The Parking Garage To Nowhere?

(CBS)  Congress started a five-week vacation Friday. But before leaving, the House passed a bill that contains more than 500 earmarks. CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has been investigating these expensive pet projects that lawyers slip into spending bills. And now, she's followed the money to a deserted office complex.

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This tale begins in the small town of Nanticoke, Penn., population 9,500, where hometown Rep. Paul Kanjorski got more than $3 million federal tax dollars to build the "Kanjorski Center," an office building to attract business and help the local economy.

"I'm used to getting a great deal of money for my district," Kanjorski said.

But things haven't quite gone according to plan. The Kanjorski Center's main tenant moved out in 2005, and the building's been empty ever since.

"How much is the city paying for the building while it's empty?" Attkisson asked Pennsylvania state Rep. John Yudichak.

"The city's been paying about $15,000 a month while the building has been empty," he said.

Yudichak says the Kanjorski Center was ill-thought-out, and has become an albatross.

Now Kanjorski has a new plan. It involves millions more tax dollars to build a parking garage for the Kanjorski Center, in hopes of convincing a local community college to move in.

It'll cost taxpayers $5.6 million - money Kanjorski earmarked for the parking garage project. An earmark is a grant of money without the normal public review.

But there's one big problem: federal aid can only be used for parking garages that serve mass transit ... it's not intended for office parking in a congressman's hometown. When Kanjorski was notififed his project is contrary to federal rules, he said it didn't matter.

"I don't think the rule should be there," Kanjorski said. "I don't think the rule should have any attention paid to it. Becaus in Congress we have our own rules."

It turns out local officials like Yudihak also object to Congressman Kanjorski's parking garage.

"We saw it as a huge liability," Yudihak said.

Congressman Kanjorski calls that sour grapes from a political rival, a fellow Democrat, and says local residents should be happy to get the grants of money he brings home.

"You call these federal and state grants 'free money.' The quote is, 'I don't know anyone who would turn down a free building. It would be funded with, quote, free money,'" Attkisson said. "'From federal and state grants.'"

"For the community, it is free money," Kanjorski said.

"But it's not really free. Taxpayers are paying for it," Attkisson pointed out.

"It is the taxpayers of the United States' money," Kanjorski said. "But it doesn't cause any difficulty to the community to take the money."

"It is not free money!" Yudichak said. "It's taxpayers' money. In my view, the congressman looks at federal earmarks, the $5.6 million, as play money."

Regardless of whether the town wants to play, Kanjorski now says he'll do whatever it takes to build his parking garage with some of that "free money," better known outside of Washington as your tax dollars.

[nancysellers]

THIS IS OUTRAGIOUS!!! This needs to be stopped!!! Our country is becoming a country of waste. We pay the taxes and they misuse the money. This is not right at all.

[krisd999-2009]

Now you know why socialist countries collapse. It''s coming to America.

[vincan-2009]

I saw the program about this on Fox News. It was rather odd that Fox would start caring about ear marks at all. I do give them credit for being fair. They named this Democrat and a republican, and spoke with the republican man who tried to do something about ear marks and was removed by the republican honchos because they did not like him really doing something about ear marks. Since this article doesn''t mention anyone other than this one Democrat I don''t find this article fair or as well done at Fox''s special on earmarks.

[macmanus1-2009]

I''m glad to see Congress taking a responsible approach to the growing parking issue. We can''t keep the American economy going by manufacturing more and more cars and then not a having a place to put them when we''re not driving them. I think we should open up the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge for parking too. I know when we take drive our Ford Excursion up to Yosemite every year, I never can find a parking spot. That''s a place that sure could use some parking. We should be allowed to park on public beaches as well. I hate having to walk over hot sand just to get down to the water.

[babooph]

Hold on -with all those cars without fuel $,we will have to park them somewhere.

[karela33]

If Yidichak''s a democrat, let''s get him instead. Kanjorski is as irresponsible and unaware as republican Senator Stevens of Alaska with his bridge to no where. Being an unintelligent jerk is not limited to one party or the other as Mr. Kanjorski and Senator Stevens have shown us this week----yet again. The earmark law needs to be overhauled. It is an important way that states get important projects paid for that are necessary and legitimate, but obviously some sort of oversight and control is needed. The voters side of things is to stop looking at our congressmen and senators as sugar daddies from Washington who bring us goodies home after going looting through the taxpayer''s money. How could this guy be so irresponsible when every penny he wastes is going on the national credit card? Jerk!

[rwsmith29456]

Quoted from article - "I don''t think the rule should be there," Kanjorski said. "I don''t think the rule should have any attention paid to it. Becaus in Congress we have our own rules."
Does more need to be said???

[timdgrim]

"It is the taxpayers of the United States'' money," Kanjorski said. "But it doesn''t cause any difficulty to the community to take the money."
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This guy is a Congressman!! To borrow an old Archie Bunker phrase, "YOU (Kanjorski) are a dumb P*****K!

[bocabob6]

The next one in line should be Wexler FL 19. Hes doesn''t even live in the state. Pays no State Income tax and lives in Maryland. What a rip off to the people of MD.

[thcarson-2009]

On May 22, 2008, a video of Kanjorski at a townhall meeting on August 28, 2007 surfaced on YouTube inwhich he admits that Democrats "stretched the facts" during the 2006 elections in order to win back a majority of Congress.

"I''ll tell you my impression. We really in this last election %u2014 when I say we, the Democrats %u2014 I think pushed it as far as we can to the envelope, we didn''t say it, but we implied it. That if we won the congressional elections, we could stop the [Iraq] war. Now anybody was a good student of government would know that wasn''t true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts and people ate it up."