Appropriators Beware: Primaries Spell Defeat for Some

Aug. 6, 2010 -- There has been much said about the anti-incumbent wave sweeping the country, but there may be something more interesting -- and unusual -- going on: an anti-appropriator wave.

From the dawn of recorded time, or at least since the late Sen. Robert Byrd steered money to his first West Virginia highway project, getting a seat on the House or Senate Appropriations Committees was a virtually assured ticket to reelection. You get on the committee, you steer millions, or, more likely, billions, of taxpayer dollars to projects back home and you get reelected.

But take a look at some of the most high-profile members of Congress who have already been kicked out by voters in primaries this year: Sen. Robert Bennett R-Utah, ; Sen. Arlen Specter D-Pa.; Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.V.; and Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich.

All senior members of the Appropriations Committee who were expert at playing the earmark game and had reputations for bringing home the bacon.

And there's more. Other top appropriators have been defeated in their efforts to seek higher office, including Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., who lost his bid for the Republican Senate nomination; and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who was trounced in the race against Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Even the top appropriator of all -- House Appropriations Chairman David Obey -- is heading out the door. The Democrat was not defeated but decided against running in the face of a strong challenge from a former professional lumberjack and reality-TV star. Seriously.

Utah's Bennett was the first to go. A member of the Senate Appropriations Committee since 1999, he was ousted by Tea Party activists who said they hated government spending, even if the money was coming to Utah. Shortly after he was ousted, he said that being on the Appropriations Committee this year can actually be a strike against you.

"That's what they hated," he said. "It was, 'You are a part of the fiscal problem that we have if you're spending any money at all.'"