Ball State University and local officials are not pleased with Republican Congressman Mike Pence's self-imposed ban on earmarks to specific projects in his district.
The three Delaware County commissioners, all Democrats, proposed a resolution that will ask Pence to reconsider his stance on this issue. Director of University Communications Kevin Burke said Ball State University President Jo Ann Gora intends to sign this resolution.
Pence has earmarked money for Ball State in the past, but decided in 2008 to stop adding earmarks to bills. Pence has advocated for earmark reform since coming to Congress in 2001. He said the system is not transparent and leads to wasteful spending and corruption.
Associate Vice President for Governmental Relations Philip Sachtleben said earmarks are a way to identify high priority projects.
Sachtleben said Ball State would like to get a $6.4 million earmark in the transportation authorization bill for the next phase of the McKinley project. He said Pence has approved earmarks for this project in the past.
Sachtleben said the completed portions of the McKinley project made a dramatic difference in campus safety.
Sachtleben said the transportation authorization bill, which is being worked on in Congress now, is written for six years. He said this means Ball State would be locked out of getting transportation money for six years.
Sachtleben said the university was also hoping for earmarks in the annual federal budget for the Bowen Center for Public Affairs and a mobile nursing classroom.
Sachtleben pointed to other Indiana representatives, who he said brought tens of millions of dollars back to their districts.
"When you get to our district, it's going to be zero." he said.
Sachtleben said Ball State can still ask for earmarks from the Indiana Senators, but that their focus is spread across the state. He said because Pence's district includes Delaware County, his attention can be more focused on Ball State.
Pence said he doesn't have a philosophical objection to earmarks. He said he decided his efforts to work within the system had failed and felt he would best be able to advocate reform if he did not earmark at all.
"I just think this system is fundamentally broken. And until somebody stands up and says enough is enough and says we're going to change this, it's not going to change," he said.
Pence said about three dozen other members of Congress are taking a similar position. He said the earmarking system does not properly represent his constituents.
Pence said college students specifically should be worried about earmarks.
"This system is resulting in wasteful government spending that we're piling on the backs of your generation," Pence said.
Pence said the money he does not earmark in the transportation bill will go the the Indiana Department of Transportation. These funds could then be distributed to any project in the state, rather than being available only to specific projects in his district. He said governments in his district can still apply for that money through the department of transportation.
Pence said earmarks are not the only ways that members of Congress bring money to their districts. He said he was proud to have helped bring more than $7.2 million in federal grants to Delaware County since the beginning of 2009 without earmarking. He said nearly $300,000 of that went to Ball State.
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