Kagen reneges on earmark pledge

Freshman U.S. Representative Steve Kagen, who vowed as a candidate to “require full disclosure of all earmarks,” is now balking at a request for public disclosure of funding requests he’s made to the House Appropriations Committee.

Gannett News Service reported yesterday that while two of Wisconsin’s Republican lawmakers, Jim Sensenbrenner and Paul Ryan, are releasing their list of funding requests, Kagen is one of six Badger State members not divulging his list of pet projects submitted for federal funding.

Kagen’s refusal to release a full list of pork barrel projects is especially puzzling given the fact that he has already announced at least one funding request, nearly $5 million to dredge Green Bay Harbor. The lack of public disclosure is already garnering criticism from groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste, whose President told Gannett that releasing a list of all funding requests is “the first thing I'd like to see them do.”

That Kagen would even have a list of requests runs contrary to another campaign pledge. Kagen announced in October 2006 that he would “end all pork-barrel projects,” and based much of his 2006 campaign railing against Congressional earmarks and pork-barrel spending, vowing to “free our government from the influences of special interests."

But it was Kagen who received criticism during the 2006 campaign for cozying up to special interests in Washington, DC, at the same time he was criticizing them in Wisconsin.

Kagen’s 2006 opponent, State Legislator John Gard, blasted Kagen in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “for holding an expensive fund-raiser at a Washington, D.C., lobbyist's home” at the same time Kagen was publicly critical of such events.

Kagen’s fundraiser, priced at $5,000 for Political Action Committees (PACs) and $1,000 for individuals, was held at the home of DC lobbyist John Weinfurter. Weinfurter’s firm - Kimmitt, Senter, Coates & Weinfurter – lists appropriations as one of its specialty areas.

Weinfurter is not the only appropriations lobbyist with ties to Kagen. As reported exclusively on majorityap.com, Kagen and his 41 freshmen colleagues enlisted the aid of William Oldaker, a longtime appropriations lobbyist, to run their political action committee. Oldaker was tapped as Custodian of the Democratic Freshmen PAC, even though he was dumped last year as treasurer of the leadership PACs of Senators Harry Reid, Byron Dorgan and Ted Kennedy.

Those Senators, along with Blanche Lincoln, all removed Oldaker from their PACs following questions about whether Oldaker was using his fundraising prowess to influence members of Congress. Another lobbyist, James Smith, serves as the PACs treasurer.

Kagen has also proven adapt at garnering the help of a variety of special interests, according to his latest Federal Elections Commission (FEC) disclosure. More than 80 percent of Kagen’s contributions came from PACs or other special interests.

Out of more than $155,000 Kagen raised, less than $12,000 was listed as being donated by Wisconsin residents. Most individual contributions came from out-of-state, from places such as California, Florida, Arizona, Maryland and Washington, DC.

Kagen has had a number of other missteps both as a candidate and Congressman. Kagen had to backtrack from a claim he made to an anti-war group that he had told White House adviser Karl Rove “I’m Dr. Multi-millionaire and I kicked your ass.” It later was revealed that such a conversation never took place. Kagen was dubbed “Dr. Millionaire” for the vast amount of his personal fortune he spent on the campaign.

Kagen was also criticized for a “racially insensitive” remark after explaining that he was late for an appearance because his previous meeting was with Oneida Nation tribal officials. He told a Green Bay meeting he was “on injun time.” After a wave of public criticism, Kagen apologized.

According to a report on WBAY-TV, Kagen also is “in apparent violation of federal law for manufacturing and selling allergy shots without a valid license.”