Reporter: Congressional Earmarks Allow For Kickback Loopholes

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published June 12, 2007 at 11:13 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The politicking that sent former San Diego Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison is still going on in the nation's capital. That's what reporter Marcus Stern says about the process of earmarks

The politicking that sent former San Diego Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison is still going on in the nation's capital. That's what reporter Marcus Stern says about the process of earmarks. Congress uses earmarks to allocate money for specific projects. Some are controversial because of their cost or the frivolous nature of the project. Earmarks also provide an easy way for politicians to get kickbacks, because there's less public scrutiny over the process.

Stern, speaking on KPBS radio's "These Days" program, says recently-elected members of Congress haven't kept their pledge to end corruption.

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Stern : So they had something of a mandate when they got here to make some changes. And unfortunately, the signs, if you listen to them, yeah, it sounds like they're very reform-minded. If you look at what they're doing -- in fact they're sort of dragging their feet and there's not a lot of reform taking place.

Former Republican Congressman Cunningham was convicted of accepting bribes for securing military contracts for friends through the earmark process. Stern is one of a team of reporters that won the Pulitzer Prize for their work on the Cunningham story, which is chronicled in their book "The Wrong Stuff."

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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