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| Critics blast Kennedy-branded earmarks |
| 2010-04-20 |
| More than $60.4 million in taxpayer-funded pork projects for Massachusetts in the current federal budget carry the name of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Herald review of new data shows. The 95 earmarks - for a vast array of projects that include subsidies for cranberry and blueberry growers ($160,000), the New England Aquarium ($1.25 million), and millions for fishing and military research - show the clout Kennedy continues to wield on federal spending nearly eight months after his death. Tarah Donoghue, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Republican Party, called the spending details, included in a "pig book" report released last week by Citizens Against Government Waste, examples of "excessive spending" that "drives the rapid growth of our government." She and other critics said the spending is inappropriate at a time when the federal debt has reached unprecedented levels. The Sunday Herald reported yesterday that taxpayer spending on a shrine being built to Kennedy in Dorchester has ballooned to $38.3 million since Kennedy's Aug. 25 death. The money comes from earmarks slipped into a variety of federal agencies by Sen. John F. Kerry and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Malden). The powerful Bay State pols want to boost the total outlay to $68 million before the end of this year. Some $28.9 million of that would be siphoned from the Defense Department budget alone - money the backers of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate at Columbia Point say is justifiable because the institute will sponsor programs for the children of military veterans. Critics of government boondoggles criticize the taxpayer expense, noting that the Kennedy family and its friends are wealthy and connected enough to raise what they need privately. Barbara Anderson, an anti-tax crusader and co-founder of Massachusetts Citizens for Limited Taxation, said "people responsible for building up debt shouldn't be getting memorials." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 ...and the clan may need more. BOSTON — The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is running short of cash. One-third of the 20-acre park system running through the site of Boston’s pre-Big Dig highway system is unfinished. The non-profit conservancy that runs the greenway says it doesn’t have enough money to complete the project or pay for basic maintenance. The conservancy is hoping to raise $2 million to offset cuts in state funding, but the recession has hurt private fundraising. The executive director of the conservatory, Nancy Brennan, tells The Boston Globe that the Greenway needs a new funding source by 2013 or face significant deterioration. She says officials are looking at financing methods used for urban parks in other major cities. That could include the selling of naming rights or the taxing of commercial property on the Greenway. Yes, it's not easy being a Kennedy. But it is...expensive. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-04-20 16:24 |
| #1 What no Edward M. Kennedy memorial guardrail on the bridge over Pooka Pond in Chappaquidick? |
| Posted by: Lampedusa Omese6523 2010-04-20 07:00 |