Walz seeks public input on earmark requests on Owatonna

OWATONNA — When U.S. Rep. Tim Walz opened up appropriation money requests to his district, he received a total of 98 earmark requests from across his district ranging from transportation projects to small community building requests. Included in that list, is the proposed Steele County History Center.
In the U.S. Congress, springtime is also known as “pork time” since U.S. Congress members are busy looking at ways to earmark money for their districts back home.
This year, Walz took a novel approach, opening up all received earmark applications to his office for public comment on his Web site at www.walz.house.gov.
Sara Severs, communications director for Walz’s office, said lawmakers must now by law post the appropriations requests they make to committee once they send them. This was mandated by a bill authored by Walz last year. This year’s deadline for requests from lawmakers is March 19.
However, Walz is the first member of the U.S. Congress to post the requests he has received from his district online and open those requests up for the public to submit comments on each project.
“It started when I first got here, this issue of congressional appropriations. It was something I think people saw as what was wrong with government. I saw it as a way to get absolute local government input,” Walz said. “I think it lets people see what is being requested. When you see them in that general context, you can see it’s not necessarily pork or whatever. We hope it restores some of their faith in the transparency of government and what’s being done. It lets me hear directly from the community and those working on the projects.”
Laura Resler, Steele County Historical Society Director filled out a request which has been posted online, asking for $750,000 in 2011 through Legacy Funds.
The Steele County Historical Society is in the midst of raising $3.3 million to build a community center in Owatonna — a center that would not only be home to the Historical Society, county archives and historical pieces, but offer a library and community gathering space.
The Historical Society has pursued funding through fundraisers and donations, including a $1 million matching grant from the Chad Lange family.
“To date we have raised a little under two thirds of the cost. Over 660 donors have contributed thus far,” Resler said in the application.
The center did not explore state bonding money to avoid burdening the county government with part ownership of the building.
If the full amount of $750,000 would be granted, federal funds would make up about 25 percent of the total project cost — a project that is expected to create about 25 local jobs.
“It’s hard to say if we would be approved — we’re one of 99 — but we might as well try,” Resler said.
Walz’s list of requests accepted public comments on each project through 5 p.m. Thursday, allowing the Democratic congressman enough time to review the comments and decide on his recommendations before the committee deadline next week.
“We’ve already received well over 1,000 comments, and they have been incredibly insightful and incredibly serious,” Walz said. “I’m really proud of this project and I think it’s just a continuation of the pledge we made to make it a priority. I think what people are seeing and the reason why I’m proud of this is it helps them in understanding the complexity of these projects and I can make the argument that all 99 items on this list have intrinsic value to the communities.”

Wendy Reuer can be reached at 444-1565.

