Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Where are Biden's earmark request?



Washington Times:

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. is requesting more than a quarter-billion dollars in earmarks to pay for projects in his home state of Delaware in fiscal 2009, but Republicans want to know when he will release the wish lists from the rest of his 35-year Senate career.

And they're pointing to the words of a top official in Sen. Barack Obama's own campaign to push for the information.

In March, when Mr. Obama released his 2005 and 2006 earmark requests, his communications director, Robert Gibbs, called on then-rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to do the same.

"If Senator Clinton will not agree to join Senator Obama in releasing her earmark requests, voters should ask why she doesn't believe they have the right to know ... ." he said.

Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz said Mr. Obama should hold Mr. Biden to the same standard of transparency.

"For decades, Biden has sought millions upon millions in earmarks and has yet to disclose those requests so that the American people can review his special-interest track record for themselves," he said.

"Instead of talking a good game on the stump, Obama should follow through and ask Biden to release his earmarks."

...

Republicans are especially interested in scouring Mr. Biden's old earmark requests for any ties to clients of Mr. Biden's lobbyist son, R. Hunter Biden. The younger Biden halted his lobbying work last week, less than a month after his father became Mr. Obama's running mate. Mr. Obama refuses to take money from federal lobbyists, though he does take contributions from past lobbyists, lobbying-firm partners and statehouse lobbyists.

Hunter Biden co-founded a lobbying firm, Oldaker, Biden & Belair LLP, along with William Oldaker, a supporter of Mr. Biden who helped launch his political action committee, Unite Our States, in 2005.

The firm's clients over the years included the University of Delaware, for which Mr. Biden has secured millions of dollars in earmarks, and the University of Scranton in Mr. Biden's Pennsylvania hometown.

...

The Democrats push back on Palin's request, without acknowledging the fact that they would not know to do that if she had not disclosed it. So why want Biden disclose his? I see an ad in the future on this issue.

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