North Dakota: We're Number 1

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For years we've had Congressman Earl Pomeroy [D-ND] working himself to exhaustion to bring home the bacon for our state. Flood mitigation funds, investments in technology and agriculture, highways, you name it, if it was good for North Dakota, Earl worked his ass off for it. Was on the front lines, too. From his multiple trips to visit our troops in Afghanistan to standing on the riverbanks hefting sandbags right along with his neighbors.

Pomeroy’s requests targeted key priorities such as education, research, technology, the state’s Air Force bases in Minot and Grand Forks and flood control projects in the Red River Valley.

Meanwhile, Rick Berg was nowhere to be seen--except hiding out behind closed doors with John Boehner at exclusive fundraisers.

Then came the election.

And the red tide of megaspending against Pomeroy and for his opponent Rick Berg flooded the airwaves. Like the Red River may be flooding Fargo and North Dakota again next spring.

Pomeroy was swept out of office.

And look at what we got ourselves. We're still number 1 -- our newly elected almost Congressman shows up as Number One on the list of wealthiest new Congressmen, according to Politico:

Richard Berg, who unseated North Dakota Democrat Earl Pomeroy, appears to be the wealthiest newly elected Republican, with assets above $20 million.

The Republican freshmen will have plenty of company in the millionaires club in Congress.

While Earl worked for we in ND, Berg was all about "me, me, me..."

Brace yourselves. And stock up on your sandbags.
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h/t Voice of Dakota
crossposted at firedoglake/My FDL

McCain's Golden Fleece

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John McCain is channeling his inner William Proxmire these days as he rails--rightly--against the over-9000 earmarks in the budget.

I'm okay with that.

With this caveat. McCain owes us the due diligence of not just shooting off his mouth but engaging his brain trust aka staff to scratch the surface of what each earmark he specifically attacks does.

I take his basic point that there should be no earmarks, that if something truly merits funding it should stand the test of scrutiny for inclusion in the budget. Ho-kay.

But then what about these stats from his own...I was going to say "party" but we can fine tune this to his fellow Republican Arizona Senator. Courtesy ThinkProgress, Senator John Kyl, is one of the top earmarkers in the Senate, to the tune of $118 million in fiscal 2008.

Guess it's easy to be against earmarks when the other guy in the state is pushing through gazillions of 'em....

Hell, McCain could take his own colleague to the men's room stall, er, woodshed, and drum home his earmark philosophy and earn some street cred that legitimizes him. Or not.

But let's just say that ol' Kyl and the Republicans and Democrats who are all