NoGodBlog.com

"PET PROJECT" EARMARKS, LOBBYING SOAR AS RELIGIOUS GROUPS BENEFIT

Government grants to faith-based organizations have "increased
sharply" in recent years thanks to lobbying by religious groups and
"earmarks" from politicians, according to a study released Saturday by
the New York Times.

The findings reveal that more than half of the
constitutionally-suspect grants took place beginning with the
Congressional session that included the 2004 presidential election,
with legislators approving nearly 900 earmarks for religious groups
totaling in excess of $318 million.

The figure does not include the over $1.2 billion that some observers
say is the total amount given to churches and other religious
organizations thanks to President Bush's federal faith-based
initiative and similar programs operating in two-dozen states.

Earmarks are federal awards that circumvent the
constitutionally-required process of review and competitive bidding.

"They have been blamed for feeding the budget deficit and have figured
in several Capitol Hill bribery scandals," noted the Times, "prompting
recent calls for reform from White House and Congressional leaders."

Critics charge that the earmark process weakens financial
accountability on how taxpayer money is spent, and amounts to a system
of political bribery for the benefit of politicians.

The report also noted that as earmarks for faith-based projects have
grown, so has the number of religious organizations hiring Washington,
DC-based lobbying firms. One earmark grant paid for a fitness center
at Malone College in Canton, Ohio, a "small evangelical Christian
liberal arts" institution. The $1 million facility was gratis Rep.
Ralph S. Regula. The college hired a lobbying firm "to help us with a
'boots on the ground' program of meeting with various Congressional
and Senate leaders," a college spokesperson told the Times.

"I never heard religious lobbyists talk about earmarks," said Dr.
Allen Hertzke, professor at the University of Oklahoma who monitors
religious advocacy work. Daniel Hofrenning, professor at St. Olaf
College in Minnesota agreed, saying "Getting heavily into the
pork-barrel politics of earmarks, that is a distinctive change."

A review of the grants listed in the Congressional Record reflected
that 39 states and the District of Columbia received earmarked
benefits directed to religious groups. They cover a staggering array
of projects, everything from the construction of "green" retirement
facilities (Michigan) to subsidies for unspecified "teen programs" in
Connecticut and a "technology grant" at a Christian home for boys in
Kentucky.