David Wu: delivering the pork

Today in the mail, I received a lovely full-color mailer from my congressman, David Wu. This piece proclaims that Wu "Is Making Sure Oregon's F1rst District Comes F1rst."

Below that statement is a map of the First Congressional District, with callouts listing the money Congressman Wu has steered toward his constituents. Included in the list are some worthy items (and some not), such as:

• Tsunami education and preparedness;
• Public safety/law enforcement;
• Transportation, including highway widening and mass transit;
• Steering government purchases toward local businesses.

Notable sums include $31 million ("to date") for Washington County commuter rail; $16 million for the Transportation Research Center at Portland State University; $17 million for jetty repair at the mouth of the Columbia River; $11.25 million (over seven years) for repairs to the East Astoria Boat Basin; and $27.5 million ("to date") for the Highway 99W bypass around Newberg and Dundee.

All told, Congressman Wu has sent more than $133 million to the district. (It doesn't say if that's this year, throughout Wu's four terms, or some other timeframe.)

As an aside, I'm guessing Congressman Wu's office spent close to $100,000 to print and mail this piece. It's a large piece (25 x 11), printed in full color, folded and mailed. With almost 700,000 residents in the First District, I figure he's printed something close to 200,000 pieces. I have a little bit of experience with producing printed materials (though not at those quantities), and I wouldn't be surprised if something like this would cost at least 25 cents apiece just to print, nevermind the design, mailing list and postage. Oh, and it was printed in a union-operated shop, so the price is instantly higher than a non-union shop. As it says on the outside: "This mailing was prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense."

But remember: earmarks and pork are solely a problem with the corrupt Republicans.