Kansas Republicans launched a new blog today called The Kansas Tunkline. And judging from the first few posts, Congressman Dennis Moore and Congresswoman Nancy Boyda aren’t going to like it. The most recent post after they announced the new blog ripped the Democratic superdelegates for not declaring who they’ll support in the presidential race. “Who will Boyda and Moore support—the most liberal Senator in the nation who claims half of their constituents are bitter? Or the woman who has voted to raise taxes 230 times?”
Of course, the Democrats have had their blog — Buffalo Blog — for about a year and a half. Their most recent post takes a shot at Congressman Todd Tiahrt for delaying debate on critical issues by asking for a re-vote on a resolution celebrating the role of mothers. “Tiahrt then joined 177 of his Republican friends and voted against their mothers, and ate up 28 minutes of their day in doing so.”
Nothing like more strong dialog in the Kansas political blogosphere.
Call them pork. Call them business as usual. Whatever their name, congressional earmarks send hundreds of millions to Kansas to the delight of some and the dismay of others. That’s according to a report issued today by Taxpayers for Common Sense. On the delight side would be the military. Nearly all of Wichita’s earmarks went to the aviation industry, which builds things for the military. Among those was the biggest earmark — $8.3 million, which went to Hawker-Beechcraft for UC-12 replacement aircraft. (See press release.) But the cash also paid for redevelopment of the Dunbar Theater and sent money to Wichita’s school district for technology upgrades.
Sen. Sam Brownback, who stood a couple feet behind Sen. John McCain in an airplane hanger in Wichita last week as McCain lambasted the use of earmarks, leads the Kansas delegation with $87 million in special projects, according to the report. But even with that $87 million, Brownback is way down on the Senate earmark rankings in spot 82. Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts helped secure $54 million in earmarks, the report shows.
In the House, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, is Kansas’ biggest earmark advocate with $66 million (he ranks 35th highest in the House, in part because he secured the UC-12 airplane replacement project). Rep. Nancy Boyda, a Kansas Democrat, logged $38 million in earmarks; Rep. Jerry Moran and Rep. Dennis Moore were nearly tied with $8 million a piece.
Kansas Republicans launched a new blog today called The Kansas Tunkline. And judging from the first few posts, Congressman Dennis Moore and Congresswoman Nancy Boyda aren’t going to like it. The most recent post after they announced the new blog ripped the Democratic superdelegates for not declaring who they’ll support in the presidential race. “Who will Boyda and Moore support—the most liberal Senator in the nation who claims half of their constituents are bitter? Or the woman who has voted to raise taxes 230 times?”