Don Young (R-AK) in heaps of trouble; why a $10M earmark for highway in FL?

[babylonsister]

Senate Seeks Inquiry Into Earmark Change

By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 18, 2008; Page A09



The Senate yesterday requested a federal criminal investigation into changes to a $10 million earmark in 2005, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and top Republicans endorsed an ethics committee investigation of how the language governing the pet project was altered.

On a bipartisan 64 to 28 vote, the Senate approved a resolution asking the Justice Department to look into the circumstances surrounding the $10 million expenditure for a highway interchange in Florida backed by Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the former chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Lawmakers and aides said they could not recall Congress previously requesting a criminal investigation into an earmark.

Young acknowledged this week that he requested the earmark, and an aide conceded that his staff changed its language after both the House and Senate had voted on a highway funding bill that contained the measure. But Young denied that he pushed the provision as a result of receiving $40,000 in campaign donations from developers who owned 4,000 acres of land next to the proposed interchange on Interstate-75 just east of Naples, Fla.

Young's office said that the earmark authorized money for a legitimate project and that aides corrected the legislation to specify that the money was for the interchange, not the general widening of I-75, as originally worded. Aides said a bipartisan collection of House and Senate staff members agreed to that correction before the highway bill was sent to the White House.

But Democratic and Republican senators this week said no substantive changes should ever be made to a bill after its final passage.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/17/AR2008041703606.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[DAGDA56]

1. As if we Florida voters don't have enough corrupt representatives..

...we have to start outsourcing?

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Alaska's legislators are pros...

They have to go down there and teach you Lower-48ers how it's done. :rofl:

[AngryAmish]

2. He's going to jail

This really stinks. Look at a map of the US. Alsaska is really far from Florida.

[babylonsister]

3. LOL! Yes, the states are very far apart!

:spray: :hi:

[rateyes]

4. So THAT'S where the Bridge to Nowhere is going...

Naples, FL. :crazy:

[gratuitous]

5. The bridge to nowhere was a legitimate project, too

But what I want to take a look at what Young wants us to believe about the developers: They gave Young $40,000 even though Young was going to slip this language for this legitimate project post-passage anyway! What a bunch of suckers! They could have saved all that money and Young would have broken the law anyway because this project was soooo legitimate.

Well, I'm sure that Rep. Young will be giving that money back to the developers, just so that everything appears on the up and up, right?

Don Young must think we're as stupid as the Alaskans who keep re-electing him.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. He will NOT be re-elected this year, guaranteed.

In fact, I doubt if he even makes it out of the Republican primary. He has two strong Republican opponents, who are halfway decent people actually, and three excellent Democratic ones. He is toast.