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The Boat to Nowhere: Another Glaring Reason for Earmark Reform

Alaska's infamous Bridge to Nowhere has a less famous but similarly wasteful cousin - the Boat to Nowhere. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is releasing details on a $14 million government boondoggle to highlight the need for the 112^th Congress to make a real commitment to earmark reform. Congress can move ahead by adopting five common sense principles that have already been agreed on by an unprecedented coalition of good government groups and lobbyists. Today, this coalition discussed with congressional staff the best ways to move forward to ensure that projects like this are eliminated in the future.

"Sadly the Boat to Nowhere is just one example on a long list ofprojects wasting taxpayer dollars," said Melanie Sloan, CREW Executive Director. "Too often, politicians from both parties rail against such "pork barrel" spending, but for all the talk, they have done very little to fix the problem. It is time for lawmakers to work together on real earmark reform; the principles put forward by CREW, Citizens Against Government Waste, Public Citizen, Taxpayers for Common Sense and some of the city's top lobbyists provide a roadmap of how to get started."

The Boat to Nowhere was the brainchild of residents of Seldovia, Alaska who, in 2002, proposed the $14 million project as a way to better connect several small towns with the regional hub of Homer. The town's mayor and local leaders were opposed to the project because the town was already served by a two passenger ferries, a state-operated ferry, several water taxis, and air taxis. Nevertheless, the Seldovia Native Association (which stood to profit from jobs created by this project) continued to push for it, changing the proposal to save the plan after studies showed the original project would lose $1 million a year.

As with most Alaska earmarks, the late Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) sought the funding for the ferry, and was supported by the other members of Alaska's congressional delegation. Congress eventually earmarked $9 million for the project. Since then, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Congressman Don Young (R-AK) have changed their positions and are now calling for an investigation into the project they had previously supported, as is Mr. Stevens' successor Mark Begich (D-AK).

"This isn't about who requested the earmark, but rather how a clearly wasteful project like this was able to get through the budgetary process," said Ms. Sloan. "Adopting pragmatic earmark reform principles like those our coalition has proposed would decrease corruption and increase Americans' confidence in Congress."

The earmark reform principles are:

1) To cut the cord between earmarks and campaign contributions, Congress should limit earmarks directed to campaign contributors;

2) To eliminate any connection between legislation and campaign contributions, legislative staff should be barred from participating in fundraising activities;

3) To increase transparency, Congress should create a new database of all congressional earmarks;

4) To ensure taxpayer money has been spent appropriately, the Government Accountability Office should randomly audit earmarks;

5) To promote congressional responsibility without stifling innovation, members of Congress should certify that earmark recipients are qualified to handle the project.