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Member Opinions: By: RealityCheck on 3/11/10 Thank you, Mr. Walz, for doing so much good for our state, and our nation. By: JonathanM on 3/12/10 ^ wicked satire By: atlascollapsed on 3/12/10 The list of this years requests has been up for a few days and can be seen here. https://forms.house.gov/walz/webforms/appropriations.html A few of things I love: Where he says, "While I continue to work with my colleagues to rein in the deficit and bring the budget into balance in Washington, it is important to note that Congressional earmarks do not add to the federal deficit." Spending doesn't add to the deficit??? #47 $3.5M for the "national trout learning center" Should we worry more about educating students before we educate trout? #93 #2.8M for "Potato breeding reseach" Sounds very pornographic to me. I'm sure ther will be videos on youtube before we know it. Some requests are resonable, others aren't. If he opts for #77, the city of bricelyns swmming pool, over the three HWY 14 projects we will know what kind of priorities he really has. By: oatmeal on 3/12/10 Whether or not I agree with everything he supports, I do like his openness and his efforts to bring federal legislation out in the open. He is head and shoulder above most members of congress in this effort and one of few to refuse to accept congressional pay raises. Thanks for raising the bar Congressman Walz. By: MNBear on 3/12/10 His openness? Please. Try to speak with Mr. Walz about the healthcare bill - he gets angry and defensive and says that he won't tolerate being challenged on his socialist views (and, that is what they are). As for the pork, I'm with atlas - a trout learning center? Boy, there's some vital national spending that needs to happen. Walz is a joke, and he needs to go - now. He hasn't raised the bar - he simply wants to slide under the one already there. By: oatmeal on 3/12/10 MNbear, did you read the article? It's not about the health care bill. Walz didn't propose the trout learning center, a constituent did. He proposed and passed legislation forcing the earmark requests out into the open. He is the first congressman to publicly post all earmark requests for public view and comment. I went to some of those town hall meetings where the teaparty folks scream down any reason discussion of the issue. It sounds like you have an axe to grind and can't acknowledge a good idea unless it comes from your own party. Too bad. That's what causes gridlock and disenchantment with politics. By: quinn on 3/12/10 Wow a national trout learning center! What a great idea! It's about time someone took the expression "school of fish" literally. By: atlascollapsed on 3/12/10 Would the "out state" trout pay the same tuition as "in state" trout? What about alien trout? The other concern would be the trout that simply move to MN under the guise of attending the learning center but are really coming here for better welfare benefits. Most importantly: Does a highly educated trout taste better? A fitting question for a Friday during Lent. By: Bobo777 on 3/12/10 Well, MNBear, when all you can do is call him a socialist, of course he'll get angry and defensive. It's like calling a conservative Republican a fascist. Name-calling like that gets you nowhere. By: NoteTaker on 3/12/10 While I appreciate all the information the article DID have, I just don't understand why the article didn't include the URL. I mean, isn't that kinda relevant, especially if you're going to tell people about the website in the first place??? And I see that information on Rep. Walz's web page doesn't mention the March 19 deadline referenced in the article. So I guess I'm wondering why that is, where the OPP got that information and why Rep. Walz's web page doesn't make mention of that. (Perhaps I just didn't see it.) Further, this article came online over five hours AFTER the deadline Rep. Walz imposed for guaranteeing his reviewal of comments. Sure would've been nice to get information on these "critical projects" (a completely relative term which apparently means Rep. Walz supports them all, thank you very much) prior to the deadline. (Is there like a really narrow and clogged information pipe between the OPP and legislative bodies that results in very-to-too-late information getting to locals?) Additionally, the "three criteria" Rep. Walz has set for submitted projects -- Transparency and Accountability, Job Creation and/or Transformative Impact, and Public Support -- sure do sound nice, and there is merit to each. What should've been the primary criterion is "Constitutionality." But then again, such would've obviated this entire process to begin with. Anyway, as nice as all this "unprecedented transparency" might be, and I do applaud Rep. Walz and appreciate having such information made available, I am extremely skeptical, believing instead that this is simply for "show" and Rep. Walz will do darn well what he pleases, regardless. By: Mike on 3/12/10 Lovely, I am beginning to believe that, if someone gave you a million dollars, you would complain about the denominations of the bills. If you have only sarcasm for an offer to provide input, I would guess your good ideas will not get the kind of attention they deserve. By: commoncitizen on 3/12/10 Pork is still pork, and just adds to the economic problems we are having. I think it is admirable that Rep Waltz listed all the requests. I think it would be even more admirable if all the pork was cut out altogether. By: Mike on 3/13/10 If that's your idea of constructive input, I guess I was wrong. The sarcasm was, apparently, as positive as you get. Have a nice day! By: OPPuss on 3/16/10 The Current NATIONAL DEBT would require $42,000 from every Man, Woman, & child to pay in order to get out of debt. Then all these irresponsible idiots want all this PORK on top of that plus; National SOCIALIZED healthcare on top of that!! WOW! The only projects that should even be considered are the ones for critical infrastructure ex. roads, bridges, & etc. The Super-Rich of Steele County should do the moral thing and contribute more money if they want their New Historical center built. It's obvious they don’t pay enough taxes if they have that kind of money lying around to donate! It’s nice to see this list from Waltz! This should be done on a national level! Should be Federal law really.
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