Why Alaska, not LI, is in the money

Publication: New York Newsday

Louie Radnofsky
June 24, 2007

WASHINGTON - Alaskans received more than $1,000 worth of federal money per resident for special projects in their state in 2005, while Long Islanders got just $34, an examination of a new database of congressional earmarks shows.

Earmarks are funds requested by lawmakers for specific projects, and some 14,440 of them, with a total cost of $18.9 billion, were inserted into appropriations bills for the 2005 fiscal year according to a database compiled by the White House Office of Management and Budget. The list is believed to be one of the most comprehensive insights into the controversial process, in part because it drew its information from federal agencies.

Around $95 million worth of earmarked funds could be identified as going to organizations in Nassau and Suffolk counties, population 2.8 million, though not all of those dollars may have stayed in the area. By contrast, Alaskan-based companies, government agencies and non-profits were awarded grants with a total value of $691 million to serve a population of just 660,000. Only the District of Columbia got more earmarked money per head.

Opponents of earmarks argue that they circumvent the normal competitive process for awarding funds, and disproportionately go to the districts of more powerful politicians.

Panel members 'get first crack'

"They're mostly added because members of the appropriations committees are literally writing or marking up the bill, so they're the ones who make that decision," said Tom Schatz, who grew up in Woodmere and now heads the Citizens Against Government Waste group in Washington, D.C. "If you're on the committee, you get first crack at these projects; if you have some seniority you get the next crack; if you're going to vote for the bill, you might get something."

Long Island's fortunes under the system appear to be about to change. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) was appointed to the House Appropriations Committee in January, though he is one of its most junior members. He said he would be able to request "much more" money for Long Island now, but warned that it would "continue to be difficult" to obtain the funds with the rising national debt.

Tough year for Democrats

In 2005, none of Long Island's representatives sat on the House or Senate Appropriations Committee.

"It was a Republican Congress, it was a Republican administration," said Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Jamaica Estates.) "It was a tough year then."

Four out of five local House members and New York's two senators are Democrats.

"We were swimming against the tide to get the projects that we needed for our districts," said Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton).

More than half of the money lawmakers brought to Nassau and Suffolk counties was for defense projects carried out at the Long Island sites of companies like Northrop Grumman. Several of them were requested by Israel, who said he selected projects that could be carried out in his district from a Department of Defense "wish-list" of purchases left unfunded by the administration's budget.

Delegation members, often working together and with Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, secured nearly $9 million for local transportation projects, such as $972,000 each for the Suffolk and Nassau county bus systems and $984,000 for the reconstruction of Old Nichols Road in Smithtown.

Around $3.5 million was awarded for local health equipment and $2.4 million for justice initiatives, with grants including $200,000 toward the purchase of a digital mammography system at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, $500,000 for anti-gang programs in Nassau County, and $500,000 for a 311 local government services telephone system in the Town of North Hempstead.

Funding for Alaska bridges

Alaska, whose senator Ted Stevens is one of the most powerful Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee, got around a quarter of its money for defense projects, with large appropriations also made for airports and roads, health care and commercial research.

Among the awards with more dubious merit is $1 million in the defense budget for the Kodiak Baptist Mission to refurbish former military structures on the unpopulated Woody Island, where the group now organizes interdenominational Christian camps.

Stevens and fellow Alaskan delegation members Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young, both Republicans, became infamous after the 2005 spending had been agreed for championing bridges connecting sparsely populated areas that were dubbed "bridges to nowhere."

Use of earmarks increases

Aaron Saunders, press secretary for Stevens, argued that as a relatively new state Alaska needed more infrastructure support.

"It's been the process of earmarking that's allowed Alaska to come into the 20th and 21st centuries," he said.

The use of earmarks has spiraled in recent years. A report by the Congressional Research Service found that the number of earmarks tripled between the fiscal years of 1994 and 2005, spiking noticeably after 2000.

Democrats in the new Congress have introduced rules to make the process more transparent, but have been accused by groups like Schatz's of failing to curb the number of special projects requested.

