In case you
missed the Sunday edition of the Arizona
Republic, there were two columns focused on the primary race for U.S. Senate
in Arizona. Both are worth reading.
The first
column, by Republic political
reporter Dan Nowicki, is a powerful rebuke of an attempt by Wil Cardon’s
campaign to dispute Jeff Flake’s successful leadership against earmarking in
Congress.
Flake's earmark claim is
disputed
By Dan Nowicki, The Arizona Republic
June 17,
2012
U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake's anti-earmark credentials are
well-established.
References to the Arizona Republican's opposition to the
often-wasteful congressional practice of funneling taxpayer money to the home
districts of key lawmakers date to 2002 in The Arizona Republic's
archives. (He has represented the 6th District since 2001.) In 2006, CBS' "60
Minutes" spotlighted his anti-earmark crusade. U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., are on the record crediting his leadership for the
earmark moratorium now in effect on Capitol Hill.
But Wil Cardon, Flake's main GOP rival in the race to replace
retiring U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, is taking issue with a Flake TV ad thatmakes the
claim that Flake "got rid of earmarks."
Cardon's campaign points to Citizens Against Government Waste's
"2012 Congressional Pig Book," which lists examples of what it says are earmarks
that managed to get through in violation of the moratorium.
"Earmarks are an irresponsible misuse of taxpayer funds, and Wil
unequivocally opposes them," said Alyssa Pivirotto, Cardon's spokeswoman.
"However, for the Flake campaign to claim 'Jeff Flake got rid of earmarks' is
not only disingenuous but enormously misleading."
However, Tom Schatz,
president of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste and the man
behind the "Pig Book," defended Flake on Friday in an interview with The
Republic.
The discrepancy stems from the fact that Citizens Against
Government Waste and Congress have always had different definitions of earmarks,
Schatz said. Other government agencies have still different definitions, and
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has his own, too. Citizens Against Government
Waste's definition is probably the strictest, Schatz said.
"Under their (Congress')
definition, there are no earmarks," Schatz said. "The progress has been
tremendous, even under our definition. To make a blanket statement that just
because we found earmarks that any member of Congress, whether it be Jeff Flake
or anybody else, is misleading or not telling the truth is really not
accurate."
Steve Ellis, vice
president of the nonpartisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense,
acknowledged that some lawmakers continue to try to "game the system" and
circumvent the moratorium, but he characterized the criticism of Flake as
hair-splitting.
"It's pretty fair to say
his leadership helped get rid of earmarks," Ellis said.
###
The second
column from Sunday’s Republic
worth reading is Bob Robb’s political notebook, sizing up the Senate primary
contest. Key excerpts are
below:
“…Cardon has been politically
inconsequential in Arizona. Except for his bank account, he wouldn't be a
factor. There's really no reason to vote for Cardon except to vote against
Flake.
“Flake has been a towering national
figure for fiscal conservatism and an important catalyst in transforming the
Republican Party from the party of Tom DeLay into the party of Paul Ryan. So
important a symbol of fiscal rectitude has Flake become that one of John
Boehner's commitments in his campaign to become party leader was to appointFlake
to the Appropriations Committee.
“…Cardon's campaign is trying to paint a
fundamentally false picture of Flake as a typical Washington politician playing
the game. Flake's been anything but that. No one has fought the Washington
status quo of spend-and-elect more than Flake, or with more
success.”
###
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