Category: Spring 2002 Newswire
Senate Begins Confirmation Hearing on Howard Judgeship
WASHINGTON, April 11–Salisbury’s Jeff Howard, a former New Hampshire attorney general and gubernatorial candidate, testified here on Thursday about his suitability for a federal appeals court judgeship.
President George Bush nominated Howard, 45, to the seat on the Boston-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit last August.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held confirmation hearings for Howard and six candidates for U.S. district court seats across the country. The committee will recommend to the full Senate whether Howard should be confirmed.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) gave Howard his “most enthusiastic endorsement,” telling the committee, “I’ve known Jeff Howard for years. He brings to the judiciary the knowledge of the real-world business of law enforcement.” Gregg added that Howard “has been a country attorney as well as an attorney at a large firm in Manchester · He has an exceptional breadth of experience.”
After Gregg left to attend another meeting, Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) ran through Howard’s “impressive array of legal expertise.” He said that Howard has been involved in more 100 cases before the Boston court. Smith also pointed to Howard’s extensive work with victims of domestic violence, which Orrin Hatch (R-UT) called “impressive” when he questioned Howard.
Hatch, the senior Republican on the committee, and chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) asked Howard six main questions, including whether he believed that he could shift from a background in politics to a non-partisan judgeship.
Howard, when asked by Leahy why he thinks some members of a committee investigating whether he is suited for the judgeship concluded that he is not qualified, said: “I can only speculate that it may be because I am not a sitting judge.” Howard has never served as a judge.
Howard has been a state, federal and private lawyer. He was attorney general of New Hampshire from 1993 to1997 after serving as a U.S. Attorney, deputy state attorney general and assistant state attorney general.
After serving as attorney general, Howard worked at the law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart in Manchester until last year. He ran unsuccessfully in 2000 for the Republican gubernatorial nomination and has been in private practice since then.
The Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit presides over appeals from New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico. Six judges serve on the court.
If confirmed for the judgeship, Howard would replace Manchester’s Norman Stahl, who is retiring after holding the seat since 1992.
During Howard’s failed run in the gubernatorial primary, two of his campaign consultants sent mailings and made phone calls attacking his primary challenger, Gordon Humphrey, and Humphrey’s wife, Patty. Attorney General Philip McLaughlin accused the consultants of breaking state campaign finance laws in doing so. This issue did not come up during Thursday’s questioning.
Howard’s wife, Marie, and his sons John and Joseph – who playfully hung on their mother in the committee hearing room- sat five rows behind Howard during the hour and a half proceedings, along with Howard’s brother, Mark Howard, an assistant U.S. attorney in New Hampshire. Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) and former governor Stephen Merrill, whom Howard served under as deputy attorney general in 1988, also stopped by the Dirksen Senate Office Building to support Howard.
Smith takes credit for bringing Howard to the president’s attention and moving his confirmation along in the Senate.
“When the president called me last year and asked who I’d recommend for the seat, they weren’t even thinking of anyone from New Hampshire,” Smith said, moments after he and Gregg introduced Howard to the committee. “Now the president is very pleased with him.”
Jeff Howard’s brother, Mark Howard, said the proceedings “went great,” though he joked that he was “a bit biased.”
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Shays says He Scored Big in Bush Trip
By Justin Hill
WASHINGTON, April 10--Despite not benefiting from President Bush's $1 million fundraising trip to Connecticut Tuesday, Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th, said yesterday he got his "wish" when the president visited Shays' hometown of Bridgeport to talk about national service.
The president came to the Constitution State for two fundraising events in Greenwich, one of the nation's wealthiest communities. One event was for the Connecticut GOP and the other for Reps. Nancy Johnson, R-6th, and Rob Simmons, R-2nd, who are facing very tough reelection battles.
Shays received no money from the events although they were held in his district, but said it didn't bother him.
"Believe it or not, I'm a really good Republican. I am. I'm a very good Republican, and I'm out there raising money," said Shays, acknowledging that he was not in a "targeted race" and realized that some of his colleagues needed more cash for their campaigns. "I'm out there trying to help."
Shays was the principal sponsor of the campaign finance reform bill passed by Congress last month over the strong objections of many Republicans including the House and Senate GOP leadership. But Shays said he wasn't disappointed that the presidential visit didn't enrich his campaign warchest.
"What did I get out of this? I got the president of the United States coming to talk about national serviceá. This is my legislation," Shays said. "I got my wish in getting him all the way to Bridgeport" in addition to the Greenwich events.
"I was asked if I felt I should be a part of [the fundraiser]. And I said, you give me the policy stuff, and I'll raise the money," he added.
But a spokesman for the president pointed out that Bush has continually spoken for and supported national service legislation, and this week in more than one event he focused on volunteerism. The president, who announced plans for the USA Freedom Corps in his State of the Union speech earlier this year, staged two events this week touting national service-in Knoxville, Ky., and Bridgeport.
"He talks about it frequently," said spokesman Ken Lisaius.
In a meeting last year, Shays and Reps. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., and Tim Roemer, D-Ind., told the board of directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service that they would work to reappropriate funds for the organization, which administers AmeriCorps and the Senior Corps. Shays introduced a bill in June 2000 to reauthorize the programs, which was killed in committee. He also unsuccessfully introduced a bill in 1993 making it mandatory for citizens to complete a term of community service.
Simmons and Johnson are in extremely tight races. Simmons, a freshman, is in a race that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists as a "tossup." Because of congressional redistricting, Johnson is vying for a seat in the newly formed 5th District against Democratic Rep. Jim Maloney, who holds the seat in the current 5th District. The Cook Political Report describes that contest as "one of the most hotly fought congressional races in the country this fall."
