While Democrats patted themselves on the back for their “earmark-free” spending bill earlier this year, some Republicans accused them of sneaking hidden earmarks into the bill.
Now, as the CIR/Los Angeles Times investigation shows, some of the self-congratulatory Democrats were personally lobbying for pet projects around the time the bill was passed. It turns out that some of the critical Republicans were too.
For the record, Campbell has been up front about his own appetite for earmarks, even as he continues to criticize Democratic pork.
As the L.A. Times story explains, “Campbell said he didn’t consider his action an effort to salvage an earmark. ‘It’s not an earmark because these guys can just say no,’ he said.”
In the end, Campbell’s project didn’t get funded. So, he’s trying again for 2008.