Taxpayer Monument to Pork

Democrats are looking to invoke porker Tom Daschle to waste more of your tax dollars.

From the Argus Leader:

A massive federal appropriations bill that includes a $1 million earmark to create a center for former Sen. Tom Daschle drew heavy fire Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

The earmark would pay for the Thomas Daschle Center for Public Service and Representative Democracy at South Dakota State University. It's among 150 pages of earmarks in a combined bill for education, health services, veterans programs, and other areas of federal government.

Who's behind it?

Daschle's former colleague, Sen. Tim Johnson, sponsored the earmark along with three other Democratic senators: Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada; Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Tom Harkin of Iowa.

Thomas Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, said there should be a rule barring the federal government from using taxpayer money to pay for a program named after a politician unless that politician has been dead for at least 20 years.

That sounds reasonable. If the politician did something great enough to be recognized at taxpayer expense, it will still be salient after 20 years. At this point, however, it would be a gaudy edifice to vanity.

If they do make one, however, it should have a statue like the one below out in front to illustrate Daschle's greatest achievement.