The fundraisers in Greenwich will help fill the coffers of the Republicans, who hold huge financial advantages over their opponents, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission. As of Dec. 31, Johnson had $1 million more in her campaign account than Maloney. She had $1.3 million on hand at year's end, while the Danbury Democrat had only $295,613, according to filings with the FEC.
Simmons also holds a substantial edge over his potential Democratic challengers. He had $720,274 on hand on Dec. 31, compared with potential Democratic challengers Joseph Courtney's $121,785, Jeff Benedict's $24,196 and Steven Spellman's $5,230 had on hand.
Shays also enjoys a comfortable fundraising advantage over his Democratic challenger Stephanie Sanchez, whom he defeated in the 2000 election by 58-41 percent. According to the FEC filings, he had $109,763 on hand at the end of last year, compared with Sanchez who reported raising $2100 but after her campaign operating expenditures had a deficit of $651.
Shays may not have had the president raise money for him, but he did get the perk of traveling with Bush aboard Air Force One for the trip to Connecticut . "I love it," Shays said. "I'd even be willing to be a flight attendant" on the president's plane.
Published in The Hour, in Norwalk, Conn.
Bringing Home the Bacon
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, April 10--New Hampshire received nearly $100 million in "pork-barrel" spending this year, an increase of $35 million over 2001, a private watchdog group reported yesterday. The spike places New Hampshire 11th in the nation in per capita pork.
"This yearáCongress porked out at record levels," said Thomas A. Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), the author of the annual Congressional Pig Book. "As the nation pays its taxes this monthá.Americansáshould think about what they're paying and what they're getting for their money."
According to CAGW estimates, it took the federal income tax payments of 2,128,110 households at $9,445 each to cover Congress's 2002 "pork bill" of $20.1 billion.
The Pig Book, which profiles the 602 "most egregious" examples of pork, includes several appropriations for New Hampshire. They are: $6 million for the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, $3.35 million for the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm's College, $650,000 for the Mount Washington Technology Village, $500,000 for the Mount Washington Observatory and $230,000 for weather radio transmitters.
The book includes no itemized entries for Massachusetts, which received only $125,000 less than New Hampshire, but ranked 49th in the nation in per capita pork.
According to the CAGW, New Hampshire's high ranking is due to its delegation: Two of its four Congressmen-Rep.John E. Sununu, R-Bedford, and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH--serve on Appropriations Committees. Of the 71 New Hampshire projects included in the 13 appropriations bills, 21 were introduced by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, on which Gregg is the senior Republican. Sununu's Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee introduced an additional 11 projects.
In total, 47 of the earmarks originated in committees on which either Gregg or Sununu served. Gregg's three subcommittees accounted for $58 million of the pork--$45 million of it going to Commerce, State and Judiciary, $9.3 million to the Interior and $4.3 million to Labor, Heath and Human Services, and Education. Sununu's Veteran's Affairs, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee got $4.8 million. (see sidebar for top 10 expenditures)
Massachusetts, with its delegation of 12, has only one member on an Appropriations Committee, Rep. John W. Olver, D-1st.
"If a state doesn't have appropriatorsá.its share [of pork] will be less," said Kerrie Rezak, a research associate with CAGW. "They could ask for one project, but there is a small chance they could ask for 20 projects."
But Rep. John F. Tierney, D-Salem, said the fact that Massachusetts is short of Appropriations Committee members hasn't hurt his district. He said he and other Massachusetts Congressmen are able to work with Olver and other New England appropriators to secure funds for local projects. Last year, Olver helped get nearly $22 million in funding for transportation projects in Massachusetts, including $100,000,000 for the Merrimac Valley Regional Transit Authority.
"We don't have any complaints, nor do our cities and towns, about the way we've been treated by appropriators," Tierney said. "Would we love to have more? Sure we'd love to have more."
Critics say "pork"-money inserted into appropriations bills outside the normal appropriations process-enables Senators and Representatives to increase their clout by sending federal money to their home districts.
But one man's pork is another's jobs program, and Congressmen reply that the local spending targets critical needs in their states. Sununu, who helped secure $3.5 million for a combined sewer overflow project for Manchester and $1.9 million to create more exhibition space at the Alan B. Shepard Discovery Center, said that all the projects he introduced were vital. He conceded that "an awful lot of spending in the budget is not well used or mismanaged," but said he did not see any problems with New Hampshire's priorities.
Asked whether the massive local spending was consistent with the Republican message of fiscal conservatism, he said, "Simply because a member of Congress makes a request for a local priority, it doesn't mean that the funding isn't going to be well used or well spent."
Bass, who does not serve on an Appropriations Committee, said that the New Hamsphire delegation should be congratulated, not excoriated, for bringing home the bacon.
"This is a clear indication of how effective the New Hampshire delegation is and how worthy the projects are that are submitted," he said. "To say that somehow we should be ashamed of it is absolutely wrong."
Gregg, who inserted $3.35 million for the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm's College and $6 million for Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering, did not return calls requesting comment on his add-ons. However, he did issue an unapologetic press release, which read:
"To rephrase the words of Daniel Webster, 'It is, sir, as I have said, a small state. And yet there are those of us who love it!' Federal support of local initiatives is important, and I will continue to support and fund worthwhile projects in New Hampshire from my position on the Appropriations Committee here in the U.S. Senate."
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
House Judiciary Committee Approves INS Reconfiguration Bill
WASHINGTON, April 10--Nearly a month after the Immigration and Naturalization Service approved student visas for two Sept. 11 suicide terrorists, the House Judiciary Committee yesterday approved a bill that would split the beleaguered agency into two separate bureaus, one for law enforcement and one for services such as handling citizenship applications.
