In a recent letter to her constituents, Arizona Representative Ann Kirkpatrick announced her support for Community Project Funding which she says was formerly known as earmarking. Earmarks do not receive an up or down vote in their own right. They are inserted into larger measures that are sure to pass, or they are used to entice a reluctant lawmaker to vote for a measure. A decade ago our lawmakers banned earmarks which had become vehicles for wasteful spending and corruption. The resurrection of earmarks threatens the same.
The health of a democracy depends on an informed, involved citizenry. We bear a responsibility to educate ourselves and to convey our wishes to our representatives with our votes and our correspondence to them. In these times of record federal spending, it seems that the fiscal health of the nation should take precedence over legislators' abilities to draw federal dollars home.
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Joann Wilson
Green Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
