'Earmarks' are big issue south of river, but it cuts both ways

The "earmark" -- derided by some as wasteful pork, but sought after eagerly by many more -- is rising in intensity as a political issue south of the river.

The question of whether to reach for millions in state or federal dollars for local projects is already shaping up as a major issue in the race for Congress in the second district. And it could make its way into legislative races.

The emergence of Arizona Sen. John McCain as the Republican party's presumptive choice for president means the GOP will be led this fall by perhaps the most caustic of all earmark critics. "My friends," McCain said in a recent speech, "I will not sign a bill with earmarks in it. Any earmarks in it!"

And he has a political bedfellow in Lakeville's own John Kline, one of only a handful of members of Congress to declare that they will no longer seek them.

Yet Kline is the first to concede that until recently he not only sought them but touted them. "We call press conferences to tell you guys about them!" he exclaimed in 2006.

It remains to be seen whether a politician's position on earmarks -- for or against -- will turn out to be an asset or a liability.

Steve Sarvi, seeking the DFL nomination for the right to take Kline on, says that growing suburban districts need federal earmarks to finance basic improvements in roads and transit.

Yet Deb Moran is evidence that the issue can cut both ways. Moran, a former member of the Burnsville City Council, is a candidate for the Republican nod for a seat in the Minnesota House representing the city, and a leading critic of the public financing of Burnsville's Performing Arts Center. The city is seeking support from lawmakers for a major injection of state funding for that project.

"Earmarks have gotten totally out of control," she said. "They go to bike trails, 'bridges to nowhere' -- I think John Kline is very courageous to stand up to this system, which has gone whacko. Yeah, you want to bring home the bacon for your own constituents. But you have to do what's right for everyone, and some of these things are ridiculous."

Republican legislators form a spectrum from purer-even-than-Kline. "I didn't just 'get religion' on earmarks," was the wry comment of Rep. Mark Buesgens, of Jordan, to those who stress that they only seek them for projects of statewide magnitude.

"It's a complicated issue," said Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington. "They're good and bad. If wrongly used, they're an abuse. I don't like the earmark process, but the normal process employed at the Capitol is biased against suburban legislative districts."

Case in point, he said: his own request for money for a Bridge to Somewhere: a pedestrian link between two major state biking trails in his area. "I would bristle at any suggestion that that's an 'earmark,' " he said. "I'm sure Mark Buesgens would call it an 'earmark,' but I don't."

"You don't want them to look like political favors," said Sen. John Doll, DFL-Burnsville, who, like Republican Garofalo, seeks money for a pedestrian bridge -- in this case, a crossing for bikers and hikers over the Minnesota River between Bloomington and Eagan.

As a basic piece of infrastructure linking two major counties, he said, "this bridge has regional merit."