In its battle against pork barrel spending, the Club for Growth publishes a yearly RePORK Card, in which they track the votes of U.S. Congress members on earmarks to divert money to projects in their own districts. Further, it tracks Congress members’ votes for each other’s earmarks that are cast with the expectation that other politicians will return the favor. The RePORK card is an attempt to shine some light on this political game.

In the latest Club for Growth RePORK card based on 2007 votes, sixteen Congress members – all Republicans – received a perfect score. The average Republican score was 43%.

Surprisingly, Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) score was only 29%.

In other areas Rep. Paul’s record is exemplary. According to the National Taxpayer Union’s VoteTally – which tallies all of a Congressman’s votes on spending bills, not just cherry-picked handful – no one in the U.S. Congress spends less money than Rep. Paul. No one.

But the Club for Growth’s RePORK card is not a simple measure of spending like NTU’s. Instead, it ranks members on their votes on specific anti-earmark amendments. There is a big difference. If passed, the anti-earmark amendments do not reduce spending by one cent, but instead they change who decides how the money is spent, putting spending control in the hands of federal agencies, rather than letting Congress dictate that spending be done in a particular way or in a particular location. For example, an earmark might require highway money be spent on a specific bridge to a tiny island in Alaska rather than let the Department of Transportation make the decision on what the money is used for.

Rep. Paul’s argument is that it is better for specific spending to be directed by Congress rather than by the executive branch. After all, the Constitution grants the authority for appropriations in Congress and therefore he says it is appropriate for Congress to determine where and how it is spent.

This is debatable, but it also misses they key point that most specific earmarks are simply devices to direct federal money and jobs to their districts. Even if process of earmarking is legitimate, this does not mean that each specific earmark is legitimate! When you take a look at the specific anti-earmark amendments, you can see that Rep. Paul is missing an opportunity to vote against manifestly unconstitutional expenditures. Check out these earmark amendments that Rep. Paul voted against:

• House Vote 590 - Bars funding of $231,000 for the Grace Johnstown Area Regional Industries Incubator and Workforce Development program in Pennsylvania. Amendment failed 87-335.
• House Vote 592 - Bars funding of $231,000 for the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association’s SPUR urban center. Amendment failed, 102-317.
• House Vote 593 - Bars funding of $129,000 for the Mitchell County Development Foundation for the home of the “perfect Christmas tree” project. Amendment passed, 249-174.
• House Vote 594 - Bars funding of $231,000 for the West Virginia University Research Corporation’s renovation of a small-business incubator. Amendment failed, 101-325.
• House Vote 636 - Bars funding of $1,000,000 for the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure in Pennsylvania. Amendment failed, 98-326.
• House Vote 669 - Bars funding of $150,000 for the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, S.C. Amendment failed, 70-360.

Note that all of these amendments failed, with “Dr. No” voting with the large majorities.

Yes, Rep. Paul does vote against the final spending bills the earmarks are included in. Yes, many faux reformers vote for the anti-earmark amendments and then for the final bill that contains the earmarks, a far more egregious offense. Yes, the earmark issue is used hypocritically against Rep. Paul by political opponents who simultaneously apologize for the spending records of their political friends.

None of this changes the fact that Rep. Paul’s record is genuinely tarnished by these votes. Other friends of the RLC in Congress – notably Reps. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and John Shadegg (R-AZ) – score high in both the NTU VoteTally and the Club for Growth RePORK card. Rep. Paul should too.

Friends of Rep. Paul can email him or call his Washington office at 202-225-2831 and request that he join the crusade against earmarks and restore his reputation as Congress’ leading fiscal conservative.