The committee agreed almost unanimously, 32-2, to send the bill to the House floor. Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., voted for the bill.
Mr. Frank, the second-leading Democrat on the committee, supported the bill primarily, he said, because its enactment would be likely to open the door to other pieces of legislation that would reform deportation policy, an issue affecting many New Bedford residents. "In other words, with this bill, there [would] be a better framework to take up some other things, like deportation," he said.
Judiciary Committee chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., a sponsor of the Immigration Reform and Accountability Act, said at Tuesday's hearing on the legislation that Congress can no longer accept internal reorganizations of the INS, a Justice Department agency. "The agency operates in constant crisis management mode, responding to error after mishap, with no coherent strategy of how to accomplish its law enforcement or services missions successfully," he said. "Even when INS headquarters develops a strategy, it is ignored out in the field. It has become clear to me that yet another internal tinkering of the boxes is not going to solve the systemic problems that exist."
During yesterday's bill markup, he offered a similar sentiment. "One of the problems with the current INS is different interpretations of the same law," he said. "Different strokes for different folks."
Mr. Sensenbrenner also said he was pleased with the bipartisan support of the bill, a rare occurrence in that committee.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., is expected to propose his own INS overhaul bill in the Senate sometime in the next week.
INS Commissioner James Ziglar, a witness at Tuesday's hearing, said the House measure lacks the accountability of an INS reorganization proposal put forth by the Bush administration. The House bill proposes that a new Agency for Immigrant Affairs be created to replace the INS. It would be headed by a new associate attorney general for immigrant affairs, to whom the directors of the service bureau and the enforcement bureau would report. The legislation would also create an office of ombudsman reporting directly to the associate attorney general and Congress.
The Bush administration has proposed a streamlined chain of command at the INS with an organizational structure resembling a corporate model and without the addition of the associate attorney general position. Like the House measure, the administration plan would divide the enforcement and service bureaus and create a new chief information officer, whose responsibility would be to ensure effective integration and coordination of data systems of mutual interest to the service and enforcement bureaus, and a new chief financial officer, responsible for ensuring sound fiscal management.
"A key element of the restructuring is to provide clarity of function by improving accountability and professionalism through a clear and understandable chain of command with specific expertise at all levels," Mr. Ziglar said.
Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge has also proposed that the Border Patrol, one of the INS's enforcement units, be merged with the Treasury Department's Customs Service and assigned to the Justice Department.
Congressman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., one of the two dissenting votes on the Judiciary Committee, cautioned patience. "I am a harsh critic of the INS," she said, "but [Mr. Ziglar] was on the job for only 36 days before Sept. 11, so we should give him the chance to get things done. If he can't, replace him. We ought to give him the tools, and let him get the job done."
Not everyone outside the Capitol Beltway is championing the INS reconfiguration plans. Helena Marques of the Immigrants' Assistance Center of New Bedford said it targeted undocumented residents, forcing them to "work under the table."
"I think it will force a lot of those that are undocumented to return to their countries where they come from," she said, "or it will be difficult for them to survive in the U.S. It will create even more problems in this community."
Ms. Marques agreed that an overhauled INS would be more accountable and better organized - she said many New Bedford residents' citizenship applications are often lost within the agency. "I'm very cautious, though, because I never know how it [will affect those that are undocumented]," she said. "I'm a little skeptical."
Eva Millona, naturalization policy director for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy, said that though her group has a good working relationship with the INS, she believes reform is needed. "Yet it must be manageable and capable of responding effectively to repair the current system," she said.
Splitting the agency into two smaller bureaus makes sense on a local level, she said, but added that Congress needed to ensure a united agency nationally. "If, in due course, Congress decides to separate law enforcement and service, it should require coordination between the two functions to ensure a unified immigration policy," Ms. Millona said. "There is a need to share information systems. A shared database system is crucial."
Written for the New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
Profile: Lorraine Rudowski
WASHINGTON, April 09--Having tap danced in a million-dollar ballroom of New Bedford to waltzing with a King in a foreign country, Lorraine Rudowski is putting on her dancing shoes one more time as she prepares to return for her 55th high school reunion.
With a Coast Guard station in New Bedford and another in Newport, R.I., right across the state line, New Bedford in the 1940s hosted young servicemen from all over the country and boasted the million-dollar ballroom for USOs.
"Wartime in New Bedford was absolutely fabulous," remembers Millie Arena, a former resident of New Bedford and a lifelong friend of Mrs. Rudowski. "There was dancing all around us. Lorraine and I danced and singed and entertained; we were even offered jobs as roller-skaters in the Rollercapades. But, Lorraine had a different agenda."
At the age of 18, Mrs. Rudowski left her cheerleading and choir days at New Bedford High School and embarked on a journey of different cultures, religions and many different countries. Although she hasn't lived here since then, New Bedford, she said, always remained her home.
The wife of a foreign service officer who traveled the globe with her husband for more than a dozen years, Mrs. Rudowski raised her five children in while traveling to different countries. When her children were almost grown, at the age of 47, Mrs. Rudowski launched a career as a nurse and nursing instructor and then at the age of 60 she joined the Army as a reserve nurse.
At the beginning of the Gulf War in 1989, Mrs. Rudowski was teaching nursing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia and when she saw the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine Corps recruiting her students she decided to sign her name on the dotted line and join up.
Because military nurses were in short supply, Congress had lifted the age limitation and Mrs. Rudowski "filled out all the paperwork, did the physical and the drug testing and signed up for three years."