Ackerman said that while he didn't expect newly empowered Democrats to play favorites, he thought they would give New York members "a more sympathetic ear." Still, he said he expected the delegation to act with restraint.

"If we tried to build a bridge from Long Island to Connecticut, we'd probably get lynched," he said. "This is a no-frills delegation."

CLOSE TO HOME

Some lucrative earmark projects for Long Island and New York City from fiscal year 2005.

LONG ISLAND

RECIPIENT LOCATION AMOUNT
Advanced Accoustic Concepts Hauppauge $11,100,000
PURPOSE: Implementation of an improved sonar system

Nassau/Suffolk counties Fire Island to Montauk Pt. $7,936,000
PURPOSE: Funding for continuation of storm/hurricane damage reduction study.

Northrup Grumman Systems Melville $5,000,000
PURPOSE: State-of-the-art shipboard radar transmitter upgrade.

New York State Long Island Sound $3,849,000
PURPOSE: Water quality infrastructure improvements.

Northup Grumman Systems Melville $3,000,000
PURPOSE: Purchase of additional high-tech radar devices.

North Shore-LIJ Health Systems Lake Success $2,000,000
PURPOSE: Test of health system's bioterror response program.

Brookhaven National Laboratory Upton $1,984,000
PURPOSE: Testing of high-pressure xenon radiation detectors.

Town of Southold Townwide $1,479,000
PURPOSE: Purchase of coastal and estuarine lands.

State Dept. of Transportation Nassau County $1,476,000
PURPOSE: Nassau County Hub project.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cold Spring Harbor $1,462,000
PURPOSE: Genetic breast cancer research

Hudson River Park Trust Manhattan $30,752,000
PURPOSE: Reconstruction of Pier 86

City Department of Transportation Manhattan $7,288,000
PURPOSE: Bus facility at 65th Street transportation station.

Intrepid Foundation Manhattan $5,000,000
PURPOSE: Restoration of Intrepid Air-Sea-Space museum.

New York State City watershed $3,849,000
PURPOSE: Drinking water infrastructure improvements in the New York City watershed.

State Dept. of Transportation Manhattan $2,460,000
PURPOSE: Second Avenue subway project.

City Dept. of Transportation Staten Island $2,235,000
PURPOSE: Renovations to St. George's ferry terminal.

St. Francis College Brooklyn $1,984,000
PURPOSE: Campus upgrades and construction of new academic center.

City Dept. of Transportation Jamaica $1,944,000
PURPOSE: Intermodal transportation facilities.

Carnegie Hall Manhattan $1,438,000
PURPOSE: Isaac Stern Education Legacy project.

Kennedy Airport Queens $1,290,000
PURPOSE: Install high-intensity approach lighting system.

SOURCE: SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION ANALYSIS OF 2005 EARMARK DATA

UNDERSTANDING EARMARKS

Earmarks are those expenditures provided by Congress for specific, named projects. At times handed out a political favors, they have come increasingly under fire by government monitoring agencies. The map below looks at earmarks from fiscal year 2005, the last year for which date are available. NOTE: Data reflect Census Department population projections as of July 2006.

APPROPRIATIONS PER PERSON

Alaska $1,030.72
Long Island $34.00
New York City $32.30

$1,030.00
Alaska
District of Columbia

$107.25 - 335.22
Vermont
New Hampshire
West Virginia
Virginia
Maryland
Alabama
Mississippi
Montana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nevada
New Mexico
Hawaii

$55.46 - 96.53
Washington
Idaho
Utah
Wyoming
Kansas
Oklahoma
Iowa
Missouri
Kentucky
South Carolina
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Maine

$32.30 -48.39
Oregon
California
Arizona
Colorado
Nebraska
Texas
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Arkansas
Louisiana
Indiana
Ohio
Tennessee
Florida
New York
New Jersey

$2.59 - 29.74
Puerto Rico
Michigan
Georgia
North Carolina