Staff Writer
awashington@coastalcourier.com
Posted: April 25, 2008 8:35 a.m.
Georgia U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah) has been busy lately defending himself against a new Citizens Against Government Waste report labeling him one of the top sponsors of congressional earmarks.
The Washington watchdog group released its annual compilation of "pork" projects in the federal budget earlier this month and found Kingston, who represents Liberty and Long counties, sponsored 80 such projects in the fiscal year 2008 budget to the tune of $101.3 million.
It's the 12th highest figure among the 435 members of the U.S. House.
The majority of the spending requests attributed to Kingston in the 2008 Congressional Pig Book are for defense-related projects, including infrastructure and training equipment and facility upgrades on Fort Stewart.
The congressman said to consider these items pork or unnecessary spending, is "totally disingenuous" on the part of CAGW.
"I have a great philosophical disagreement with their definition of pork. I don't think it's an accurate description at all. It's an interest group that's trying to portray an inaccurate picture," Kingston said. "This is a group that obviously doesn't support military projects because 70 percent of what I've been working for is military and Corps of Engineers related and that's what they're calling pork."
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee and its defense subcommittee, Kingston said, "One of the things I try to do is keep Fort Stewart open. I try to get military construction projects and good weapons and good training for the soldiers there so when BRAC comes to town, they can see all the good things happening on the base and not put it on the list."
The congressman added all of his earmarks "have been within the federal budget, have been voted on by (House and Senate) committees on a bipartisan basis and have all been disclosed."
And citing recent earmarks that have gone toward funding family programs on Fort Stewart and the planned expansion of Liberty Regional Medical Center's maternity ward, Kingston said his spending requests are based on local needs and have a federal role.
"I'm proud of these projects," Kingston said. "These things are important to the community, important to the military and important to economic development."
Bill Gillespie, a Democrat who is vying to unseat the eight-term representative in November, said he is not buying Kingston's defense.
Calling Kingston a "big government Republican," the challenger said the congressman "always talks about how he is for limited government, but his actual voting and earmark record does not support this."
He also attacked Kingston for sponsoring a $2.4 million defense contract that was awarded to ProLogic Inc., a West Virginia-based company some media reports have said is under federal investigation for allegedly diverting public funds to develop commercial software. The company has also given campaign committees controlled by Kingston $16,500 since 2006.
Kingston said ProLogic's work with Armstrong Atlantic State University and the U.S. National Guard on a combat training project has been an invaluable resource to Guard members and downplayed reports about the company being investigated.
"I don't think there's any concern about ProLogic," he said. "We checked with the Department of Defense when that story was reported and they said that they didn't know anything about ProLogic being investigated."
Focusing on the future of earmarks and government spending in Congress, Kingston conceded there should be more transparency in the allocation process, which is the basis for an earmark resolution he introduced in the House in the fall.
The resolution calls for restricting the number of earmarks lawmakers could include in bills each year while a 16-member panel conducts a full study on the earmark process.
Co-sponsored by 150 House lawmakers, the resolution has been voted down once on the floor, but Kingston said he hopes support for it will grow.
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