Last night, CNN took a look at Rep. Don Young’s (R-AK) extra-Constitutional methods, airing a segment on Young’s $10 million Coconut Road earmark.
Remember that someone, apparently at Young’s behest, changed the language in the massive 2005 transportation bill after a vote in both the House and Senate.
Young’s office has stayed quiet about the Constitutional issue at hand. Notably, he isn’t even talking to CNN.
CNN did talk to a businessman, Joe Mazurkiewicz, who attended the Young fundraiser in 2005. That fundraiser, organized by Daniel Aronoff, netted Young $40,000 in contributions.
Mazurkiewicz told CNN there’s nothing nefarious here — it’s just “really proper planning.” That’s at odds with the blunt description he gave to The New York Times in June:
‘We were looking for a lot of money,” said the consultant, Joe Mazurkiewicz. ”We evidently made a very good impression on Congressman Young, and thanks to a lot of great work from Congressman Young, we got $81 million to expand Interstate 75 and $10 million for the Coconut Road interchange.”
Blitzer wraps up the piece saying this can’t possibly be the only example of an altered earmark in the 800-page highway bill. But according to our review, it certainly is 1 in 6, 371.