Shannon Fiecke of the Shakopee Valley News reports:

Scott County Commissioner Joe Wagner expects his congressman to try to bring home some "bacon" like other representatives do, but it's roads he wants, not pork.

To protest the methods congressmen use to allocate funding for special projects in their home districts, U.S. Rep. John Kline has decided to stop requesting earmarks at all for the 2nd District. Although there are other avenues of funding, this stance could hamper what Kline is able to bring back to Scott County.

While local officials sympathize with Kline's reasons for boycotting the federal earmarking process, not all agree he should bypass the system entirely just because it's broken.

"A person doesn't like how the system works, but unfortunately that's the way the game is played," said Wagner of Sand Creek Township. "We're not asking for this bizarre stuff, it's always roads."

In a meeting with the County Board last week, Kline, a Republican, explained why he decided last year to quit requesting earmarks as he had in the past. He met with the board as part of an annual review he gives of the previous legislative session.

Kline complained not only about the so-called "pork" projects some in Congress request - such as decorative lighting for the L.A. fashion district and $30 million for an intelligence center in Pennsylvania that he said duplicates efforts elsewhere - but the lack of a process for prioritizing which even legitimate projects get funded.

"The system right now has nothing to do with whether extending Highway 21 or the 5/13 interchange is more important than a bike trail in Massachusetts," Kline said. "It has nothing to do with the merits of the project.&quot

Some have criticized Kline for waiting until he was in the minority - and therefore had less of an opportunity to actually get funding for his district - to take this stance.

In a press conference last week, Rep. Jim Oberstar, a Democrat from the 8th District, responded to Kline's decision and criticism from Kline for taking a disproportionate amount of earmarks.

"I guess he's unhappy and wants to cover up for his inability to deliver for the second district. In the service transportation bill, he got $12.8 million. That's what his party - the majority party - allocated him, and he's not happy about that. In my judgement, that's whining," Oberstar said.

LOCAL REACTION

In his first terms of office, Kline successfully earmarked millions of dollars in transportation projects that benefited the Scott County area.

This has included $3.7 million for County Road 21, $250,000 for County Road 42 and $4.2 million for Highway 13, said county Public Works Director Lezlie Vermillion.

County Commissioner Bob Vogel of Elko New Market defended Kline's decision during last week's County Board meeting.

"It isn't necessary popular, but I think it's the right thing to do because we're headed down the wrong path," he said.

Commissioner Jon Ulrich of Savage later said he agrees the earmarking process is unfair and broken, although some reforms have been made.

However, he said it's sad that legitimate projects in Scott County will be scuttled due to questionable earmarking in other congressional districts.

"Our projects are always upfront, straightforward, legitimate requests," he said.

Vermillion said counties in the 2nd Congressional District will be at a disadvantage due to Kline's decision.

However, she said Scott County will still work with Kline's office to get discretionary (non-earmark) funding in the 2009 federal highway bill to improve the Highway 13/County Road 101 interchange. The county has applied for federal funding for this project through the Metropolitan Council.

Kline's decision has less direct impact on cities like Shakopee and Jordan.

Shakopee City Administrator Mark McNeil said the only direct experience the city has had with Kline was asking for earmarked funding about two years ago for stabilization of the Minnesota River bank.

Although that effort didn't go anywhere, due to needs after Hurricane Katrina, the city had hoped to seek federal funds again, McNeil said.

City Administrator Ed Shukle said the city of Jordan hasn't had any direct dealings with Kline, but the county as a whole will be hurt by Kline's decision.

"We have a difficult enough time as it is getting money designated for Scott County," he said.

THE PROCESS

Kline said earmarks are awarded based on how long someone has been in Congress, their party, what committee the person is assigned to, who they know and what kind of deal might be struck.

He points out that Oberstar's district got more funding in the 2006 transportation bill than the other seven Minnesota districts combined. In fact, it got more money for bike trails than the south metro got for roads and bridges, he said.

Because Oberstar was the ranking DFL member on the Transportation Committee, he was in a situation where he was better able to direct resources back to his district, Oberstar spokesman John Schadl said.

Oberstar said his earmarks represent requests from citizens and local governments in the 8th District, needs that aren't being met by the state.

However, Oberstar also used his status to help the entire state, Schadl said, with Minnesota receiving 41 percent more federal aid (the largest increase in the nation), which the state transportation department gets to decide how to divvy up.

"It's not something he's hording in his district," he said.

Schadl said it's a once-in-a-century opportunity to have someone from the state now chairing the federal Transportation Committee and leaders should be working with Oberstar to bring resources to Minnesota.

Schadl noted that Democrats have significantly reformed the earmarking process, which had grown from 1,500 to 14,000 earmarks in the years Republicans had the majority in the House.

Besides cutting in half the money that could be earmarked, members can no longer include projects anonymously and they must certify they have no financial stake in the project, Schadl said.

Although rules have been passed to provide transparency, Kline told the County Board that members of Congress have just found ways to bypass them.

Billions of dollars in earmarks were still added after bills went into conference committee, even though that wasn't supposed to happen because it doesn't leave enough time for review, he said.

Vermillion noted that earmarking doesn't add any money to what the state gets, but merely directs it to certain projects championed by representatives and senators.

By using earmarks, Schadl argues that Oberstar is being responsive to the citizenry because he doesn't want to be a position to leave all power up to state and federal bureaucrats.

"No matter how good a system is, there are valid projects that fall through the cracks," he said, "and individual members of Congress need to be able to deal with those."

However, Vermillion would say, from a transportation purist point of view, Kline's stand is correct.

"From a theory standpoint, it is a good position," Vermillion said. "Projects should be based on regional priorities and the right people deciding (what projects should be funded)."

Vermillion believes it would be best for federal funding to be distributed based on regional transportation planning that ranks projects.

But, she realistically points out, if there is going to be earmarking, the 2nd Congressional District loses out under Kline's position and those dollars just go elsewhere.

Shannon Fiecke is a staff writer for the Shakopee Valley News. She can be reached at sfiecke@swpub.com.