Tennessee: Candidates quarrel over earmark remark

NASHVILLE -- U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp said Tuesday that GOP gubernatorial rival Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey was being "disingenuous" when he accused the Chattanooga congressman of having "never seen an earmark he didn't like."

"I think it's a ridiculous thing to say," said Rep. Wamp, R-Tenn., a member of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. "I have funded the Chickamauga Lock. I have funded the missions at Oak Ridge (National Laboratory). I've funded the critical responsibilities of the federal government -- or helped fund them."

Lt. Gov. Ramsey, the state Senate speaker, made the jab at Rep. Wamp during a recent question-and-answer session with Republican activists in Nashville.

Congressional earmarks send funds to specific projects. The Ramsey campaign said Rep. Wamp has sent earmark funds to such projects as a $223 million "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska, a rainforest in Iowa and the National Mule & Packers Museum in California.

In a subsequent statement to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, they called Rep. Wamp "the poster child of runaway spending in Washington."

Congress controls federal spending under the U.S. Constitution. As an appropriator, Rep. Wamp said, "in no way have I ever abused that privilege."

"I've been a lead reformer of the earmark process," he said. "Everybody knows that. I'm the guy who's actually made all the calls for cleaning up this process for a long period of time.

"So it's disingenuous to begin with, but it actually just shows that he (Ramsey) should continue to be lieutenant governor."