Earmarks in the State of Washington Reach New Highs

The Seattle Times reports:

The Everett School District will soon get $433,000 from the state to spruce up its sports-stadium complex — even though it didn't ask for the money.

In Seattle, a nonprofit assisted-living home has received $1 million in state grants to renovate and expand its operations. It's also been cited with multiple licensing violations and been briefly banned by the state from accepting new residents on three occasions.

And in Tukwila, the state plans to spend $10 million on a road needed for a proposed 490-acre development. The developer is a large contributor to Democrats and has donated to the Senate committee chairwoman who helped get the money.

These projects weren't handled like the vast majority of those paid for by the state's capital budget, which totaled $4.3 billion for the 2007-09 budget cycle. They were added — or earmarked — at the request of one or more lawmakers on behalf of their constituents.

While many earmarked projects may be worthwhile, they often get little scrutiny. Their merits aren't widely debated in legislative hearings. Sometimes you can't tell which lawmaker asked for a particular project.

Earmarked spending has reached record highs since Democrats gained control of the state House, Senate and governor's office in 2004.

Since 2005, lawmakers have spent or allocated nearly $270 million on earmarks in the capital budget, which funds construction projects. That's more than was spent in the previous 15 years combined.

Millions more in lawmaker-requested spending is included in the state operating budget.

Democratic leaders say the growth in earmarks has little to do with their clout in Olympia.

Yet state records show that districts controlled by Democrats take in twice as much money on average for earmarked projects as districts with Republican lawmakers. Districts with Democrats in leadership positions get three times as much money.

One of the best articles you'll read on stealing.. I mean earmarks.