The "Bridge to Nowhere" suddenly became a public symbol of Washington waste and pork barrel spending. The controversy also highlighted the hidden and abusive nature of earmarks as a funding mechanism, the overdependence of Alaska on money extorted from the federal government, and the hypocrisy of Republican Congressional delegations and Senators like now indicted Ted Stevens who freely spoke of 'tax and spend' liberals all while they lobbied to use somebody else's cash for their own constituents.
For the record Sarah Palin did not kill the "Bridge to Nowhere" earmark, public opinion did. While congress stripped the specific earmark allocation of federal funds for the "Bridge to Nowhere" in the bill, they did not change the amount of money allocated for use by Alaska. On the Senate floor, Ted Stevens threatened to quit Congress if the funds were removed from his state.
Sarah Palin and her Alaskan delegation to Washington continues to be one of the leaders at lobbying for pork and getting a bigger slice of the pie than anyone else. In fact according to the Tax Foundation [reference] and the U.S. Census Bureau's Consolidated Federal Funds Report Alaska is in the top three for states that receive federal funds back for the tax dollars that they collect. Alaska received $1.84 back in federal funds for every $1.00 of taxes that were collected in Alaska. And while she was mayor of Wasilla, a town of only 7,000, she hired a lobbyist to get $26 million in federal earmarks for the town. Caribou Barbie?? More like Porky Pig.
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