So, Brian Baird and this fishwrapper are just all bubbly about how they screwed the taxpayers with millions in earmarks.
The article makes me want to blow chunks... and here's a few well chosen words in response to the headline:
Baird is proud of ‘righteous earmark’
It's at LEAST as "righteous" as the millions he wasted on the "Boat that nobody wanted" in return for the $14,277 in campaign contributions Baird got from Guardian Marine in return for shilling out $17.65 million in THOSE earmarks.
$4.5 million | The earmark forced the Navy to buy a boat it didn't ask for and couldn't use. The company that built the boat, Guardian Marine International, got four earmarks totaling $17.65 million over several years.
It seems that Mr. Baird is simply incapable of grasping the enormity of his stupidity and the colossal waste of money he's so proud of.
"Bash" this earmark? I don't need Jindal or anyone else to "bash" this earmark when I can beat hell out of it all by myself.
Being in the pocket of the Downtown Vancouver Mafia is nothing to be proud of, Mr. Baird. Cementing your alliances with corruption isn't worthy of a press release, Mr. Baird. This slobbering coverage from this rag because they're all about jacking up their property values using taxpayer dollars isn't the thing that town hall meetings should focus on, Mr. Baird.
At the end of the day, you helped the empty suit to bury this economy in yet additional TRILLIONS of dollars of debt with your pork-laden garbage.
And that's nothing to be proud of, Mr. Baird.
See? It was easy. And Gov. Jindal didn't even need to break a sweat.
Your corruption and that of this newspaper are despicable, Mr. Baird.
Baird stands behind the earmarks. "We didn't just say, 'Oh, a company in our district wants an earmark — let's get it for them.' We looked at the mission, we looked at the history of the boat, and we looked at the alternatives out there," he said. "And I think that's pretty good work, frankly."$4.5 million for a boat that nobody wanted THOMAS JAMES HURST / THE SEATTLE TIMES
...And Rep. Baird still wants to get patrol boats like Guardian Marine's (That the Navy can't use and like the ones we ALREADY own that are tied up at a dock in Seattle's Portage Bay (except for yearly maintenance runs)) into Coast Guard hands. During a congressional hearing earlier this year, Baird asked an admiral if they could "chat" about "other alternatives that are available on the marketplace" to the Coast Guard's slower, 87-foot patrol boats.
"Might we do that?" Baird asked.
"Happy to do that, sir," the admiral replied.
Yeah. It's just coincidence that these people gave you $15,000 for your campaign... right, Brian?
No, dammit. I will condemn this earmark and the corruption it speaks to and the debt it assigns with all of my might.
Mr. Baird, you and this democrat lackey newspaper ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
Poster Omahkohkiaayo I'poyi does an amazing job of calling Baird's perfidy out. It's worthy of reproduction here, and I do it here in it's entirety:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/favorfactory/favorfactory_2008/lawmaker.php?id=H6WA03135
Baird, Brian N.
(House, D-WA) Totals
2008 Defense earmarks: $13,600,000
2003-08 Campaign contributions from earmark recipients: $68,800
Campaign contributions from earmark recipients
Recipient Amount
Gencorp, Inc. (HQ) $2,000
General Electric Co. (HQ) $11,000
Caterpillar, Inc. (HQ) $2,000
Battelle Memorial Institute, Inc. (HQ) $500
Oregon Iron Works, Inc. $17,500
Boeing Co. (HQ) $9,500
Accenture, Inc. (HQ) $500
Northrop Grumman Corp. (HQ) $1,000
Cassidy & Associates $500
SILVER EAGLE MANUFACTURING CO $2,000
Outdoor Research, Inc. $2,000
CASCADE DESIGNS, Inc. $4,000
Armor Systems International, Inc. $2,000
Honeywell International, Inc. (HQ) $5,000
Rice University $250
Nlight Photonics Corp. $6,550
Lockheed Martin Corp. (HQ) $2,000
Insitu, Inc. (HQ) $500
Has anyone ever heard of "conflict of interest" and recusing oneself from a vote in which one has even the appearance of one as a matter of honor?
____________________________________________________
Unlike our local waste of paper, the information provided above tells the REAL story about the despicable use of earmarks... earmarks the Empty Suit repeatedly campaigned AGAINST.
Friday, March 13 | 11:23 p.m.
BY JEFFREY MIZE
COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER
Twist Architecture and Design Redevelopment of the former Boise Cascade site could include a series of high-rise buildings with hotels, condos, offices, hotels, shops and restaurants, along with parks and trails.
Congressman Brian Baird had finished the polite introductions and obligatory thanks.
Twist Architecture and Design Redevelopment of the former Boise Cascade site could include a series of high-rise buildings with hotels, condos, offices, hotels, shops and restaurants, along with parks and trails.
Then, the Vancouver Democrat moved closer to a clay model depicting the high-rise waterfront community that Gramor Development and its local investors want to build on the Columbia River waterfront.
"The infrastructure money leverages so much more," Baird told Gramor President Barry Cain late Friday morning as he examined the model. "They’re not building waterfront. They’re not building Columbia Rivers anywhere."
The waterfront project, proposed for a barren former industrial site west of the Interstate 5 Bridge, will benefit from two federal contributions: $2.5 million in stimulus money and another $3.09 million from the 2009 spending bill President Barack Obama signed this week.
"Everyone bashes us for earmarks," Baird said, standing where a cluster of office buildings, condominiums, apartments, stores and restaurants could pop up in the next 10 to 15 years. "This is a righteous earmark. You get a 30-to-1 return on our investment. Bash us for that earmark, Bobby Jindal."
Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana, delivered the GOP’s response to Obama’s Feb. 24 joint address before Congress and criticized federal officials for what he called an "eruption of spending in Washington, D.C."
As for the 30-to-1 figure, Baird used an estimate developed by the city of Vancouver of how much every public dollar — city, state and federal — spent on infrastructure will return in higher tax revenues.
Baird attended a Friday gathering with representatives of Gramor and its investors, along with city, Port of Vancouver and Clark County representatives, to show his support for the project and boost its community standing. A push pin in the clay model indicated where organizers had set a small tent, chairs and podium for the event.
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