Republicans attack AZ Dem delegation over earmarks

Yesterday the Democratic majority in Congress blocked a vote on a bill that would have suspended all earmarks for a year. Now the National Republican Congressional Committee is letting Reps. Gabrielle Giffords (D-8) and Harry Mitchell (D-5), as well as other Democrats around the country who are seen as vulnerable know what the GOP thinks.

"Democrats claimed on the campaign trail that they would bring change to Washington, but the only thing that’s changed is they’ve stuffed even more pork-barrel projects into appropriations bills since taking control of Congress," read the release put out by NRCC flack Ken Spain.

Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) who leads the minority in the House, said "by refusing to join House Republicans in a full earmark freeze, the Majority has proven once again that it is just not serious about reforming the way Washington spends taxpayer dollars." He also called the move "a stinging slap in the face to millions of Americans."

And Randy Pullen, AZ GOP chairman, followed up by saying "Representatives Gifford and Mitchell have no interest in any sort of fiscal responsibility.”

Giffords has been hit on the issue before. In February, after a similar move in Congress, the Pima County Republican Party put out robo-calls to thousands of her constituents condemning her on the issue.

C.J. Karamargin, Rep. Giffords's spokesman, replied that it's an issue that doesn't have a lot of traction with the voters and decried the tactics used by the Republican members of the House.

"These types of votes are summed up in one word: 'gotcha,'" he said. "This type of parliamentary maneuvering is taking up so much time when the country is faced with so many real problems."

Karamargin defended Giffords's earmark requests, which surpassed $100 million for FY '09.

"The Congresswoman is making sure the tax dollars citizens send to Washington come back to the district in ways that, one, make sense to the community, and two, in a way the community decides," said Karamargin. "Beyond that the criticisms are not connected with reality."

Giffords has previously stated that she would support earmark reform, but Karamargin said that such reform should come before the full House, "not shoehorned into other legislation."

Yesterday's vote broke along party lines, with only nine Democrats crossing over.