Senate Asks DOJ To Probe Coconut Road

18 Apr 2008 // The Senate Thursday agreed to seek a Justice Department probe into the history of the Coconut Road earmark, which could lead to criminal charges against Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska.

House Speaker Pelosi called for an investigation, which might mark the first time Congress has formally requested a probe into the formation of one of its earmarks.

The Senate request - encompassed in an amendment to a bill making corrections to the 2005 surface transportation reauthorization measure that the special project appeared in - was approved, 63-29. The larger corrections bill subsequently passed, 88-2. Sens. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., voted against the overall measure.

The amendment from Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer - and backed by Senate Majority Leader Reid - exceeded a 60-vote threshold.

Such a vote margin was set for an alternative plan offered by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to create a bicameral congressional committee to investigate the matter before potentially turning it over to law enforcement agencies.

The Coburn amendment lost 49-43.

"We have set an amazing precedent," Coburn said after Boxer's amendment was approved. He argued that her amendment would violate the separation of powers between Congress and the executive branch.

Boxer countered that a Justice inquiry is a less-politicized and faster resolution and that Coburn's plan violated the Constitution in allOWing the Senate to investigate actions by the House and vice versa.

While Coburn questioned the need for 60-vote thresholds for the two amendments, Boxer said, "We thought that some consensus on this was really needed."

The 60-vote threshold was part of an agreement Boxer offered allowing a final vote Thursday on the corrections bill which had been on the floor all week and stalled largely over debate on the Coconut Road earmark.

Boxer promised that she and Environment and Public Works ranking member James Inhofe will work on a second corrections bill in the next three weeks to make changes to projects other than the roughly 500 or so that are in the first corrections bill, as well as other possible corrections to the 2005 bill.

The $10 million earmark in question was changed from providing funds to improving Interstate 75 in Ft. Myers, Fla., to specifically going to build an interchange at Coconut Road.

Public watchdog groups charge that Young, then chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, changed the earmark at the behest of developer Daniel Aronoff, who was tied to the project and helped raise about $40,000 in February 2005 for Young's re-election efforts.

Young's office has owned up to changing the definition of the project after the House and Senate had cast final votes on the reauthorization bill and before it went to President Bush, but denies it had anything to do with campaign donations. Young's office said he was swayed by presentations by developers and Florida Gulf Coast University, where Aranoff hosted a highway-safety event for Young before hosting a fundraiser for Young and Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Fla. Young's spokeswoman did not return a call seeking comment.

The issue crossed over into the offices of House leaders Thursday.

When asked about Coburn's proposal, Pelosi said the House Ethics Committee should be the entity to look into the issue.

"And I think we should take that course of action, especially now since Congressman Young has said that his staff person did make that change after the fact. That's just not right."

House Minority Leader Boehner said in an e-mail that "Mr. Young's office has welcomed any inquiry or examination of the earmark, and I would support that as well. I think it's in everyone's interest that we know what happened and did not happen here."

House Minority Whip Blunt said there are several ways for Congress to investigate the earmark, adding that the attorney general does not work for the legislative branch. Nevertheless, he used the issue as a reason to repeat the months-old GOP call for a review of the earmark process.

"My sense is that this whole issue needs to be looked at and not just this specific incident," Blunt said. "Don Young said he welcomes this investigation. I'm not sure he welcomes all of them, but he welcomes this one."

Reid, without mentioning Young by name, noted reports about "serious allegations" made against "a member of the House of Representatives."

If the allegations are true, Reid said, they follow in the shadow of other recent corruption charges levied against lawmakers. "The facts are not yet all known ... but if these allegations or some of them are true, this is one more example of the corruption that permeated the Congress in recent years," Reid said.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, criticized the defeat of Coburn's amendment and was skeptical over whether the formation of the earmark will be investigated.

"The House undoubtedly will do everything possible to stymie such an inquiry," Sloan said in a statement. "Given this impediment to a criminal probe, Sen. Coburn's suggestion that a bicameral committee investigate the matter might have been more likely to reveal the facts, but sadly neither the House nor the Senate have a strong track record of policing and punishing the illegal or unethical conduct of their members."