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Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Representative James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.) its Porker of the Month for February 2004 for spending taxpayer money to fund building renovations at his alma mater. Rep. Walsh used his power as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs/Housing and Urban Development to secure a $4.5 million grant to renovate a building at St. Bonaventure University. The amount is 50 percent greater than the largest single, private gift to the university, $3 million for a recreation facility.
While most private schools rely on alumni philanthropists for large donations, St. Bonaventure has the benefit of having a “Cardinal” on the House Appropriations Committee who can donate tax dollars. Celebrities and dignitaries often make large contributions to schools; recently Oprah Winfrey made a $5 million donation to Morehouse College. Yet even she doesn’t have the unlimited resources that Rep. Walsh has at the U.S. Treasury.
Chairman Walsh obtained the grant as part of the fiscal 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act for the ongoing multi-stage renovation and expansion of St. Bonaventure’s science building, DeLaRoche Hall. With the amount of federal money Chairman Walsh has secured, the building will most likely soon carry his name.
This is not the first time Chairman Walsh has made such a “donation” to the project. Renovations on the science building started after Chairman Walsh secured a $990,000 grant in fiscal 2002 and $405,000 in fiscal 2003. Chairman Walsh has also indicated that there may be further federal funding for the school in the future. At the time of the first grant, Chairman Walsh declared, “I’m very proud to be able to give something back. It’s not mine to give, it’s the American taxpayers’. But I know it will be spent wisely.” Hopefully today’s students at St. Bonaventure’s are receiving a better education in civics and fiscal responsibility than did Chairman Walsh.
Even more disturbing is the fact that the money comes out of NASA’s budget, which is overseen by Rep. Walsh’s subcommittee. With the safety problems plaguing NASA, surely the agency could have found a better use for the money. Apparently Rep. Walsh thinks otherwise; rather than using the money to address NASA’s needs, cutting the record budget deficit, or fighting the war on terror, he funnels it to his alma mater.
Other institutes of higher education have also benefited from Chairman Walsh’s addiction to pork-barrel spending. Syracuse University received $9.6 million in pork projects in fiscal 2003, while LeMoyne College raked in $890,000. As opposed to St. Bonaventure, both of these schools are in his congressional district. In total, Chairman Walsh porked out with $34,485,000 for his district in fiscal 2003; CAGW will release the 2004 tally in April.
Rep. Walsh, who received a degree in history at St. Bonaventure in 1970, now adds to the historic $521 billion deficit in 2004. For being a generous alumnus—at taxpayer expense—as well as a wasteful congressman, Rep. James T. Walsh is February’s Porker of the Month. | 
