McCain makes a claim that he's never requested or received earmarks for his state...

[Skidmore]

it's a regular feature of his stump speech as well as the claim that Obama has received a billion dollars in earmarks for Illinois. I've never heard this addressed yet in the form of a rebuttal. I'm certain that in all of his years in Congress & the Senate he asked for something.

[baldguy]

1. If he didn't, then he's not doing his job as Senator.

[Johonny]

6. pretty much

If I were an Arizona voter I'd be PO'D.

[azmouse]

2. Check out this:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/06/mccain-earmark/

Here's a sample:

In 2006, the senator teamed up with fellow Arizona senator Jon Kyl (R) to funnel $10 million toward the University of Arizona for an academic center named after the late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. Even Arizona lawmaker, Rep. Jeff Flake (R), said he was planning to “lean against the measure.” The National Taxpayers Union, another traditional McCain ally, questioned why the senator was making federal taxpayers foot the bill for the center.

In 2003, McCain also slipped $14.3 million into a defense appropriations bill to
create a buffer zone around Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

[Skidmore]

4. delete

delete

[Skidmore]

3. OK, I found this but this is about Palin making the same claim in

her speech.

http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/09/09/palin-attacks-obama-on-earmarks/

"She again failed to mention the earmarks she has accepted for Alaska which amounted to 52 earmarks valued at $256 million in her first year and 31 earmarks valued at $197 million this year."

[azmouse]

5. Here's one where he requested an earmark in '92.

Doing a quick search shows that McCain... *gasp*.... is lying about earmarks.


http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/31/an_old_earmark_of_mccains_surf.html

That review located this 1992 letter in which McCain privately pressed the Republican administration of President Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, to secure such a $5 million earmark for a wastewater project in Arizona after Congress had rejected the request in its own spending bill. Spurned by his colleagues, McCain took his case to the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"I would like to request that EPA either re-program $5 million out of existing funds or earmark the amount from an appropriate account," McCain wrote in his Oct. 9, 1992 letter to then-EPA Administrator William K. Reilly, calling the earmark "crucial to protecting the public health and the environment."

[blondeatlast]

7. Wanna know why a lot of Arizonans--even repuublican ones--don't like him? Earmarks and hypocrisy...

He PROMISES them, though--then he SOMETIMES doesn't deliver. For what it's worth, Prescott is a gorgeous, smallmountain town; lots of Independents and republicans--but they DON'T want it developed and I don't blame them:

THE SMELL OF CORRUPTION, OR THE SMASHING OF A PROMISE?

Could Sup. Springer be right? Sen. McCain won’t deliver the promised funding because he abhors earmarks? Perhaps – but he did make a promise. And this is no Bridge to Nowhere. It’s not pork. No dollars to contributors; the money goes to USGS, which does research, giving more information to local decisionmakers. Wise decisions now are crucial for the future; policymakers and managers throughout the Verde Basin need to know everything they can about how their water supply works. Federally funded research would very likely move formerly cantankerous parties to coordinate even further their ongoing quest for science-based water policy.

Granted, Sen. McCain has a few other things on his mind these days beyond a little local waterfight. Still, it’s hard to question the undertaking’s validity. Projections show the Verde Valley and Yavapai County lying directly athwart the path of increasingly hot growth. University of Arizona’s Morrison Institute identifies the region as the northwest anchor of the coming “megapolitan” Sun Corridor. The current economic slowdown could provide an ideal time to learn more about water supplies before the growth engine starts roaring again. It’s up to Sen. McCain and his Arizona colleagues.

http://www.readitnews.com/content/view/743/10025/

[curious one]

8. Lier.

[curious one]

9. dup, sorry.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

10. McCain and Palin don't HAVE to turn to earmarks to get their states more of their fair share

their fair share of Federal spending. Because of past seniority of their Senators (McCain, Stevens, etc.) and Reps, likely due to continuing corrupt control of their political processes by the same corporate interests, McCain can make sure Arizona gets far more than its fair share of Federal spending.

The table in my next post (from http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/02statab/fedgov.pdf ) is for 1999 because the project that created it lost its funding when its patron Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan quit the Senate and the Y2K election was stolen. But what it shows very likely still is true.

It ranks the home states of the Presidential and VP candidates by the extent to which per capita Federal spending outweighs per capita federal taxes paid.

Like most Blue States, Illinois (#47) and Delaware (#43) rank near the bottom.

Like most Red States, Alaska (#6) and Arizona (#20) rank in the top half.

Doubtless McCain's work for his committees explains much about why AZ gets $900 per person more than their citizens pay in Federal taxes, while Illinois gets $1600 less.
A state like Arizona gets its Federal loot upfront, because its Senators are so powerful. Why else would they be so popular with high-level lobbyists?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

11. Per capita Federal Balance of Payments by State, 1999

From http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/02statab/fedgov.pdf ,
page 313

"U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United
States: 2002
Federal Government Finances and Employment
No.462. Per Capita Federal Balance of Payments by State: 1999

[In dollars, except rank. For year ending Sept. 30.
Represents federal spending within the borders of
the 50 states, including defense and excluding
interest payments on the federal debt. Each state
runs a balance of payments surplus or deficit with
the federal government. Put another way, each state
indirectly subsidizes or is being
subsidized by the other states]


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Federal spending in the state
. . . .  Balance. . . . . . . ------------------------------
. . . .. of pay-. .. Federal. . . .1 . . . . Non-. . Social.
. . . .. ments. Rank taxes. . Total Defense defense Security

Alaska.... 2,777 . 6. 4,872 . 7,649. 2,194 . 3,786 .. 657
Arizona..... 904. 20. 4,713 . 5,617. 1,361 . 1,689. 1,474
Delaware. -1,025. 43. 5,876 . 4,851 .. 615 . 1,458. 1,578
Illinois. -1,669. 47. 6,260 . 4,592 .. 354 . 1,442. 1,501

X Not applicable. 1 Includes categories of spending,
not shown separately.

Source: Jay H. Walder and Herman B. Leonard, Tauber
Center for State and Local Government and John F.
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University,
The Federal Budget and the States, annual.

[Skwmom]

12. Graham is making this argument on CNN.