must feel the tightening of the noose around his political neck.

I think he is going to realize too little, too late.

[gratuitous]

3. Wow, Young actually felt compelled to explain?

The pressure must be mounting on his pointy little head.

[struggle4progress]

7. "... he did not offer an explanation for how it was inserted into the highway-spending bill after

the House and Senate both had voted on it ..." http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/391523.html

[gratuitous]

9. Yeah, that old self-writing legislation phenomenon

You know how it is: The House passes a bill, the Senate passes its version, they iron it out in a conference committee, and both houses of Congress vote on the synthesized version. It gets entered, enrolled, and put in the hopper to go over to the president.

Then, in the dead of night, when no one's around, gremlins or underpants gnomes or something gets into the joint bill, and hey presto! some passage gets inserted into the bill, and nobody knows how it got there, who wrote it, or nothin'. But curiously, it directly benefits someone who just happened to give Don Young a lot of money.

What a co-inky-dink.

[tanyev]

4. Of course! Republicans do things like this because they're so friendly and helpful,

not because they expect any payment. In return, their good friends do favors for them out of gratitude. It's all perfectly innocent. We should be ashamed of ourselves for thinking otherwise.

I'm sure there's even a good explanation for his threat to bite another lawmaker with his "mink teeth". Heck, who hasn't done that at least once in their lives? It doesn't have to mean that he's batshit crazy.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Well, uh, I think it DOES mean he's batshit crazy...

:rofl: I will be SO glad when he's gone. I doubt if he even makes it out of the Republican primary in August. People here seem to be finally waking up to his shenanigans.

[struggle4progress]

8. "... On June 13, 2007, Young stated that he was proud of his earmarks, for both the Coconut Road

On June 13, 2007, Young stated that he was proud of his earmarks, for both the Coconut Road project in Florida and the so-called 'bridge to nowhere,' in response to accusations that his earmarks constitute a scandal ... In August of 2007, a report by a former deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Labor revealed that the earmark allocating funds for the Coconut Road project had been edited after being passed by Congress, but before being signed by the President. During this time, someone deleted the earmark’s original language that would have given $10 million for widening and improvements to Interstate 75 and added the phrase 'Coconut Rd. interchange I-75/Lee County,' specifically directing the funds to Coconut Road. This change was made during a process called "bill enrollment," which is supposed to be used for the purposes of fixing small grammatical and spelling errors ..." http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=2007_Coconut_Road_Earmark

:crazy:

[pattmarty]

6. This is another ass hole (R) that may be toast this November.

[maddezmom]

10. House Says Earmark Merits Criminal Probe

House Says Earmark Merits Criminal Probe
Developers Donated to Its Author

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 1, 2008; Page A04

The House voted overwhelmingly yesterday to request a federal criminal investigation of changes to a $10 million earmark in 2005, after the backer of the special project, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) took to the House floor to defend his actions and warn colleagues that they were heading down "a slippery, slippery road."

The Senate last month inserted the unprecedented request for an investigation into a larger measure that corrects errors in the massive highway and transportation law approved by Congress in 2005. The resolution asks the Justice Department to look into the circumstances surrounding the $10 million expenditure for a highway interchange in Florida backed by Young, the former chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Young accused the Senate of meddling in House affairs, but in the end, he consented to the investigation.

"I have been the subject of much innuendo concerning my intent and motivation with this project. These accusations have little, if any, connection with what actually occurred," Young told his colleagues. "If this body determines to pursue an investigation, so be it. Let's clear this up once and for all."

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003295.html

[DiverDave]

11. Page 1, Line 1 of the repuke playbook.

If your caught deny, deny, DENY!!

Use evey opportunity to blame the Democratic party, spin it as a witch hunt with no merits, if done correctly, the original charge will fade as you scream and shout about other things.

Oh, never EVER stray from blaming the Democratic party.

repeat when you get caught again.