Posted on 05/19/2006 4:13:57 PM PDT by calcowgirl
WASHINGTON — Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) is an experienced investor in Riverside County's booming real estate market, so he's used to seeing prices change quickly. Last year, he and a partner paid $550,000 for a dusty four-acre parcel just south of March Air Reserve Base. Less than a year later, without even cutting the weeds or carting off old septic tank parts that littered the ground, they sold the land for almost $1 million.
Even for a speculator like Calvert, it was an unusually good deal.
During the time he owned the land, Calvert used the legislative process known as earmarking to secure $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles from the property, and an additional $1.5 million to support commercial development of the area around the airfield.
A map of Calvert's recent real estate holdings and those of his partner shows many of them near the transportation projects he has supported with federal appropriations. And improvements to the transportation infrastructure have contributed to the area's explosive growth, according to development experts.
--snip
What sets Calvert's actions apart from the traditional efforts of lawmakers to bring federal dollars home to their districts is that some of the spending has gone for improvements near his private real estate ventures, and he has used earmarking to secure the tax dollars.
--snip
To shed more light on the process, the nonpartisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has worked to identify and analyze earmarks in recent spending bills. During the 2005-06 congressional session, Calvert put 69 earmarks into spending bills, the group reported; Calvert said he was the lead advocate for 53.
Such special funding is often decried as "pork" by spending hawks and good-government groups, but many members of Congress counter that the practice serves their constituents.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
He is bragging about this?
he's doing it for the children, yaknow.. His.
Erarmarks, smearmarks ... what has this gubamint become but a virtual ATM for those lucky or connected enough to get elected and have the right PINs.
In 2005... Calvert and his partner... closed on the purchase of the 4.3 acres of land near March airfield and the east end of Cajalco Road for $550,000. ... On Aug. 10, 2005, President Bush signed the highway bill ... Several months after the bill was signed, Calvert and his partner sold the property for $985,000, a 79% increase.
what's the old saying? location location location.
a tidy profit indeed.
Not every lawmaker is equal when it comes to being able to earmark appropriations. What counts is where members stand in the power structure, and how much favor they cultivate with more influential colleagues. Some lawmakers are allowed to insert scores of earmarks into spending bills each year. Others get few, if any.
This part ticks me off:
And the process traditionally occurs behind closed doors, without public notice or hearings. Spokespeople for the House Appropriations and Transportation committees, for instance, refuse to provide information on lawmakers' earmark requests or their justifications for projects. As a result, an individual lawmaker quietly can obtain funding to help constituents, interest groups, lobbyists or even themselves.The practice of earmarks needs to be abolished.
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