Bringing home the bacon (pork) | Tim Talk | Tim Hunt | PleasantonWeekly.com |

Local Blogs

Tim Talk

By Tim Hunt

E-mail Tim Hunt

About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in add...  (More)

View all posts from Tim Hunt

Bringing home the bacon (pork)

Uploaded: Jan 3, 2023
You may have seen news stories about Rep. Eric Swalwell touting the federal money he brought home to the district in the hugely expensive omnibus spending bill that Congress passed before Christmas.

Given the Democrat Congress and its reckless spending, Swalwell took advantage of the return of “earmarks” in 2021 to direct money to the district. The practice was banned for a decade after the Tea Party gave Republicans control of the House after two years of the Obama Administration. The earmarks and the obvious pork associated with them demonstrated the waste in the federal government.

Given the spending proclivity of Congress and the Biden Administration, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leaders decided to bring them back.

Swalwell dished out about $15 million in his district, with about $4.1 targeted to Tri-Valley agencies and non-profits. Pleasanton will receive $2 million for its project to clean up plastic pollution in its groundwater wells. The Chabot-Las Positas district’s partnership with Cal State East Bay to improve coordination and outcomes for students will receive $1 million.

Goodness Village, the tiny home community at Crosswinds Church in Livermore, will receive $1 million. Livermore based One Nation Dream Makers’ last mile delivery program also received funding.

Swalwell was joined by many other members of Congress in dishing out the earmarks which, to my local knowledge, went to organizations during important work. The long-term challenge is that this money can be used for operations and what will happen in the next fiscal year when the federal largess may not be available with the Republicans controlling the House as of today.

Many new laws took effect Jan. 1, including some pretty awful ones passed by Democrats who dominate Sacramento.

One of the more dubious ones was authored by Assemblyman Evan Low, D-San Jose, that makes it easier to “discipline” physicians for spreading mis-information about Covid-19. It empowers the state medical board to discipline doctors by terming the misinformation “unprofessional conduct,” even suspending their license to practice.

This is an egregious affront to both free speech and physicians’ professional standing. It assumes that there is true information about the vaccines and Covid-19 and there’s plenty of evidence that questions some claims.

Given the “performance” of what I previously thought was the gold standard at the Centers for Disease Control and the efforts to shut down any speech that disagreed with their opinion, it has no credibility. The lies coming from doctors Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins and their effort to discredit the Great Barrington Declaration destroyed whatever vestige of credibility they may once have had,
It will be interesting to see what the Republicans uncover about the Covid origins and response now that they’re back in control of the House.


Community.
What is it worth to you?

Comments

Posted by Dirk Svensen, a resident of Country Fair,
on Jan 3, 2023 at 10:25 am

Dirk Svensen is a registered user.

I believe there is at least one suit filed against the state on this issue. It is becoming increasingly clear that what the government was telling us in some cases was mis- and dis-information. This is why we need to encourage open debate on these issues - censorship and threats are the wrong way to approach this in my opinion.

Its not yet clear whether it more effective to "mow the lawn" deeply at the CDC, or completely abolish it and start from new. Tweaking around the edges might not fix the corruption there.


Posted by Dean Wallace, a resident of Stoneridge,
on Jan 3, 2023 at 12:11 pm

Dean Wallace is a registered user.

Which of these projects does Mr. Hunt object to having received funding? I must have missed that sentence, because as I read this article our Congressman is actually doing his job for our district and his constituents.

"Swalwell dished out about $15 million in his district, with about $4.1 targeted to Tri-Valley agencies and non-profits. Pleasanton will receive $2 million for its project to clean up plastic pollution in its groundwater wells. The Chabot-Las Positas district's partnership with Cal State East Bay to improve coordination and outcomes for students will receive $1 million.

Goodness Village, the tiny home community at Crosswinds Church in Livermore, will receive $1 million. Livermore based One Nation Dream Makers' last mile delivery program also received funding."


Posted by DublinMike, a resident of Dublin,
on Jan 3, 2023 at 2:13 pm

DublinMike is a registered user.

Thank you Congressman Swalwell for looking out for our district.


Posted by Dirk Svensen, a resident of Country Fair,
on Jan 3, 2023 at 5:59 pm

Dirk Svensen is a registered user.

Wouldn't it be better approach to pay for this through our local taxes? More specifically, I would support raising my local taxes if it was offset by a reduction in my federal. Why should people in other states pay for something they get no benefit from? This can avoid attached strings and the premium the federal government shaves off the top.


Follow this blogger.
Sign up to be notified of new posts by this blogger.

Email:

SUBMIT

Post a comment

Sorry, but further commenting on this topic has been closed.

Stay informed.

Get the day's top headlines from PleasantonWeekly.com sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.

Worried about the cost of climate change? Here is some hope.
By Sherry Listgarten | 21 comments | 3,081 views

Adding pro wrestling at 32?
By Tim Hunt | 0 comments | 1,988 views

Eating retro with TV dinners
By Deborah Grossman | 2 comments | 663 views