In politics, popularity is power. Which would arguably make congressman Jeff Flake Arizona's most powerful member of the House of Representatives.
The District 6 congressman has easily won re-election four times now, and hardly needs to mount a campaign in 2010 (unless he runs for governor).
Typically, members of congress use their seniority to bring home the bacon for their districts, rallying for bigger spending packages for supporters and pet projects.
Earmarks, they're called. And Jeff Flake will have none of them.
The list of earmarks for the federal 2010 budget is out, and Flake is one of two notable exceptions to the rules on spending. While his colleagues in different Arizona districts are faithfully putting in their requests for items like shrimp farms and African buffelgrass control, the column next to Flake's name reads zero.
The same goes with Republican congressman John Shaddegg, but the "other" republican on the list more than makes up for the both of them.
Glendale representative Trent Franks has asked for no less than $3.1 billion in spending. Even after you subtract the 1.8 billion dollar request for a Boeing facility in Virginia, using missiles made in Arizona, Franks has easily asked for more spending than all of his Arizona colleagues, the rest of whom are democrats.
While a handful of politicians like Flake truly put their money where their mouth is, the fact is the GOP is almost equally as guilty for running up the federal budget deficit. Forty percent of the earmarks in President Obama's stimulus package were inserted by republicans.
Last I checked, being a conservative meant smaller government, fewer taxes, and the general idea that we don't waste billions of taxpayer dollars on various pet projects and programs.
Most republicans proudly call themselves conservatives, so perhaps they take a cue from Congressman Jeff Flake, and leave the shrimp farms and buffelgrass control to the private sector.
