New Britain Improvement Projects Called “Pork”
By Emily Beaver
WASHINGTON, April 6 -Federal grants that may be used to improve computer records at New Britain General Hospital and replace the water tank on Elam Street are “pork-barrel” spending projects, according to a report released Wednesday by Citizens Against Government Waste.
The group dedicated to eliminating government waste listed a $300,000 grant for facilities and equipment at New Britain General Hospital and a $300,000 grant for city water infrastructure improvements in its 2005 Congressional Pig Book.
The Pig Book, which CAGW calls an “expose of pork-barrel spending,” names nearly 14,000 projects throughout the country earmarked for federal funding. CGAW president Thomas Schatz said the Pig Book aims to hold members of congress responsible for spending on local projects, which is rapidly increasing.
“We want to ask members of Congress if their parochial project is more important than our nation’s financial security,” Schatz said at a press conference Wednesday.
Although the book highlights what it calls some of the “most egregious and blatant examples of pork,” like $70,000 granted to the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame in Wisconsin, New Britain organizations said the grants they receive are necessary to fund important programs.
Gilbert Bligh, director of the city’s water department, said a $300,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency would be used to replace a 67-year-old water tank on Elam Street. The federal grant is “a key part” of funding the project, which has a $2.7 million estimated cost, Bligh said.
“We’re a distressed city and the money is needed so we can replace the water tank,” he said.
New Britain General Hospital plans to use its grant for new computer software that would allow the Emergency Room to obtain patients’ medical documents, said Larry Tanner, the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer.
Tanner said it was “irresponsible” of CAGW to call a new information system for the hospital a pork-barrel project.
“If someone thinks that’s pork-barrel money, then tell them not to get sick,” he said.
All of the “pork-barrel” grants listed in the Pig Book met at least one of seven criteria. Those criteria included grants that were requested by only one chamber of Congress, grants that were not requested by President George W. Bush and grants that “greatly exceed” the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding.
The book named a total 107 pork projects in Connecticut. The state ranked 36 th in the country for “pork per capita,” spending $25.26 per person on pork-barrel projects.
