From State Rep. David McSweeney: I was shocked to see Senator Bill Brady’s recently filed SB 2216 [see more examples than listed below], which is described as “FY 18 Member Initiatives.” Special earmarks lead to wasteful spending and potentially corruption. I … Continue reading
Category Archives: Pork Barrel
The Sunday before, the Tribune syndicated Dick Tracy comic strip’s current creators Joe Staton and Mike Curtis honored Dick Locher for his time as chief cartoonist. Locher has retired and been honored with a statue of Dick Tracy in his … Continue reading
Summertime Blues 100 Projects to Give Taxpayers the Blues Today, United States Senators Tom Coburn and John McCain released “Summertime Blues,” a compilation of “100 Stimulus Projects that Give Taxpayers the Blues during the Summer of Recovery.” The introduction of … Continue reading
While his senior colleague United States Senate Dick Durbin ignored McHenry County in his requests for appropriations’ earmarks, Roland Burris did not. Here’s what Burris requested: $500,000 for McHenry County, Illinois Drinking Water Quality Initiative McHenry County, Illinois McHenry County … Continue reading
I’ve looked at all six letters asking for member initiatives from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and can’t find anything for McHenry County. … Continue reading
The following press release has been received from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Whether it was hurried along by the horrific gang fight murder at Fenger Academy High School is anyone’s guess, but not an entirely illogical one. Perhaps today’s announcement … Continue reading
June 27th McHenry County Blog ran a story about Chicago State’s University got $40 million from state government to build a new campus on Chicago’s West Side. It was a travesty then and it still is now that the Chicago … Continue reading
Congressmen call it “earmarks.” Illinois legislators call it “member initiatives.” If it’s in someone else’s part of the country or state, people commonly call it “pork.” Whatever you call it, here is what Crystal Lake State Rep. Mike Tryon got … Continue reading
sshjIt doesn’t seem that long ago that I was writing about Washington Pork. In fact, it was last March. Let’s look at what the two congressional representatives from McHenry County are requesting in the Commerce, Justice and Science budget. (Hat … Continue reading
666 is the mark of the beast. In my Wednesday article on township pork, I missed Section 666 I did wonder why Nunda Township, the fourth largest township in McHenry County, got only $75,000 of legislative pork from the not … Continue reading
Besides the township road commissioner pork amounting to $1.9 million, cities and villages in McHenry County got some pork, too. Hebron is going to get $150,000 for “public safety construction and roadinfrastructure.” Pretty broadly defined, wouldn’t you say? I figure … Continue reading
inlThe state’s got financial problems right? Not that you could notice from the infrastructure bill that was passed. Let’s eavesdrop on two McHenry County legislators discussing what to put in it. Legislator A: “Let’s give at least $75,000 to every … Continue reading
And, I’m not talking about Democrat John Kerry and his Iraq War votes. I’m talking about our current President, Barack Obama. And the subject? Pork. When anti-pork Republican John McCain became Obama’s opponent, Obama started becoming anti-pork, too. What would … Continue reading
Again thanks to Taxpayers for Common Sense, McHenry County Blog can give you an idea what pork in this year’s congressional budget looks like. We continue in alphabetical order. Today we are reaching the middle of the alphabetical. We cover … Continue reading
Taxpayers for Common Sense made it relatively painless to find the projects that Illinois congressmen claimed credit for in this year’s budget. We have looked at Melissa Bean’s, Jerry Costello’s, Danny Davis’ and Dick Durbin’s previously. Today we see ex-Chicago … Continue reading
Here’s the bacon that United States Senator Dick Durbin brought him in this year’s budget from the Health and Human Services and Labor budgets. I found it with the help of Citizens for Common Sense, which, amazingly enough, has an … Continue reading
Call them earmarks. Call them pork. Illinois legislators call them “member initiatives.” In Illinois, the Pork King is U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. Taxpayers for Common Sense is the “go to” source for such information. Since last Friday McHenry County Blog … Continue reading
And the pork barrels keep rolling out of Congress. Today, we look at the money tucked away in the Health and Human Services and Labor Department Budget. The date has not been provided by Congress itself in a format which … Continue reading
In our look at pork found in the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development part of this year’s budget, we have gotten through the letter “D” in the Illinois congressional delegation. The congress critters don’t make it easy. There is … Continue reading
Pork in the Forestry Service and pork in the EPA is found in today’s report. Most is contained in the Environmental Protection Agency part of the budget. Again, McHenry County gets nothing, but 16th District Congressman Don Manzullo inserts $500,000 … Continue reading