Mrs. Rudowski began her once-a-month rotations in the OBGYN department of Walter Reed Hospital, then located in Fairfax, VA. "I would wake up at four in the morning and put on my camouflage and boots and head to the hospital," she said.
At the end of her three-year stint in the Army reserve, Mrs. Rudowski retired from the military after contracting pneumonia on a trip to Russia.
But she continued her teaching of international health courses and global health to international graduate students studying world health and policy at George Mason University.
It was while she was working in a local Fairfax hospital in 1984 that Mrs. Rudowski was offered a job in the international nursing program at George Mason and began training nursing students from the university.
"Lorraine has been invaluable - she is the individual where all the knowledge really resides," said Rita Carty, dean of the George Mason University School of Nursing. "She knows about languages, religions, customs within the countries and the cultures around the worldáshe is probably the secret to the success of the international nursing program. Our secret weapon has been Lorraine."
"She's one sexy old broad," said Dean Carty. "I've seen her charm diplomats and ambassadors all over the world."
Decked out in a red suede jacket with matching lipstick and silver nail polish, it's not hard to imagine why. And at 73, Mrs. Rudowski shows no sign of stopping.
During a nursing conference in Botswana a few years ago, Mrs. Rudowski and Dean Carty attended the wedding of the king's son, where they were escorted "in buses with guards and AK47'sáand we were told to act accordingly," Dean Carty remembers.
Standing in the receiving line, Mrs. Rudowski decided she needed a greeting for the king in his native tongue so she asked the man standing in line next to her.
"Lorraine greeted the ruling family in their language, and to this day we don't know what she said to the king, but he bent over laughing with the biggest smile," Dean Carty said. "After that, the party went to hell in a hand basket. The music started, and Lorraine must have danced with the entire ruling party of Botswana. The only thing she wasn't able to pull off was a trip to the diamond mines."
Mrs. Rudowski learned those diplomatic skills during the many years she spent overseas with her husband Daniel Rudowski who she married at the age of 19.
In 1961, at the beginning of the Vietnam War, Mr. Rudowski joined the U.S. Agency for International Development, which landed the Rudowski's and their children (five of them by then) in Laos, South Vietnam, Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand and finally Kenya from 1963 to 1976.
"The minute I got off the airplane on a Sunday in Laos, I was teaching school and started a swimming program," said Mrs. Rudowski, who had worked for the Red Cross before leaving the United States. "When I left Laos it was probably the most emotional thing, because I saw what I created, and people would just come up to me on the street and say 'thanks.' "
Wherever she went, Mrs. Rudowski made an impact. In Taiwan and Turkey, she continued to teach swimming and water safety to local and American children and received a medal from the American Red Cross for her work in developing swimming programs internationally.
In Bangkok, Mrs. Rudowski was the assistant director of the teen club and started the swimming program with the Red Cross before the family was moved to Kenya, where she also established a student following.
"During the time when we were in the Foreign Service, women weren't supposed to work," said Mrs. Rudowski. "We were to support our husbands and support our directors. And that was fine, but I always started something on my own."
By now, her children were growing up and Mrs. Rudowski decided they needed to come home.
"My kids were afraid to come back to the United States because they were afraid of the system and they didn't know the rules," she said. "Finally I told my husband, 'That's it. These kids have got to go back and learn about their own culture.' And that's when we came home."
Mr. Rudowski is retired from the State Department and his wife says "He makes dinner now. He'd better make dinner!" The couple is getting ready to celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary.
Mrs. Rudowski still works five days a week and drives there in her new gold Chrysler LeBaron, listening to rock and roll on a Washington, radio station. As she pulls up to the George Mason campus Mrs. Rudowski points and waves at people on the street who she studied nursing with more than 30 years ago.
"I know everyone," she said as she drove into the parking lot and asked the ticket attendant how she liked the new car.
Once inside, she walks down the corridor of the school to her office, hugging her foreign students and making a point of telling them, "I'm proud of you."
"My responsibility is to educate and share my knowledge on different cultures. I want my grandchildren to think like I do," Mrs. Rudowski said. "I want them to be colorblind - I don't want them to see black, yellow, and Chinese. I don't care who you are, what you are, or where you came fromá. Everyone has something to offer."
Two years ago, Mrs. Rudowski suffered a heart attack while teaching a class. When she woke, she found that her students had gathered in the Intensive Care Unit, telling the nurses in the department that they were Mrs. Rudowski's children.
"They made straight A's after that," she said.
After her heart attack, Mrs. Rudowski's five children, who are all teachers, decided it was time for her to retire. But Mrs. Rudowski didn't agree.
"I'm not quitting my job - I'm going to keep working," she said. "My kids threw me a big going away party last year, and I continued to work every day after that party. And I kept the gifts."
Now, she's looking forward to her New Bedford High School 55th high school reunion in June. She's attended a number of them, but is especially looking forward to this one.
"When I go back to Massachusetts and I see my sisters, I'm very cognizant of what they are doing. I can't wait to go back to Massachusetts and talk to my cousinsá I love hearing their stories," she said. "But New England is very conservative, and after three days visiting, I'm just like them!"
When asked if she would do anything different in her life, Mrs. Rudowski replied, "I take it one day at a time, and I'm not ready to look at that question."
Written for The New Bedford Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass.
NH Spending Labeled Pork
WASHINGTON, April 09--Members of Congress were accused of "porking out" during the past fiscal year, with yesterday's release of the 2001 Congressional Pig Book. New Hampshire, with almost $100 million appropriated for various projects, was ranked the 11th highest pork-receiving state on a per capita basis.
