Pete Sessions Proves He Can Be Both a Family Values and a Fiscal Hypocrite, Winning GOP Hypocrite Award for Blimp Made of Pork

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)

After years of giving out the GOP Hypocrite Award every week, BuzzFlash is starting to notice a pattern. Republicans who trumpet their family values often find themselves in compromising personal situations, and those who freak out about the government wasting taxpayer dollars usually have an accounting error or two to explain.

Obviously, there are other versions of hypocrisy, but these two themes seem to be popular with the GOP two-faced crowd. So after the family values-loving Pete Sessions was outed for fundraising at a Las Vegas strip club, we weren't all that surprised that the earmark-hating Pete Sessions took a ride on the government gravy train.

Or maybe he was flying on porky the blimp? Politico explains:

Rep. Pete Sessions -- the chief of the Republicans' campaign arm in the House -- says on his Web site that earmarks have become "a symbol of a broken Washington to the American people."

Yet in 2008, Sessions himself steered a $1.6 million earmark for dirigible research to an Illinois company whose president acknowledges having no experience in government contracting, let alone in building blimps.

What the company did have: the help of Adrian Plesha, a former Sessions aide with a criminal record who has made more than $446,000 lobbying on its behalf.

Perhaps the best part about the Politico article is the last sentence, where Sessions' spokesman points out the hypocrisy for us, noting "that Sessions has supported a moratorium on all earmarks since the start of the 111th Congress," conveniently after the questionable earmark was approved.

On a Web page announcing his support for the moratorium, Sessions says, "Congress has already proven its addiction to record-breaking, pork-barrel spending." That sure sounds like criticism, but after the revelations from the investigation by Politico, such statements sound more like admitting one has a problem. Good job, Pete. That's the first step.

Back in May, Sessions was railing against the pork-barrel spending once again, ending his ranting press release by saying, "I will continue to call for accountability with your tax dollars and an end to wasteful Washington spending that has become the hallmark of this spendthrift Congress." He may be just the man to do so; he does know where the bodies are buried, so to speak.

Now, unlike Sessions, we'll admit that much good can come from a well-placed earmark. Earmarks can fund research or create jobs where the private sector may not have gone without prodding. The problem with this kind of funding is its misuse: when cronyism takes the place of pure investment in society and when efforts to kick start turn into kickbacks.

Just because the guy lobbying for this company happens to be a convicted criminal who used to work for Sessions doesn't automatically make this a bad earmark. But the fact that one of the company's co-owners told Politico neither of them had a "background in the defense or aviation industries, nor any engineering or research expertise" means that this money was misappropriated. Does anyone really think these guys were the best ones for the job?

Furthermore, though Sessions' Dallas district supposedly stands to gain a whole slew of new jobs from this earmark, it's not clear if and how that will happen, since the company is based in Illinois (though it does have a San Antonio satellite, which is just under 300 miles away from Dallas). In fact, Politico reports that the Texas address on the earmark request belongs to a friend of the congressman, not the company itself.

And still, Sessions' staff say he stands behind this blatant pork. If this isn't "wasteful Washington spending," we don't know what is. However, one thing we do know is Republican hypocrisy, which is why we're naming Pete Sessions as BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon.

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This is Pete Sessions' second GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award. He also won the award on Aug. 1, 2008. You can see a list of all previous nominees here.