County Jeopardizes Emergency Money By Passing On Shady EarmarkIt just goes to show: Lee County, Florida was asking for trouble when it decided to rebuff Rep. Don Young’s (R-AK) pork. Now if they’re hit by a hurricane and need help and can’t get it, they’ll only have themselves to blame.
The Department of Transportation warned Lee County, Florida in a letter last week that it has jeopardized receiving emergency funds by voting to return the extra-Constitutional $10 million earmark Rep. Don Young (R-AK) slipped them in 2005.
DOT wrote the county ominously saying:
Since Florida is in the middle of hurricane season, this action could jeopardize potential funding from the Emergency Relief Program, which provides for the repair and reconstruction of Federal-aid highways and roads on Federal lands which have suffered serious damage as a result of (1) natural disasters or (2) catastrophic failures from an external cause.
In order to ensure such funding, the DOT wants the county to revise the process by which it rejected Young’s $10 million.
