Oklahoma’s ‘Pork’ Ranking Shows Big Drop, Group Says

By Chris Casteel, The Daily Oklahoman

May 13–State fails to gain federal funds for projects as it had in past

WASHINGTON — Oklahoma’s share of federal bacon dropped dramatically last year, coinciding with U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook’s loss of a prized subcommittee he used to secure tens of millions of dollars in highway projects.

The 2006 “Pig Book,” a publication of “pork barrel” projects the Citizens Against Government Waste compiled, shows Oklahoma’s ranking in “pork per capita” dropped to 47th, down from 16th the previous year.

The private watchdog group, which researches special projects that lawmakers insert into spending bills each year, reported Oklahoma had $58.7 million in such projects in the bills covering the current fiscal year, amounting to $16.55 per state resident. Those bills were passed in 2005.

That total amount for Oklahoma is less than half the money included for state projects in a single bill — the one covering transportation — the previous year.

Istook’s role According to a Citizens Against Government Waste database of special projects, Oklahoma received $117.6 million in the transportation spending bill for fiscal year 2005; of that, $51 million was for the Interstate 40 Crosstown Expressway in Oklahoma City. In fiscal year 2004, the state received about $103 million in special projects in that bill.

During those two years, Istook was chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over transportation funding and the spending for some other agencies.

He lost that chairmanship at the start of 2005, and transportation projects totaled only $11 million in the spending bill after he left.

The year before Istook’s subcommittee received jurisdiction over transportation, the state ranked 33rd in the nation in “pork” per capita. The year Istook gained control over the spending, Oklahoma rose to 18th and rose further, to 16th, for fiscal year 2005, when pork per citizen was $56.43, according to Citizens Against Government Waste.

In a statement, Istook, who is resigning from his congressional seat to run for governor, said Friday, “For decades Oklahoma was a ‘donor state’ with the highway money we sent to Washington.

“I was able to fix that for a couple of years. All of it was carefully screened to make sure it was needed and proper. It doesn’t fit the definition of what I consider pork.”

Oklahoma earmarks Alaska, as usual, topped the state rankings in 2006 for pork per capita, with nearly $500 per resident in project funding. Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican, is a powerful member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Another possible factor in Oklahoma’s drop in the rankings is the successor to U.S. Sen. Don Nickles, a Republican who was open to gaining special projects. U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, is totally opposed to earmarks.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Daily Oklahoman

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