Home About Chat Users Issues Party Candidates Polling Firms Media News Polls Calendar Key Races United States President Senate House Governors International

New User Account
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource." 
Email: Password:

  Coburn pushes Coconut Road probe
NEWS DETAILS
Parent(s) Issue 
ContributorArmyDem 
Last EditedArmyDem  Apr 14, 2008 08:07am
Logged 0
CategoryNews
News DateMonday, April 14, 2008 02:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionBy Susan Crabtree
Posted: 04/11/08 05:57 PM [ET]

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) plans to pursue an investigation into the notorious $10 million Coconut Road earmark by offering an amendment next week to a massive bill making technical corrections to the 2005 transportation bill.

The amendment would create a special joint committee to review how the earmark was changed to develop the Coconut Road interchange, and what role Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and his staff may have played. The Senate is expected to consider the technical corrections bill on Tuesday.

Language in the 2005 highway bill initially authorized $10 million only for “widening and improvements” for I-75, but was mysteriously changed to build up Coconut Road after Congress approved the bill but before it reached President Bush’s desk. One of Young’s campaign contributors, Daniel Aronoff, is a developer who owns 4,000 acres along Coconut Road.

"It’s an unprecedented abuse of power,” said Coburn spokesman John Hart. “The Coconut Road issue undermines the integrity of the entire legislative process.”
Share
ArticleRead Full Article

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor

DISCUSSION