Friday, June 29, 2007

Republicans cut McHenry's earmark!

Quick followup: The Hill has this in more detail. I'm too busy to read it right now. Might be that the cut's never passed. -Editor

Gee. Republicans can get embarrassed by their own hypocrisy. At least Arizona's Representative Flake was peeved enough to cut McHenry's Christmas Tree earmark for WNC's Mitchell county. Check this out from Crypt's blog at politico dot com:
Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona — with the help of plenty of Democrats — just screwed his GOP colleague Patrick McHenry out of earmarked money for a project in the latter's western North Carolina district.

It is the first amendment Flake has ever passed to strip money from the annual spending bills.

"Congressman Flake didn't think he'd bring down his first earmark with friendly fire," remarked his spokesman Matthew Specht.

Flake succeeded by winning over Democrats who usually vote against him. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) explained why he had made an exception in this case.

"It was resentment over his hypocrisy in leading the fight against earmarks and then offering one of lesser value," Frank said. "I think penalizing hypocrisy is a legitimate response in politics."

Many Democrats have a particular dislike for McHenry's biting floor speeches. Flake's amendment gave them an opportunity for revenge.
Looks like our Pat is embarrassing more than himself these days. I wonder how he's going to do in his own primary next year.

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