Pork money surprises even congressman who asked for it

WASHINGTON -- Call it pork for peanuts. More than $200,000 to pay for an arena at Alabama's National Peanut Festival was tucked into the huge spending package Congress approved this month.

The money surprised even the congressman who asked for it.

Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., figured his request stood little chance in a year Congress was trying to cut domestic spending to pay for war. Instead, Everett learned the day after the bill was approved that the project had received $2,500 more than even he requested.

Fellow Republican John McCain, the Arizona senator, criticized the project in a floor speech on government waste. And it's drawing fire from a taxpayer watchdog group that contends the arena is a prime example of local pork-barrel projects that have bloated the federal budget and sent the country back into deficit spending.

"In the cases of these types of projects like the peanut arena, you can argue there's really no significant national interest," said Keith Ashdown, spokesman for Taxpayers for Common Sense. "Any time we spend this type of money, it reduces the amount of money that can go to bigger, more important federal priorities."

Everett largely agrees but blames runaway federal spending, in which Congress can approve a spending package without knowing everything in it.

'So large, so wrong'

Earlier this month, Congress approved a $397.9 billion spending bill financing most government operations for the rest of the year. The papers stacked more than 13 inches high, weighed 32 pounds and exceeded 3,000 pages, inviting opponents to use it as a prop to argue that few knew exactly what was in it.

"I can understand why there are those who would call it pork, but the industry is very important to us," Everett said. The appropriations bill "is so large, so wrong of a way to do legislation or spend money, that I doubt many people even realized it was in there."

Organizers of the Dothan, Ala., peanut festival are scrambling now to come up with at least $300,000 more to finish the arena -- equipped with an aluminum roof and seats -- for this year's festival, which begins in late October.

About 65 percent of American peanuts are produced within 100 miles of Dothan, in southeastern Alabama. The nine-day festival includes livestock competitions, fair rides, country music and a pageant to crown Miss National Peanut Festival. Tens of thousands attend each year.

Alabama is the nation's third-largest peanut producing state, while Georgia, just a few miles from Dothan, is first.

The arena gained momentum last year when a group of senior citizens watching a concert in a tent had to be rushed out when a tornado was spotted nearby.

Festival President Wayne Palmer says the proposed building, which he calls "an outdoor, rodeo-type arena with a cover on it," would primarily be used for festival events for elderly and disabled residents. But he predicts it will take on other functions in the off-season.

"We don't have any firm architecture plans developed yet," Palmer said. "Quite frankly, though we've been working on it for two years, we haven't got that far."

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On the Net:

National Peanut Festival: www.nationalpeanutfestival.com