Back on May 23, Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona proposed 19 amendments to strip earmark pork items and managed to engineer a by name vote on all 19. Since earmark pork is usually buried in mammoth omnibus appropriations bills voted on as all-or-nothing votes, this gives us a rare chance to see how individual members vote on individual items of pork.

Sadly, our Washington House delegation voted extremely poorly, with most of them voting to approve all 19 items of pork-not a single one of which is even in Washington.

The listing for the complete House can be found here, with by-item votes listed here (the WA delegation can be found on the last page.)

The least porky member of the delegation, my own Rep. Adam Smith of the 9th District, voted to keep 16 of the 19 items, earning him a score of only 16%. But that bettered Reps Jay Inslee of the 1st and Doc Hastings of the 4th Districts at 10% and Rep Cathy McMorris of the 5th District at 10%.

But the leading porkers among the Washington delegation, the truest enemies of the taxpayers, voting for all 19 pork items:

Rep. Rick Larsen, 2nd District
Rep. Brian Baird, 3rd District
Rep. Norm Dicks, 6th District
Rep. Jim McDermott, 7th District
Rep. Dave Reichert, 8th District

And, just for fun, a list of what they voted to spend our money on:

R Young, D. (AK-AL) 0 of 19 0% xxx

Dairy education in Iowa ($229,000)
Hydroponic tomato production in Ohio ($180,000)
National Grape and Wine Initiative ($100,000)
Virginia Science Museum ($250,000)
Juniata Locomotive Demonstration ($1,000,000)
Swimming pool in Banning, CA ($500,000)
"Facilities" in Weirton, West Virginia ($100,000)
Multipurpose facility in Yucaipa, California ($500,000)
Strand Theater Arts Center in Plattsburgh, New York ($250,000)
Mystic Aquarium in New London, Conn. ($1,000,000)
The Jason Foundation in Ashburn, VA ($1,000,000)
Northwest Manufacturing Initiative ($2,500,000)
Lewis Center for Education Research ($4,000,000)
Leonard Wood Research Institute ($20,000,000)
Arthur Avenue Retail Market ($150,000)
Bronx Council for the Arts in Bronx, N.Y. ($300,000)
Johnstown Area Regional Industries ($800,000)
Fairmont State University ($900,000)
Tourism Development Association in Kentucky ($1,000,000)

Personally, I think if you see "Incumbent" next to any House candidate's name, you should vote for someone else, regardless of party.