| Isn't it funny how news stories, perhaps only distantly related, fall around the same time? Why, just the other day, I wrote about how Kevin Ring's name came up in an Abramoff-related scandal involving the DoJ. And then I see news that Montana's Carter County still can't get Highway 323 paved.
Highway 323 is, of course, the road that Carter County paid Kevin Ring $100K to lobby for, on recommendation by Dennis Rehberg. (Coincidentally, Rehberg received a nice $1,000 campaign donation from Ring the day Ring signed the contract with Carter County officials.)
Well, Ring got Carter County its $9+ million, but turns out there's a little snafu:
Rehberg requested the money in the House. Baucus added money for other projects in the Senate. The final bill contained billions of highway dollars for Montana.
But according to the Montana Department of Transportation, that money can't be spent right away. Instead, the federal government trickles it out a little at a time over many years. That small trickle is not enough for the state to actually begin any construction, which typically cost a lot upfront.
To get around this, the state planned to pool small amounts of federal money from many different projects into one big account and use it for one project, like Highway 323.
Unbeknownst to either Baucus or Rehberg, U.S. House rules forbade this pooling. That meant the state couldn't spend the $9.6 million.
A local businessman is harassing Max Baucus about straightening out the snafu. But the snafu originated with the House rules, not the Senate's. And given that Rehberg had Carter County pay Ring $100K to lobby for an earmark that Rehberg requested, doesn't Rehberg owe Carter County a little extra effort?
Of course, there may be some procedural issue that only a Senator can solve. I don't know much about the rules of Congress. Or it could be that Max is the only one in this equation who actually has any pull to get something done in DC. Of course, if were from Carter County, I'd think twice before trying to lubricate the wheels again. A hundred thou didn't go as far as you thought it would, eh? |
