Watchdog group urges probe of highway earmark linked to Young (R-AK)

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Watchdog group urges probe of highway earmark linked to Young
By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Wednesday, September 26, 2007



WASHINGTON — A watchdog group asked the House ethics committee on Wednesday to investigate how a $10 million earmark for a Florida highway interchange, which was backed by Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young, was inserted into a bill that already had won final congressional approval.

In a letter to the committee's leaders, Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, called "the actions taken by Young's staff ... an apparent violation" of the Constitution that undermined the integrity of the House of Representatives.

"In the absence of an accounting and explanation, the public is left to assume the worst, further degrading the already low public regard for Congress," Alexander wrote the committee chairwoman, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, and ranking Republican, Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington. The committee is scheduled to meet on Friday.

McClatchy Newspapers reported recently that the FBI is investigating the 2005 earmark for a $10 million study of a proposed Coconut Road interchange near Bonita Springs, Fla., as part of an inquiry into whether Young traded his influence as chairman of the House Transportation Committee for campaign contributions or other favors.

On Feb. 19, 2005, three weeks before the House passed a massive, six-year transportation bill, Young visited the site of the proposed interchange along Interstate 75, which was sought by real estate developer Daniel Aronoff. Young also attended a political fundraiser, netting more than $40,000 in donations from builders and developers, including Aronoff, whose land would soar in value if linked to I-75.

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