Pork Barrel Politics Feeds Both Parties

With great interest I dig into John Balzar’s “Hey, Big Spender” (Commentary, July 11). Expecting the usual example of extreme waste, I find the punch line is $2 million for Houston’s Sugar Land Airport? A little math seems to indicate that 154 corporate jets will produce about $1.3 million in federal taxes per year--for pilots alone (assuming they only make $30,000 per year). Add in federal taxes on the incomes of the other support people and it seems to be a pretty good deal--as pork spending goes. Compare this to the $15-billion “Big Dig” tunnel project in Boston. At $2 million per transgression, you would need to write 7,500 articles to be fair in the reporting of these two government projects.

I have never heard that conservatives don’t spend government money, just that they are a little less foolish with the spending. If this is Balzar’s best shot at exposing conservative corruption, conservatives ought to feel pretty good about things.

Jake Clark

Redondo Beach