Don Young, R-Alaska, House Contractor and Sausage King of the North

Representative Don Young symbolizes many of the current problems afflicting our contemporary Congress: wasteful spending, secretive earmarks, corporate dealings.

As chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (2001-2007), Young helped to construct a 2006 Transportation Bill which included thousands of additional earmarks. 120 of these, totaling $1,001,267,966, were designated for Alaska. (According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, that’s $1,597 per capita, a rate nearly three times that of the next state, Vermont). It was in this bill that the infamous Bridge to Nowhere and the original $10 million allocated for Coconut Road/I-75, which Mr. Young sought as a ‘thank you’ to a large campaign contributor, land developer Daniel J. Aronoff, appeared. (In the case of Coconut Road, the initial earmark proposal was killed, only to be mysteriously re-inserted into the bill before its presentation to the President. The Senate has thankfully called for a criminal investigation. If the House of Representatives will allow a DoJ investigation, rather than demand it be handled by an internal ethics committee, is a different question.)

Young no longer heads this committee. But who knows what other wasteful legislations have been passed, and what deals made, away from the eyes of the public. How do we stop the extensive influence of business interests and pork spending in our Congress? Furthermore, do we not deserve a representative government that can act with dignity and transparency?