Usually you can pretty much take it for granted that Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is the most outspoken lawmaker around. After all, it’s not every congressman who threatens to bite a member of his own party like a mink.
But perhaps Young has met his match. During his speech on the House floor Wednesday, Young did his best to distance himself from his infamous Coconut Road earmark in every way he could. He didn’t make the change after the bill passed both houses of Congress — somebody in some secluded office did. And he he’d only supported the earmark, he said, because the community and its representative had supported it. Young even devoted a page of his official web site to back up his story.
Well, that lawmaker is Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL). And Mack was none too happy and approached Young after the speech to tell him as much. Mack says that he did not initially support the earmark and only supported it after he discovered that the money could not be redirected. Or as Mack put it to Young on the floor, Young is a “liar.” Young professed confusion as to how he could think such a thing: “I don’t understand because I’ve got all the letters. Pull them up on the Web site. He’s running away from an issue because he’s got political heat.”
Mack’s chief of staff was no more restrained in his criticism:
Jeff Cohen, Mack’s chief of staff, said Thursday that it was clear his boss was being singled out.Young’s speech to the House was “absurd” and “inaccurate,” Cohen said. “Perhaps we don’t just need a committee on ethical standards, but one on psychological standards as well,” he added.