Ray's fingerprints are on everything around here

LaHood Sponsored Millions in Earmarks

In a Peoria newspaper article last year that celebrated his career, mayors cheered LaHood's earmarks, with one noting that "Ray's fingerprints are on everything around here." LaHood defended using his sway to fund good, local ideas.

"The reason I went on the Appropriations Committee, the reason other people go on the Appropriations Committee, is they know that it puts them in a position to know where the money is at, to know the people who are doling out the money and to be in the room when the money is being doled out," he said.

Some beneficiaries are little known outside the district. LaHood sponsored more than $1 million in earmarks to build a Peoria/NEXT incubator, a technology development project. A Morton, Ill.-based firm, Otto Baum, was chosen in 2006 to build part of the center. The firm wrote LaHood a $2,300 campaign check last year.

And the prints have postponed his confirmation hearings.... HT Real Barack Obama