By Rep. Darrell Issa on 5.26.09 @ 6:06AM
And that somebody is Rep. John Murtha, PorkAir frequent flyer
extraordinaire.
President Obama spent loads of political capital early in his
administration to push a behemoth $787 billion "spendulous" bill
through Congress. In this promised era of transparency and
accountability, Americans were supposed to rest safely in the
assurance that the President would hold the line against fraud,
waste and political kickbacks.
Apparently, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) didn't get the memo.
The John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport is tucked away
on the outskirts of Johnstown, PA, a town with a population of
approximately 21,000. On any given day the airport handles an
average of 20 passengers on a total of three flights -- all to
Washington Dulles International Airport. A recent exposé by ABC
News found the airport "virtually deserted" and dubbed John
Murtha's airport the "Airport for Nobody."
Over the past decade, Congressman Murtha has secured at least
$150 million in federal funding for his airport, in addition to a
$147 per passenger annual government subsidy. Included in
Murtha's earmarks are an $8 million state-of-the-art radar system
that has never been used and a $6.5 million three-story National
Guard and Reserve training center that resembles a ski lodge. In
2006, Murtha siphoned off $17.8 million of defense spending to
replace a 7,000 foot asphalt runway with a concrete reinforced
bed. Add it all up, and so much pork has flooded into Johnstown,
PA, that somebody ought to call FEMA.
Bottom line: Since 1999, American taxpayers have spent
approximately $1200 per passenger to operate John Murtha's little
airport. It would have been considerably less expensive if we had
provided passengers a free shuttle to nearby Pittsburgh,
purchased them a full fare ticket on a regional flight and picked
up their meal expense along the way.
But things weren't looking so good earlier for John Murtha's
namesake airport when the economy took a downturn and declining
passenger traffic resulted in a smaller slice of the taxpayers'
pie. Along the way, Mr. Murtha tried unsuccessfully to squeeze a
few more federal dollars for his pet project, though it wasn't
until the stimulus money started trickling down the federal
pipeline that he got the cash.
Once the stimulus funds were available, however, the
administration designated an additional $800,000 of taxpayers'
money to pave a second runway at John Murtha's airport.
Apparently, one runway isn't enough for three daily flights and
20 passengers.
In the best case scenario, this decision appears to contradict
the president's commitment not to allow stimulus funds "to be
distributed…in response to improper influence or pressure." In
the worst, it looks like the President is now a willing party to
the very system of political paybacks he so vehemently opposed.
Yet President Obama has repeatedly stressed the need "to make
sure that every single dollar" of the stimulus money is "well
spent." A single dollar of waste, the President admonished, will
be exposed and stopped. Stimulus funds in an Obama administration
were supposed to target only those projects that demonstrate the
ability to "deliver programmatic results" and "achieve long-term
public benefits."
Congressman Murtha's airport does neither.
As the ranking member on the oversight committee, I've formally
requested that the acting administrator at the Federal Aviation
Administration provide a full account of this egregious waste of
taxpayer money. How repaving John Murtha's second runway in
Johnstown, PA, stimulates anything but the congressman's name
recognition is a mystery to me, and I'm confident that it's
infuriating to taxpayers.
This is precisely the kind of waste that Washington has to stop,
and time will tell if the President has the political muscle to
match his rhetorical strengths. Until then, feel free to book
your ticket on PorkAir to Northwestern Pennsylvania, compliments
of Congressman John Murtha and U.S. taxpayers.
topics:
Corruption, Pork Spending
