There are pages and pages of Illinois congressional earmarks in this year’s Transportation and Housing and Urban Development budgets.
These were found because Taxpayers for Common Sense scanned the pork pages and posted them on its web site.
Unfortunately, it was not a searchable web site, so I scrolled down and tried to pick out all of the Illinois congress critters.
And, guess what?
I found the first pork for McHenry County.
8th District Congresswoman Melissa Bean snagged $475,000 to widen Miller Road in McHenry.
That’s the eastern extension of Bull Valley Road named after former McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Chuck Miller.
(I remember knocking on his door when I ran for McHenry County Treasurer in 1966. He told me Tom Davis was running for precinct committeeman instead of him.)
The projects I found are listed in alphabetical order by congressional member. If both Senator Dick Durbin and a house member sponsored a project, I have put it under the congressman’s or woman’s name.
On top is a lump sum appropriation for Metra with Chicago-area congressmen and ex-congressmen and women’s attached to lines which serve their districts. For some reason McHenry County house member Don Manzullo’s name is missing. (His staff thinks it’s because the McHenry County improvement is up the McHenry line toward Johnsburg.)
I could find nothing in these two budgets suggested by newly sworn in Senator Roland Burris or DuPage County Congresswoman Judy Biggert.
The Transportation and Housing and Urban Development earmarks for Bean, the Metro East’s Jerry Costello, Chicago’s Danny Davis follow:
Capital Investment Grants $24,000,000 Metra
- Jackson, Durbin – Southwest Service Line
- Bean, Jackson, Roskam, Weller, Durbin – Star Line
- Emanuel, Bean, Durbin – Northwest Union Pacific Line, IL
- Roskam, Durbin – West Union Pacific Line, IL
Melissa Bean
Transportation, Community and System Preservation $475,000 Bean – Miller Road Widening, McHenry, IL
Transportation, Community and System Preservation $950,000 Bean – Route 120 Corridor, Lake County, IL
Jerry Costello
Buses and Bus Facilities, $475,000 Costello – Replacement Heavy Duty Transit Buses, Madison County Mass Transit District, IL
Federal Lands (Public Lands Highways) $950,000 Costello – Seibert Road Improvements, Shihol, IL
Danny Davis
Economic Development Initiatives $380,000 Davis – Austin Chamber of Commerce Development and Resource Center, Chicago, IL, for Development of at least 80 Units of Senior Housing
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the projects that our influential senior senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, thought important enough to get money for. And, remember, if he sponsored something with a house member, I listed it under the house member’s name.