Dole, Hagan pledge to disclose their earmark requests

RALEIGH -- U.S. Senate candidates Elizabeth Dole and Kay Hagan promise to tell their constituents when they try to direct federal tax dollars to specific agencies or companies.

The chunks of money, known as earmarks, allow members of Congress to seek grants for specific projects in their home states and districts during the annual federal budget process.

Earmarks have become an increasing target of reform in the federal budget, both from those who oppose the special projects and those who want more transparency in the process.

Dole, the incumbent Republican, successfully sought $43 million in such earmark spending in the current fiscal year in the Senate, for projects ranging from anti-gang programs and road construction to beaver management.

Hagan, as a Democratic budget writer in the state Senate, helped steer $1.5 million in state money for a civil rights museum and $500,000 for the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point.

(North Carolina's other senator, Republican Richard Burr, has pledged to stop asking for new earmarks.)

"Earmarking is a form of cheating, because it puts one entity over another," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington nonpartisan group that opposes earmarks.

Under a new federal law, all earmarks that make it through the spending committees must be publicly attributed to the House or Senate member who asks for the money. But that disclosure is not made until the money is approved, and members seldom get everything they ask for. Such denied requests are often kept in the dark, but both Dole and Hagan pledge to bring in some sunlight.

Dole told The News & Observer editorial board this month that she would release everything she asks for.

Hagan, through a spokeswoman, said that, if elected, she would post her requests on her official Senate Web site.

Neither candidate, though, promised to release all the requests that local governments and companies might submit to their Senate office.