Posts Tagged ‘pork barrel spending’

…Many to Clients of Daughters Lobbying Firm

by Michael “Mike” Yost
Republican Candidate, 3rd Congressional District of Florida

The latest numbers on “pork” spending, or earmarks, for Representative Corrine Brown have been released and the numbers further indicate her willingness to “bring home the bacon” on the backs of hard working taxpayers. Her latest round of $54 Million include money to many projects who had hired Virginia lobbying firm Alcalde & Fay, which employs her daughter, Shantrel Brown Fields.

Some of the projects that Alcalde & Fay managed to bring home the “pork” by Rep. Brown include:

1. $8 million to the Jacksonville Port Authority for dredging and other maintenance projects. The port authority paid $40,000 to Alcalde & Fay this year. Additionally, Rep. Brown has received campaign contributions from both Princess Cruises and Tours, a Carnival Company, and the Cruise Line International Association, primarily funded by Carnival employees as well. Carnival has been trying to build a cruise terminal in the Jacksonville Port.
2. $800,000 earmark to Lake County for an emergency operations center. Alcalde & Fay was paid another $40,000 by Lake County.
3. $500,000 for Edward Waters College, a former Alcalde & Fay client.

According to the Orlando-Sentinel (August 30th, 2009 edition):

Neither the firm nor Brown’s daughter returned calls. Fields is not listed as a lobbyist for the Jacksonville Port Authority or Lake County, but she did represent Edward Waters College in 2006, records show.

Rep. Brown’s only comment:

“I have not sought money for any project that was not requested by a state or local governmental entity, service provider or business in my district or the state of Florida. I am fully confident that each of the projects will provide critically needed services and create jobs.”

There is at least, questions of impropriety regarding these earmarks. As a sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Brown didn’t see any “problem” with the earmarks in spite of the fact her daughter is employed by the very lobbying firm who managed to obtain these requests. Once again, Rep. Brown and her daughter appear to be using the power of the office as they did in 1998. In that issue,  Shantrel Brown Fields had received a $50,000 Lexus LS 400 automobile as a gift from an agent of a Gambian millionaire named Foutanga Sissoko, a friend of Rep. Brown.

According to Wikipedia:

“[Sissoko] had been imprisoned in Miami after pleading guilty to charges of bribing a customs officer. Brown had worked to secure his release, pressuring U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to deport Sissoko back to his homeland as an alternative to continued incarceration. The [Congressional Accountability] Project held this violated the House gift rule, but Brown denied she had acted improperly. The congressional subcommittee investigating Brown found insufficient evidence to issue a Statement of Alleged Violation, but said she had acted with poor judgment in connection with Sissoko.”

Once again, rather than go through the budgetary process and obtain funding with ALL members of committees and the full House voting on these appropriations, Rep. Brown uses the discretionary “earmark” and further indicates her unwillingness to reduce any of the Federal Deficit Spending that is causing our taxpayers outrage. Example after example of lawmakers using the earmark process, all under the guise of “creating jobs” no longer flies with many Americans when the Debt of this nation is already nearing the $12 Trillion dollar mark.

One of my first priorities when elected to Congress will be to reduce the level of spending and to make sure that the proper budgetary channels are used to bring money to our State. Rep. Brown’s earmarks totally bypass this process and further add to the $9 Trillion of deficits projected over the next 10 years.  These deficits will further add to the nearly $12 Trillion in Debt that is totally unsustainable for our future generations. Additionally, these debt/deficit levels will spur inflation that easily could reach the double digit level in the next 9-18 months.

Congress must eliminate these spending sprees and bring our country back to the foundational, common sense, budgetary management that will bring this nation the  industries and businesses back to our country where real jobs are provided. The goal of government during these economic hard times must be one of restraint and finding ways to reduce the size of government, not further expand it with earmarks on legislation for the purpose of “bringing home the bacon”, and not one of keeping one’s daughter employed by the lobbyists who are responsible for obtaining that “pork”.

“Corrine Delivers” alright- delivers more government largess on the backs of taxpayers we can ill afford.

Please consider making a contribution to my campaign and help me return Fiscal sanity and Responsible government BACK to WE THE PEOPLE of this nation. Help me defeat Rep. Corrine Brown.