People are trying to make a big story out of this

[Luftmensch067]

The Boston Globe
Kerry asks $20m for Kennedy institute
Fiscal groups criticize military bill earmark
By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / September 25, 2009

WASHINGTON - A large military spending bill moving through Congress contains a little-noticed outlay for Boston that has nothing to do with national defense: $20 million for an educational institute honoring late Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

The earmark, tucked into the defense bill at the request of Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, requires US taxpayers to help the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate realize its goal of building a repository for Kennedy’s papers and an accompanying civic learning center on the University of Massachusetts at Boston campus in Dorchester, next to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.

The item is drawing fire from fiscal watchdog groups, who assert that military funds should not be raided to pay for an institution that has nothing to do with improving military readiness.

...

Kerry strongly defended the insertion of the $20 million earmark yesterday. He requested that it be included in the $360 billion defense budget, he said, to recognize Kennedy’s long tenure on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The institute will serve as a focal point for the late Massachusetts senator’s legacy, much as presidential libraries do. It will house Kennedy’s official papers and oral histories from the nearly half-century he served in the Senate. With a museum and exhibit space, it also will be dedicated to educating the general public, students, teachers, new US senators, and Senate staff about the role and importance of the Senate in American political life. The institute plans to host an annual “Summer Senate’’ for high school students from across the nation.

The $20 million earmark would cover as much as 40 percent of the institute’s initial fund-raising goal.

Beyond raising questions about the practice of slipping earmarks into bills in Congress, the provision also presents a potential ethical question for Paul Kirk, the longtime Kennedy aide Governor Deval Patrick appointed to fill the late senator’s seat yesterday.

More here: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/25/watchdog_groups_rap_20m_earmark_for_kennedy_institute/?comments=all

I suspect that this is another instance of standard, non-corrupt Senate practice that senators don't think twice about, but that the public will never understand. I don't know what to think of it, but I do know that the way the Senate operates is mysterious to most, including me, and that it doesn't always mean sneakiness or evil corruption. I believe that JK wanted to get this funding through fast and also meant in attaching it to the Defense bill to pay tribute to Teddy having done so much for the armed services. I called the DC office just now and asked and they said that this is considered a "state project" and that if there's even a shred of connection, like Teddy's service on the Armed Services Committee, it's common to attach things.

I'm hoping, if need be, that we can try to explain this to people, even though it might be hard.

[MBS]

1. yup, local TV news was in a lather about this last night. .

and the Boston Globe story was front page above the fold..

All I could think of was this: what if Sen. Kerry chose NOT to use his clout to find federal funding for this institute? Can you imagine what people would be saying then ?

[karynnj]

3. Yep, what they did say when he was first in the Senate - that he didn't bring money home for MA.

I would imagine this really is a no win situation.

[karynnj]

2. The same thing came up when he had it on either the budget or stimulus package

It is standard that the government funds Presidential Libraries and other things of merit, but it is pork. The fact is that every politician brags about the money they bring back to their state. The odd thing is the BG, after Kennedy's death questioned Kerry's willingness to do this. So, they are a bit hypocritical.

Here, this is done openly and the purpose is known. It likely will lead to jobs in MA and it will preserve and make accessible records that really carry the history of the liberal branch of the Democratic party in the Senate. There is no corruption here and no sneakiness, but at a time where every dime in the budget should be accounted for, this likely is something that could be publicly funded. I would guess that raising $20 million would be very difficult at this time. It's justification does beat Schumer's and Clinton's in wanting money for a Woodstook museum.

Here, I saw this but did not respond because I have yet to read anything that makes me think that this is a good use of money now. I would be ok with a much smaller amount to go through the papers and archive them before anything is lost. (The only other thing I can think of is that MA gets far less than its share of federal money and the construction of the building will create jobs.)

[ProSense]

6. It's not unusual

Universities get huge earmarks every year.

[beachmom]

4. It's pork, plain and simple. Kerry never said he was against earmarks a la pork.

Pork is not corrupt exactly. It just is an easy target by "watchdog groups" because it is easily pointed out as wasteful and unnecessary to people in other states. Everybody gets all mad, jumps up and down, while the big ticket items like the large defense budget and the entitlement programs continue unfettered. Once in a while an earmark will be removed due to controversy, but most of the time they float by as well.

Will this create jobs for Mass.? Will it help the economy in Boston? If I was a constituent that is what would interest me. As a Georgian, I think it is unnecessary government spending. But I don't live in Boston.

This is one area where Kerry is not a reformer at all.

[ProSense]

5. Here are Kerry's funding resquests:

Senator John Kerry’s Fiscal 2010 Funding Requests For The People of Massachusetts (PDF)

Potential Recipient: Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate Location: Nationwide Purpose: Development of Civics Education Center and National Programs Request: $34 million Project Description: This requested funding will be used to support the development of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate on the campus of the University of Boston-Massachusetts, which is intended to serve as the nation‟s preeminent civics education institution. The Institute will use the role of the US Senate and House of Representatives as tools to teach students of all ages about the unique form of our Constitutional government and representative democracy and will work in close concert with the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the US Congress.

Potential Recipient: Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate Location: Boston, MA Purpose: Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate Request: $2 million Project Description: The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, which will be located on the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, will work closely with the Library of Congress to promote the improvement of civic education using the Legislative Branch of our government as a teaching tool for students of all ages.

[beachmom]

7. This is bad. The editorial board of the Berkshire Eagle is blasting this earmark:

http://www.eagletribune.com/puopinion/local_story_271003233.html?keyword=topstory

The Berkshire Eagle LOVES John Kerry, so I take this critical piece seriously.

I agree with them. Let the Kennedy family do the fundraising. Thing is, this may glide through, but it definitely will leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth that $20 million of taxpayer money is going to something that really should be privately funded. Money (ouch) quote:

Kerry and other senators defend the earmark by citing Kennedy's long tenure on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Kennedy Institute earmark is but one of hundreds of such measures in the defense bill that would divert more than $2 billion in spending from the Pentagon to other purposes.

We are in the middle of a war, one that, in Afghanistan, is in need of greater resources, not fewer. Our troops should get these funds, not the Kennedy Institute. The last time we checked, there were no Taliban raids in Dorchester.

If Sen. Kerry thinks American taxpayers should help pay for a temple to Ted Kennedy, let him file a bill seeking that appropriation on its own merit.

Get this boondoggle out of the defense bill.

But the Kennedy family's relationship with Massachusetts is a phenomenon I will never understand (despite my family's roots in Mass.). And most likely, John Kerry didn't really have much of a choice on this matter. He was asked to do this, no doubt. I hope this is the last act he has to do that strikes me as out of line with his largely ethical non-good-ole-boys record.

[TayTay]

8. It is very difficult to understand those ties

between The Family and Massachusetts. If you understood it, you would either be a Family friend or confidante or be writing a book right about now.

LOL!