We’re not anarchists.  We Oink Reporters know that there are plenty of legitimate reasons to spend taxpayer money.   And, frankly, we think an extended runway at an airport in Rep. Jack Murtha’s home district in Pennsylvania is probably a legitimate expenditure of federal tax dollars.  After all, air travel is part of our nation’s infrastructure and facilitating it helps us all.

But when it comes to legitimate government spending, we envision that politicians will be transparent about the spending so that it can be justified under the harsh light of public scrutiny.  Unfortunately, politicians don’t operate this way.  Rather than making the case for spending to the public - which can be a tedious process - they often just snag funding from revenues that often have little to do with the project at hand.  Which not only hides the true cost of the project from the public but often denies the public the opportunity to scrutinize the spending itself.

Such is the case with some of the funding for the  runway extension mentioned above:

  U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster pledged federal support to expand the runway at Joseph A. Hardy-Connellsville Airport to 5,000 feet.

Fayette County Commissioner Chairman Vince Zapatosky introduced Shuster, a Hollidaysburg Republican, to the Fayette Airport Authority board and other officials at a Monday press conference.

“The runway expansion will play a tremendous role in our economic future,” Zapatosky said.

Commissioner Vincent Vicites congratulated Shuster’s bipartisan effort. . . .

“The greatest asset is you folks sitting here today,” Shuster said. “You do it for the love of the community. This involves local, federal and state working together.”

Shuster pointed out that the airport is in U.S. Rep. Jack Murtha’s district. He said he will work with the Johnstown Democrat to secure funding. “We need to look at it regionally,” he said. “It’s a tremendous economic driver.”

Shuster said since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there has been a tremendous increase in corporate air travel through regional airports.

“You’ve got a tremendous work force, a low cost of living, a quality way of life,” he said. “Funding for everything in Washington, D.C., is tight. We’re looking for a military hook.”

Several military contractors operate near the airport.

Looking for a military hook?  Pardon us, but is it really in keeping with the principles of fiscal responsibility to go looking for excuses to spend defense tax dollars?  And if Shuster is capable of finding the requisite “hook” to get this funding, what defense project will he be taking money away from?

This is the problem with the tangled web of government funding and earmarks we have now.  It’s inefficient and almost completely lacking in transparency.  Politicians borrow money from here and there to cobble together funds for pet projects, but that’s not how things should be run.

If CEO’s ran their businesses this way they’d be put in jail by the SEC.  But when politicians do it they pat themselves on the back for serving their constituents.