The Pig Book, produced by the Washington-based non-profit group Citizens Against Government Waste, revealed an increase in so-called pork-barrel spending on a state-by-state basis.
At a press conference yesterday, Senator John McCain, R-AZ, whose 2000 presidential primary campaign focused largely on the elimination of pork spending, criticized fellow Congressmen for circumventing the appropriations process to "earmark" funds for their state's projects.
"Any project that is inserted into a federal appropriation without the budgetary process or the appropriations process is pork," said Sean Rushton, the media director for Citizens Against Government Waste. He called the unauthorized earmarks "items that individual members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees add illegally to the appropriations billá and tend to be frivolous uses of taxpayer dollars or kickbacks to interests in their home state."
The report defines pork spending broadly, requiring an earmarked appropriation to meet only one of the organization's seven criteria. As a result, many of the appropriations are listed as pork simply for having been added in after the presidential budget was approved.
The number of earmarks added to appropriations bills has skyrocketed in the past few years, Rushton said. Appropriators inserted 8,341 projects into the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 32 percent over last year's total of 6,333 projects, costing taxpayers an estimated $20.1 billion.
Among New Hampshire projects labeled "pork" were the downtown Keene ice arena ($140,000), the cleanup of the Industrial Heritage Corridor Brownfields in Keene ($500,000), and funds for a wastewater treatment facility in Jaffrey ($1,000,000).
U.S. Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H., secured the funds to assist restoration of the Keene Brownfields through his position as ranking member of the Senate Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee.
"I don't see it as pork at all. We're bringing the property back into full use, versus having urban sprawl and the abandonment of downtown areas," Keene city manager John MacLean said. "You might think it's pork-barrel spending, but it's not."
Tom Rodenhauser, director of the Monadnock Ice Center Association, defended the appropriation of federal funds to build and operate the proposed Keene ice arena. "We're building a community ice rink, and to anyone against providing opportunities for kidsá I wouldn't call this government waste; I mean it's laughable. This is community redevelopment."
Last year's report marked New Hampshire as the 13th highest pork spender on a per capita basis, two spots lower than this year. Though the report suggests the state is increasingly wasting taxpayer money, some see it as a sign of New Hampshire's strong congressional advocacy.
"This is a clear indication of how effective the New Hampshire delegation is, and how worthy the projects are that are submitted, and how well-prepared and capable the people of New Hampshire are," said Congressman Charles Bass, R-N.H., who assisted in securing the grant to build the Keene ice rink.
Congressman John Sununu, R-N.H., who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, defended the federal role in mandating funds for local projects.
"I think that simply because a member of Congress makes a request for a local priority, it doesn't mean funding isn't going to be well used or that it's not well-spent," Sununu said. "I think every project needs to stand on its own merits."
The group contends that if congressional delegates seek funds for projects in their home states, it should be done through the proper authorization and budget process and not in conference committees.
"We don't say that it's wrong for members of the House and Senate to fight for their local and state interests, but they should be forced to do it in a transparent way, in a fair way that guarantees that there's at least a certain amount of accountability when public money gets spent," Rushton said.
Senator Gregg said he would "continue to support and fund worthwhile projects in New Hampshire."
"To rephrase the words of Daniel Webster," Gregg said in a statement, "'It is, sir, as I have said, a small state. And yet there are those of us who love it!'"
Published in The Keene Sentinel, in New Hampshire
DeLauro: The Passion Behind The Scarves
WASHINGTON, April 09--It's 9:45 a.m. on a recent Thursday morning, the last day before Congress adjourns for a two-week district work period, and U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro has a great deal to accomplish before the day's end.
The Easter holiday traffic has made the six-term representative later than usual in arriving from her Capitol Hill home and Ashley Westbrook, her communications director, is briefing DeLauro on what's ahead. It is a moment of calm before the whirlwind of the day begins in earnest. The typically frenzied day won't end until DeLauro flies out of the capital and back to Connecticut almost 12 hours later.
As soon as Westbrook finishes her briefing, DeLauro glances at her watch and darts down the hallway of the Rayburn Office Building toward her first meeting of the day.
Her colleagues don't seem to notice her tardiness in arriving for the hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and the Food and Drug Administration and make no effort to edge their chairs forward as she squeezes behind them en route to her assigned seat.
DeLauro, 59, alternates between organizing the scads of legal pads and paperwork set before her and whispering back and forth with Mike Skonieczny, one of two legislative assistants she has designated to help brief her with background information throughout the hearing on the activities of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
She has already missed most of the witness's testimony, and now the subcommittee's senior Democrat, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, begins questioning the FDA deputy commissioner just as DeLauro settles herself in her seat.
Kaptur wants to know how the FDA plans to prevent the spread of salmonella in eggs and other food. She holds up a plastic, candy-filled egg the Agriculture Department gave to the subcommittee as an early Easter treat, and addresses the witness, who has been skirting around her questions.
"So you're recommending that people don't have eggs easy up?" Kaptur asks, prompting a quick, hearty laugh from DeLauro.
"Thanks, Rosa. I need Rosa here," Kaptur says.
Amused, but not distracted, DeLauro returns to her notes as her colleague continues. She highlights passages with her pencil, and gets so involved in the paperwork that her glasses slip down the bridge of her nose.
"I don't go to these hearings to just sit there," she says later that day. "I think people judge you on your responsiveness and your understanding of what their lives are about, and whether you try to do something about it."
When the subcommittee turns to discussing medication doses for children, DeLauro tells the witness: "I am very, very disappointed with the FDA's announcement that, as I understand it, it is going to suspend the requirements for drug makers to test their products to make sure they are safe and that they are effective for children, children are not little adults·. They require different dosage levels."
