Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe was one of dozens of federal lawmakers under fire this week after a Washington Post investigation into earmarks and federal spending. The investigation found 33 lawmakers had earmarked more than $300 million in spending since 2008 for public projects that are next to or within two miles of the lawmakers' own property.
According to the Washington Post, since 2008 Inhofe has earmarked $1.8 million for a study on widening U.S. 169. According to the investigation, the senator's wife, Kay, through a family-owned company, owns property along the affected stretch of highway.
The property, located on North Garnett Road off 86th Street North, is within two miles of the highway, and could potentially benefit from the widening project.
"I think they ought to be banned completely," Owasso resident Dale Kelley said. "We shouldn't have any earmarks."
Kelley's is an increasingly common sentiment across Oklahoma and the country these days.
But when FOX23 News told Kelley that the earmarked funds were part of the effort to widen U.S. 169, her tone changed slightly.
"Well, yeah, but I just don't think it has to be an earmark," she said. "If we want to widen it, make it a specific thing. Don't just add it on as an earmark. That's where we get ourselves in trouble."
But Owasso Chamber of Commerce president Gary Akin said earmark shouldn't always be considered a bad word.
"I think sometimes there's a substitution for the phrase 'earmarks,'" Akin said. "Sometimes it's proper 'long range planning.'"
That long range planning, Akin said, would benefit everyone in the region.
"The vision is where we want to be, and how do we need to fund that vision," Akin asked. "That's why we have the assistance of our federal legislators."
After all, Akin said, federal funds should be used on federal roads.
"This road is called U.S. 169. The funds for improvement lie in Washington."
Senator Inhofe is in Washington himself, and was unavailable for an interview Tuesday. But Matt Dempsey, a spokesman from Inhofe's office, released the following statement:
"Senator Inhofe works hand in hand with state and local Oklahoma leaders to advocate for projects that will bring the highest benefits to Oklahoma, and makes these proposals publically available by posting them on his Senate website. The widening of US 169 in Owasso is no different; it is a highly beneficial project that will create new jobs and do much to strengthen Oklahoma's economy."
Kelley agreed that some of the other earmarks revealed in the investigation sounded more like wasteful spending than the Inhofe's earmark.
According to the Washington Post, "a U.s. senator from Alabama directed more than $100 million in federal earmarks to renovate downtown Tuscaloosa near his own commercial office building. A congressman from Georgia secured $6.3 million in taxpayer funds to replenish the beach about 900 feet from his island vacation cottage. A representative from Michigan earmarked $486,000 to add a bike lane to a bridge within walking distance of her home."
"Now those are wrong," Kelley said. "Those are totally wrong."
Click here to see the Washington Post's entire investigation report.
