Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005 | 8:15 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- When it comes to congressional spending, "pork" is in the eye -- make that the belly -- of the beholder.
So whether $5.1 million for 22 Nevada programs -- including more than $2 million for several programs in and around Las Vegas -- is seen as a judicious use of tax dollars or an unfair burden for federal taxpayers depends in part on whether you're on the receiving or paying end of the financial pipeline.
A congressional-approved spending bill for the Commerce, Justice and State departments includes $700,000 to equip a new Las Vegas SWAT vehicle and mobile "booking trailer," $100,000 for a youth boxing club and $50,000 to fight underage drinking in Henderson.
The bill also includes $1 million for a study that would analyze the feasibility and economic benefits of hosting an international air trade show in Clark County.
Critics of congressional "pork" -- projects in spending bills specifically earmarked by lawmakers for their districts -- question why federal taxpayers should pick up the tab for such community-based programs.
While pork-barrel spending is routine in Congress, this year critics are howling louder than usual as lawmakers scramble to offset a soaring deficit.
"The federal government should not be in the business of subsidizing boxing clubs and studying whether there should be air shows in Nevada," said Keith Ashdown, spokesman for Taxpayers for Common Sense, which opposes politicians "earmarking" pork.
"It shouldn't be in the business of subsidizing something that could be paid for locally."
There were 15,500 such projects in spending bills approved last year, Ashdown said.
But lawmakers defend their home-state projects. During a busy week in Congress last week, Nevada's five lawmakers showered the media with press releases about the money that they helped secure for military, roads, transit, veterans and law enforcement programs.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a member of the money-doling Senate Appropriations Committee, does not apologize for securing money for Nevada. Early each year, his staffers sift through a pile of requests from Nevada cities, agencies and groups that want federal money.
Reid, touting the Nevada programs in the Commerce and Justice bill, said he often hears from law enforcement officers looking to finance innovative crime-prevention programs.
"I think our best approach to fighting crime is to fund programs that offer support and training to at-risk youth," Reid said.
Metro Police had to go to Washington to get money for its new SWAT vehicle that amounts to a "mini command center" because the police force faces a problem that many others do not: unparalleled growth.
Stan Olsen, Metro's executive director of intergovernmental affairs, said Metro's budget is stretched just trying to hire enough officers and keeping them in squad cars and new substations.
Congress bought the new SWAT vehicle last year, and the $700,000 that lawmakers just approved will pay to fill it with cutting-edge computer technology and radio equipment.
The mobile command post also could serve as a dispatch center if Metro's was knocked out, Olsen said.
The units could respond to a variety of scenes: hostage situations, shopping mall shootings, chemical leaks and crowd control on New Year's Eve on the Strip, Olsen said.
The bill also included $100,000 to pay for about 200 high-risk students, aged 8 to 18, to participate in the Richard Steele Boxing Club, operated out of the Home Courts gym on Commercial Way in Henderson.
Steele pitched the program to Reid personally. Reid, who boxed in his youth, was impressed, Steele said.
Boxing instills discipline and focus, and the program teaches young boxers to use those qualities in the classroom and at home, Steele said.
"Boxing is a harsh sport -- it's only you," Steele said. "It's only you that has to get the work done. You'd be surprised at how many parents have come to me and said, 'Your program really turned my kid around.' "
The bill also included $50,000 for the staging of the Every 15 Minutes program in five Henderson high schools, a nationwide initiative aimed at scaring students away from drinking and driving.
As part of the program, a fatal car collision is simulated at the schools, complete with wrecked cars and live responding emergency crews.
In the simulation, one student is "killed" in the accident and one airlifted by helicopter to a hospital. Another is given a field sobriety test and "arrested" for driving while intoxicated and causing the death.
In what is sometimes an emotional program, selected students are removed from class every 15 minutes and not allowed to speak to anyone for the rest of the day, representing teens who die in drunken driving accidents on average every quarter hour nationwide. A school-wide assembly follows.
"There's never a dry eye, especially that next day," said Henderson Police spokesman Todd Rasmussen. "Everybody's crying."
After federal money formerly made available for the program from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was discontinued, the city did not have the money to continue the program. So Henderson Police turned to Congress, Rasmussen said.
Other projects in the spending bill include:
-- $500,000 for a Nye County Sheriff's Office communications system.
-- $250,000 for North Las Vegas to equip its own mobile communications center.
-- $150,000 to establish an alternative program in the juvenile justice system that could help alleviate crowding in county correctional facilities.
-- $100,000 for UNLV's Boyd School of Law to expand the Nevada Immigrant Resource Project.
-- $75,000 for the Elder Abuse Prevention Project, which offers services to Southern Nevada seniors who have been victims of domestic violence.
Benjamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at grove@ lasvegassun.com.
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