Her voice gets slightly louder and more strident, and her face reddens as she questions the witness. DeLauro, who won a bout with ovarian cancer 16 years ago, is well known for her vigorous positions on health issues and in favor of more screening and funding for health programs.
"Thank you for that brief additional question," jokes the subcommittee's chairman, Henry Bonilla, R-Texas. She thanks him for his "indulgence" in allowing her to go over her allotted five minutes. The audience laughs, and DeLauro responds with a slight chuckle that immediately switches to a lighthearted apology.
She immediately confers with Kaptur on her right and Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-NY, on her left, on the FDA's proposed policy. Then another glance at her watch reveals that she needs to be somewhere else.
Like other members of Congress, DeLauro has many demands on her time, on this day - two committee hearings at the same time - which often forces her to make tough choices about where to be and what to be doing.
Leaving her coat and bag behind, she quickly scuttles out the exit to another Appropriations subcommittee hearing in a room 60 feet away. In the hallway, senior legislative assistant Sarah K. Walkling spends approximately 10 seconds briefing DeLauro on what has already gone on in the second hearing, which started at the same time as the first.
For the next half hour, DeLauro directs her inquiries to a witness from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a new media campaign designed to combat the country's obesity "epidemic" by promoting healthy food diets for children 9 to 14 years old.
"I believe kids can lead us to adults. I think our kids did that on environmental issues and they do that on smoking issues," DeLauro says before heading back to spend another 30 minutes at the first, FDA hearing.
Then she grabs her belongings so she can meet some constituents, who are waiting for her in the hallway. She hugs East Haddam resident Eva Bunnell, of Authentic Voices, part of a nationwide movement working to end all forms of child abuse. Bunnell is flanked by several other people whose lives have also been affected by child abuse and neglect.
The small group chats as they take the elevator down one floor to DeLauro's office where they reconvene in her personal office.
The members of Authentic Voices have also brought along the National Child Abuse Coalition's legislative counsel, Tom Birch, in an effort to lobby the congresswoman for federal funds they can apply to child abuse prevention programs, according to her press secretary Westbrook.
Bunnell and her associates leave at 12:30, and DeLauro, who, Westbrook says, usually has only enough time for a cup of soup for lunch as she looks over notes or makes telephone calls, skips lunch entirely this day.
"These are busy lives," DeLauro says, finally taking a moment to sip some water from her electric-blue coffee mug. "It has been for all 435 of us [representatives] who are here. It occupies all of my waking time and I'm pretty sure some of the time when I'm sleeping, but I love what I'm doing."
So instead of lunch this day, she meets with Nancy Gantert Ryan of Branford and Mindy J. Schwartzman of New Haven, the only Connecticut elementary school teachers who were in town to receive the 2001 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.
Sitting on a chair opposite the two teachers, DeLauro leans forward to ask them for the details of their achievement and the state of education and teaching in Connecticut as well as in the rest of the country.
"In the inner city, we are the [students'] mothers, psychiatrists and the whole nine yards," says Schwartzman, who taught her fourth grade class at Clinton Avenue School how to plot and graph the velocity of water by involving them in a hands-on mathematical investigation of the Quinnipiac River
Clearly pleased by their innovative techniques, DeLauro takes the opportunity before the teachers leave to discuss improvements she believes the Connecticut school system can make to help inspire students to learn about subjects outside the norm, including biodefense-related topics.
"Then they will go into the world thinking·on a higher level," agrees Ryan, who taught her fourth graders at Mary T. Murphy School the scientific importance of interactions that occur between an aquarium ecosystem and a "sub-supportive" ecosystem by using soda bottles.
Although running behind schedule, the congresswoman takes a few moments to collect herself before leaving the Rayburn Building at 1:20 p.m. to meet with fellow Democrats to share strategies on forthcoming legislation.
DeLauro will continue with these meetings until 5 pm. Her final meeting is with other members of the Connecticut delegation and the chairman of United Technologies Corp., the parent company of Sikorsky Aircraft, located in both Bridgeport and Stratford.
After a short stop to finally get a bite to eat at a fundraising reception hosted by U.S. Rep. Charles A. Gonzalez, D-Texas, who is running unopposed for re-election in November.
DeLauro is ready head home to New Haven. Typically she boards a plane every Thursday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport with only herself, a briefcase and several shopping bags brimming with paperwork while leaving behind a closet filled with her array of trademark scarves and colorful attire. Tonight will be no different.
At 8:40 p.m., DeLauro's flight will carry her and her husband, prominent political pollster Stanley Greenberg, back to New Haven where she can temporarily relax until she sets out the following day for multiple events.
Her Connecticut schedule is filled with meetings with constituents. DeLauro's district has been redrawn and now includes three new towns and a crescent-shaped portion of Waterbury.
DeLauro says if she is re-elected this fall she wants to work with these communities and with people such as U.S. Rep. James H. Maloney, D-5th, to address their "specific needs" and their "economic development concerns."
"I enjoy what I do," she said, "and I'll continue to do it for as long as the people will continue to elect me."
Published in The Waterbury Republican-American, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Merrimack Road Worker, Others Commemorated in Memorial Wall
WASHINGTON, April 09--Transportation officials unveiled a new National Workforce Memorial wall in nearby Maryland on Tuesday that recognizes people who have been killed in highway work zones, including a worker from Merrimack.
Daniel Carswell was killed in 1997 while working on the Everett Turnpike, according to Bill Boynton, the public information officer for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. Carswell's name is now listed with approximately 750 other road workers and other people on a 24 foot-long wall reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial.
