Roll Call: Campaign Contributions Skew Transportation Project Funding
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s Education Fund has released a new report suggesting that large campaign contributions are skewing how transportation projects are funded.
The report notes that of the federal funding for transportation earmarks in fiscal 2008 only about 10 percent was allocated for much-needed highway and bridge repairs. Instead, the vast majority of the $570 million in transportation earmarks was steered to new highway projects, which are the ones sought by developers and road builders.
“Unfortunately, bridge repair projects are not thought of as very glamorous or newsworthy by local elected officials, business groups and other people that influence congressional earmarks,” Mark Stout, a former New Jersey Department of Transportation official, wrote in the report.
It notes that the construction and transportation industry contributed $80.4 million to federal candidates in the 2008 election cycle, with 53 percent going to Republicans and 47 percent to Democrats.
The report focused only on overall campaign giving and total earmarks, and did not draw links between specific projects and contributions from individual developers. The authors argued that Congress shortchanged bridge repair despite the public outcry over the Interstate 35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed 13 people in August 2007.
