Reader Elmer sends today's Corning Leader story about $1.2 million in grants awarded in Steuben County. Randy Kuhl, who had nothing very little to do with the grant (except perhaps voting for the HUD authorization that created the grant program) gets his due notice in the story, as he does for all money that flows into the Southern Tier.
In contrast, Kuhl also announced a grant for the Monroe County Airport. Nary a peep from the Rochester press on this one.
Comments
Your statement is entirely false. Congressman Kuhl does letters of recommendation for each of these grants and in many cases goes directly to the agency to help secure the grant. He often works with local and state officials to make sound arguments on behalf of these funds, like working with Maggie Brooks on the airport grant you mentioned.I know because I've been part of this process before.
Sorry, Rotten, you simply have your facts wrong on this one. Congressman Kuhl is very involved in the grant process and deserves the credit, regardless of what you think about his politics.
I don't buy "entirely false" but you're right, "nothing" was too strong. I updated the post.
That said, I don't buy that he's an integral part of getting most grants. I'm sure that he and Ms. Brooks want to give that appearance, as does any other politician. But, by design, there's a huge difference between the amount of influence a MOC has on a grant versus what he has on an earmark. In the end, grants are dispensed by bureaucrats in the agencies responsible for administering the grant.
What Kuhl can do is to help raise awareness of grant programs and help his constituents apply for them. Kudos to him and his staff for doing that.
I've written extensively about this earlier. Read this and tell me where I'm wrong.
Also, this isn't a partisan point. I don't think Louise Slaughter, or Charlie Rangel, or any Democrat has a major influence on grants. But they all, Republican or Democrat, want to make it appear as if they do. We'd all be better off if every representative stopped pretending that every federal dollar that hits the district was due to their personal intercession.
In short, I'm hating the game, not the player.
I believe that office holders get far too much credit for the good things (for example grants) and far too much blame for the bad things (for example: the economy or high gas prices)
I agree.