Boynton said Carswell, a 13-year veteran of the Transportation Department, worked in the Department of Turnpikes in Merrimack. An elderly driver hit him while he was picking up trash on the median near Exit 5 in Nashua. Carswell, who was 33, died immediately, leaving a wife, Cheryl, and daughter, Nicole.
Boynton submitted Carswell's name to the Fredericksburg, Va.-based American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) last November after hearing about its plans to build a wall recognizing people killed in highway work zone accidents.
ATSSA represents the segment of the roadway industry that maintains and installs safety features such as signs, pavement marking, guardrails and lighting.
"I suggested Daniel because his death was very traumatic and something you don't want to repeat," Boynton said. Work zone danger, Boynton said, "is an issue that I hear about all the time from workers."
Boynton hopes the wall will increase awareness of work zones and make drivers more cautious when driving near them.
The number of work zone fatalities has increased every year and is likely to continue to increase as the number of highway projects rises, according to James Baron, the communications director for ATSSA.
In 2000, 1,093 people died in work zones, up from 868 in 1999 and 789 in 1995, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More than three-fourths of them last year were drivers. In addition, according to the NHTSA, approximately 40,000 crashes occur in work zones annually.
"Most roadways were built in the 1950s," Baron said at a ceremony to unveil the wall. "They need constant attention, and will need more. Motorists should be aware that if they think they're seeing a lot of work zones now, they haven't seen anything yet."
Most of the names on the memorial wall are those of highway workers, even though they represent a minority of those killed in work zones. "We have so many workers [listed] because we look after our own," Boynton said. People, he said, can submit the names of loved ones who died in work zone accidents for inclusion on the wall.
People on the wall died as long ago as the 1940s, according to Baron.
The wall is made of the same reflecting sheeting that road signs are made of. Names are raised so that loved ones can make rubbings of the names. Each name has a symbol next to it to signify whether the deceased was a child, a law enforcement officer, a motorist, a pedestrian, a public safety official or a work zone worker.
Jan Miller, the vice president of sales for Eastern Metal/USA-Sign, the Elmira, New York-based company that built the wall, estimates that it cost $8,000 to $10,000. The money came from transportation organizations that sponsored it.
The wall was unveiled at a ceremony with various transportation organizations and families of the deceased. The unveiling took place in College Park, alongside a highway work zone, as part of the third annual National Work Zone Safety Week.
After Tuesday's ceremony the wall was shipped to Pennsylvania for display. It will later travel to New York, Vermont, Washington, South Carolina, Illinois and Missouri. Boynton said he hopes the wall will come to New Hampshire at some point.
A bill moving through the New Hampshire legislature would name the Merrimack patrol facility where Carswell worked after him. The bill, introduced by Rep. Marlene DeChane, D-Barrington, passed the House and is awaiting Senate action.
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
New Hampshire Ranks 11th in Per Capita Pork, Up from 13th Last Year
WASHINGTON, April 09--New Hampshire's fiscally conservative lawmakers weren't so frugal last year when it came to pork barrel spending, according to a report released by a private watchdog group Tuesday.
Lawmakers, however, said they were simply effective in convincing others of the importance of Granite State projects when they brought home close to $100 million in contested appropriations for the current fiscal year.
While constituents appreciate federal funds garnered by members, some spending hawks criticize lawmakers when they bring home disproportionate spending, familiarly called pork-barrel spending.
The 2002 Congressional "Pig Book," released by the non-profit Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), reveals that New Hampshire ranks 11th among the states in per capita pork this year, up from 13th last year. New Hampshire received 65 appropriations totaling $99,373,280 - $78.29 per person - in specific earmarks from the federal government.
Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) balked at the suggestion that New Hampshire's ranking worsened from last year. "It's better," he said. "These projects are better than those for any other states. The delegation worked hard." The first district congressman, who sits on the House Budget Committee, added that "the Appropriations Committee makes decisions between competing options. The projects can not fly on their own."
The three largest New Hampshire appropriations mentioned by the group for 2002 were $7.5 million for the Manchester Airport, $6 million for the Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering and $5.84 million for air traffic control facilities at the airport.
CAGW defines pork barrel spending as money that meets at least one of these criteria: it was requested by only one chamber of Congress, was not specifically authorized, was not competitively awarded, was not requested by the president, greatly exceeds the president's budget request or the previous year's spending level, was not the subject of congressional hearings and serves only a local or special interest.
"I think that simply because a member of Congress makes a request for a local priority doesn't necessarily mean the funding isn't going to be well used or that it's not well spent," said Rep. John Sununu (R-NH), a member of the House Appropriations Committee and vice chairman of the Budget Committee. "I think every project has to stand on its own merits."
One such project is the $3.6 million that Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) helped appropriate for the International Paper Co. land in the North Country, which the Pig Book defined as pork.
"This is one of the most important conservation initiatives, not just in New Hampshire but in the entire Northeast," said Sununu, who sat on a steering committee for the land deal project along with the other members of the New Hampshire delegation. "I think it's the exact kind of conservation program that the Forest Legacy Program was designed for."
The Agriculture Department's Forest Legacy Program gives grants to states for private land conservation.
Bass added that federal money pays for public land in other parts of the country. "We spend vast amounts of money in stewardship of western resources," he said. "This is tiny. This is the United States. For me to be unilaterally opposed to anything other than what New Hampshire cares about would be somewhat myopic."
Also in the Pig Book was $3.5 million that Manchester received for a combined sewer overflow project, which Sununu pointed out was money to fulfill a government mandate.
