Congressman Takes Credit for Radio Funding

U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello held a press conference in his home territory last week, announcing that $600,000 would soon become available through the Omnibus Appropriations Act passed by Congress. The money will be funneled to the multi-county Smart Network System, which will use it to create a Next Generation 911 system for the region using IP technology. What local media didn’t report is that the funding was one of several earmarks sponsored by Costello in the appropriations bill, which provides general government agency funding. Earmarks have lately drawn criticism from various groups who say they allow members of Congress to fund unnecessary pet programs, sometimes as pay-back for political contributions. In this case, it seems unlikely that county officials are receiving any pay-back, and recent regulation changes make earmarks much more transparent. The counties are among over 520 public safety agencies that will receive earmark funding in fiscal 2010. Download (pdf) last year’s earmark list here. Check the 2009 earmarks here.