The Swine Line

Here’s an interesting article from South Carolina’s The State newspaper on Rep. James E. Clyburn’s (D-S.C.) many “Monuments to Me.”

Living Memorials: ‘Clyburn’ here, there, everywhere

In the state capital, you can work on your golf swing at the James E. Clyburn Golf Center — admiring the life-size bronze statue of Clyburn as you enter — or cross the James E. Clyburn Pedestrian Overpass over S.C. 277 northeast of town.

With the price of gas so high, consider catching a bus at the James E. Clyburn Intermodal Transportation Center in Sumter.

Or you can sign up at the James E. Clyburn Community Empowerment Center in Orangeburg to learn some high-tech skills or freshen up your resume.

… Clyburn likely will never catch U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, the loquacious West Virginian who boasts of his prowess in bringing federal largesse to his poor state. West Virginia is home to 36 things named after Byrd, plus a towering bronze statute of him in the Capitol Rotunda.

…

U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte, N.C., Democrat, came to Washington the same year as Clyburn, and both men have headed the influential Congressional Black Caucus. There are no places, events or funds named after Watt, and he wants to keep it that way.

… “I don’t need that kind of approval, and certainly my ego doesn’t require it,” Watt said. “It’s already difficult enough for us to get past the presumption that we’re being favored and pampered and treated in ways that are different than other people.”

…

Critics outside Congress say the Clyburn memorials are permanent political ads that keep his name in front of his constituents.

“Every one of those facilities is a taxpayer-funded advertisement for the congressman’s re-election,” said Tom Schatz, head of Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington group that tracks federal spending.

Schatz and other critics say the memorials often are re-election tools free of campaign-finance laws.

…

Clyburn said he has never initiated any of the efforts to attach his name to a project. Yet the Lake Marion bridge he’s been trying for years to get built has been called “the Clyburn Connector” in his appropriations requests.

A Jan. 24, 2002, press release from Clyburn carried the headline, “Clyburn Connector More Than a Bridge.” The project also goes by that name in S.C. Department of Transportation lists of the state’s transportation needs.

For Citizens Against Government Waste, the James E. Clyburn Pedestrian Overpass is worthy only of mockery and inclusion in its annual “Pig Book” of Washington pork.