"That was a request I made for the city of Manchester to help comply with federal standards for cleaning up the wastewater that flows into the Merrimack River," he said. "Cleaning up the river is a critical initiative for Manchester and the state of New Hampshire. I think the federal government should have a direct appropriation role."
Of the 65 New Hampshire appropriations in the Pig Book, 21 - more than a third of all the pork spending for the state were labeled as commerce appropriations. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), is the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary.
Another 18 appropriations were labeled VA / HUD. Sununu sits on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent Agencies.
Another popular earmark - transportation - appeared 11 times on the list of 65. Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH) is the senior Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which introduced some of the legislation.
The smallest of the 65 appropriations, under the VA / HUD label, was $40,000 for "My Friends Place," an emergency shelter in Dover.
New Hampshire's No. 13 ranking last year was based on $64,520,000 in appropriations, or $52.21 per person.
New Hampshire's senators both received awards for their fiscal thrift in recent months.
Sen. Smith received the National Taxpayers Union "Taxpayers' Friend Award" earlier this month for voting to reduce and control the tax burden on the American people. He ranked among the top five in the Senate.
Sen. Gregg was awarded the "Hero of the Taxpayer Award" in February by Americans for Tax Reform for votes during the first session of the current Congress "defending against tax increases and working to reform the U.S. tax code," according to a news release.
Gregg, in a statement, said he would "continue to support and fund worthwhile projects in New Hampshire from my position on the Appropriations Committee here in the U.S. Senate." He added: "To rephrase the words of Daniel Webster, 'It is, sir, as I have said, a small state. And yet there are those of us who love it!'"
Published in The Union Leader, in Manchester, New Hampshire
Profile: Kelly Keehan
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, April 07--For a week, she was a celebrity, hounded by the press, approached by strangers, feted by ambassadors.
Now Kelly Keehan of Danville is back to being a student.
"It was my ten seconds of fame," joked Keehan. "Now I have to copy notes and get caught up."
Keehan, the daughter of Edward and Cathy Keehan, was Princess New Hampshire, the state's representative in the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC. Last week, she joined princesses from the 49 other states and 14 countries to dine with the First Lady, tour NASA, visit with Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and meet members of Congress.
"The diplomatic opportunities were very exciting," said Keehan, who hopes to work for the State Department and eventually become an ambassador.
Unlike Miss America, the Cherry Blossom Festival is not a beauty contest. The Queen is chosen by the random spin of a wheel, and State Societies-essentially, booster clubs for residents of various states in Washington, D.C.-are free to elect their princess however they want.
Keehan, a sophomore international studies major at George Washington University, was picked because she stood out as "motivated, interested in foreign affairs, and well-spoken," said Virginia Wilbert of Nashua, secretary of the New Hampshire State Society and last year's state princess.
"She's mature enough to go abroad and represent us as an ambassador," said Wilbert, an aide in Congressman Charles F. Bass, R-Peterborough's office. Keehan spent last semester in Hong Kong, did a High School exchange with Germany and speaks French, German, Spanish, and a little Chinese. At age 13, she served as a student ambassador to Australia and New Zealand through a "People to People" exchange.
Washington's two-week Cherry Blossom festival celebrates Japan's gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees to Washington, D.C. in 1912, and the Queen travels to Japan for two weeks to meet with national and local dignitaries.
Wilbert said the "princess" name has been maintained out of respect for a sister festival in Japan. The Japanese Cherry Blossom Queen attends the Washington festival, and many of the events-such as the lantern lighting society, the sake and sushi reception, and the reception at the Japanese ambassador's home-are centered around cross-cultural exchange.
"There is such a rich tradition behind this, with the history of diplomatic relations between us and Japan, said Martha Marrapese, a member of the New Hampshire State Society and New Hampshire's 1986 Cherry Blossom Princess.
But while the Festival bulletin explicitly states that the Festival is NOT a beauty pageant, the distinction is lost on many tourists, who would see the sashes and ask "are you Miss America, are you Miss New Hampshire," Keehan said.
"There are a surprising number of people asking for photographs," she said.
Keehan, with her small entourage of local reporters and photographers, looked like even more the celebrity than the average princess. "Everybody kept asking me 'why are people following you, what did you do.'"
Then there was the police escort. Like the President's motorcade, the princess' twin tour buses were escorted everywhere by officers on motorcycles and cars. The escort "lets us run red lightsáand drive in the wrong lane," Keehan reported enthusiastically.
"I brought a video camera to film it" she said.
From Sunday through Thursday last week, Keehan and the other princesses were rushed from meetings, to luncheons, to tours. On Friday, they were primped and pampered, prepared for the evening's ball. Keehan, who has short hair, was given what her stylist calls a "funky" do, spiky and tousled, with twists embellished by pearls.
"You are going to be our funky princess," stylist Dawn promised. "Very, very modern."
Later, Keehan confided that "My mom is going to ask 'what happened to your hair.'á.But I like it."
According to Keehan, there were few prima donnas at the festival, though "some of the girls are deb," means debutante. "You can tell who is being nice because they've been taught to be nice, to be Miss Congeniality, and who is sincere," she said.
Friday night, Keehan attended the ball with Sung Lee, a fellow sophomore from George Washington University. Other princesses were escorted by military dates from the US Naval Academy. The program provided them with a form that allowed them to specify height and any other criteria for their military date.
One princess asked for "Prince Charming," the princesses reported.
In the end, the Queen title went to Elizabeth O'Connor, the princess from Connecticut. She and runner-up Leslie Braitsch of Virginia rode on the honorary float in Saturday's closing parade. .
"We all wanted to be runner-up so we could ride on the float," said Keehan, who walked with the other princesses. "Our feet hurt."
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
