Even Barack Obama joins chorus for end of corrupt practice

Dallas, PA – It is widely known that Republican presidential nominee John McCain opposes Washington’s wasteful and corrupt earmark spending system and has never requested an earmark in his 26 years in Congress.  Republican congressional nominee Chris Hackett joins John McCain’s principled stand and has cited ending Washington’s corrupt spending system as a key feature in his campaign’s Declaration of Principles.

Yesterday, we learned that even the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama recognizes the taxpayer rip-off that this system is, and Obama is calling for scaling back earmarks by $9 billion dollars (Bloomberg News, 7/30/08).

Where does that leave liberal Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Carney?  All alone defending the indefensible.

In yesterday’s Susquehanna Independent, Carney said of Hackett’s call to end earmarks, “We couldn’t be farther apart on an issue.  Carney continued, “Hackett says it is a corrupt system. It is not.”

Chris Hackett responded this way: “Chris Carney must not have been paying attention to what’s happening in Congress.  Just this month, another member of Congress was indicted and another was placed under investigation.  This is on top of several former congressmen who are now sitting in prison because of earmark-related corruption.  It’s time we put a stop to the Washington favor factory.  Chris Carney is just about the only person left in America who thinks this is an honest and taxpayer-friendly system.”

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