John Murtha, who represents Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District, has often been called the "King of Pork".
So all we can lay claim to is his protégé, Paul "Prince of Pork" Kanjorski.
Recently, the US Army Corps of Engineers let the air out of one of Mr. Kanjorski's favorite fantasies, the inflatable dam.
The idea of putting a dam across one of the most polluted rivers in the United States ranks right up there with one Mr. Kanjorski's earlier hair- brained schemes, the Nanticoke Monorail.
So, how much taxpayer money leaked out of the inflatable dam?
Well, according to recent news reports, the original earmark that Mr. Kanjorski was given for this project was 14 million dollars.
And Luzerne county spent 1.4 million dollars as it's share of the cost of the feasibility studies.
The same news accounts stated that of the original earmark, 13 million dollars is left.
And Luzerne county will only be able to recoup 75% of the money it put up.
So the taxpayers are out one million three hundred and fifty thousand dollars without a thing to show for it.
With other pork barrel projects, at least the taxpayers can point out something, no matter how ridiculous it may be, and say "My tax dollars paid for that".
You would think that having the Prince of Pork on our side would entitle us to something more than 1,350,000 dollars worth of hot air.
END OF POST
