A Porkbuster's Profile

Quite a bit of buzz in the conservative blogosphere about the Los Angeles Times profile of Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ).Flake has long be a opponent of the vile earmarking process and he is getting some traction--thanks in part to the exposure of the near graft invovled in the earmarking process:

Flake's persistence may be starting to pay off.

Last year, his amendments to strike earmarks drew an average of 68 votes. This year, the average rose to 85 votes.

"A lot of people are really sick of this game," Flake said. "They had higher aspirations than to beg for crumbs that fall from appropriators' tables."

Now if we can get to 218 on an earmark stripping amendment on a regular basis, then that will be progress. Still more:

Flake's campaign appears to be increasingly irritating both parties' senior members of the House Appropriations Committee.

Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) recently reached his boiling point when Flake dared to challenge a $400,000 earmark in the chairman's home state. "I think it comes with considerable ill grace," Obey fumed.

Rep. Jerry Lewis of Redlands, the committee's top Republican, recently told Flake that he was doing a disservice in attempting to portray Republicans as fiscally undisciplined.

"The gentleman is wrong," he said.

Flake's critics say that he is wasting time focusing on tiny appropriations rather than taking aim at serious spending issues, such as controlling Medicare costs.

When you are irritating both sides of the aisle evenly, you are doing a fair job. The comment about Medicare is pointed though and legitimate. But the counter would be that if Congress weren't so interested in getting pork for their district, they might have more time to focus on Medicare and other entitlement reforms.

Flake may be focusing on teh nickle and dime projects, but these projects add up over time. Ask anyone who has looked at their personal spending (as my wife and I have recently), it is not just the big ticket items that drive budget busting, it is the little things. Flake's earmark targets are like those $6 trips for fast food every couple of days. Individually they aren't that much, but over the course of a month or a year, you can pay a lot of bills with that money.

Well done Congressman Flake.