RINOs on the warpath: Lindsay Graham

[AZRedhawk44]

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/155781-graham-vows-to-bring-senate-to-standstill-over-40000-project

Threatening to halt Congressional business until he gets his $40,000 pork project for study of the depth of the Port of Charleston.

My response?

It's $40k.  The State can pay for it.  Or the city of Charleston.

Why does EVERYBODY have to run their mouths off for every penny they can squeeze out of Capitol Hill?  I guarantee you that this will end up costing more than $40k in lobbying money to resolve.

It's this culture of civic infrastructure corruption and incompetence that needs to be changed.

I'm POSITIVE the harbor master for that port charges a surcharge for each vessel to dock.  That surcharge was initially intended to pay for capital projects and maintenance of the port.

Sounds like the financial priorities of the harbor master's office need to be examined.  $40k is peanuts to an operation the size of this... look at their web page to get a grasp of the size of this port:

http://www.port-of-charleston.com/charleston/default.asp

Also, this little tidbit caught my eye on their site:

Choosing a port shouldn’t be a gamble. Luckily, choosing the Port of Charleston is a sure thing, with the deepest water in the Southeast – now, industry-leading productive operations, major room to grow and a client-focused approach to serving your company’s unique needs.

All told, this combination delivers bottom-line benefits for our clients. How?

It all starts with deep water. Charleston Harbor is home to the deepest channels in the region and regularly handles 8,400-TEU vessels drafting up to 48 feet.

Hmm.

The RINOs are out of control, it seems.

[AZRedhawk44]

I just emailed my senators and state rep.

I urge you all to do the same.

[AJ Dual]

Maybe I'm the wierdo.. but do THAT MANY people really judge the effectiveness of their Representatives by how many fed.gov dollars they bring into the district? 

[charby]

Maybe I'm the wierdo.. but do THAT MANY people really judge the effectiveness of their Representatives by how many fed.gov dollars they bring into the district? 

Yes

[dm1333]

Maintaining a channel like that is the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is why he is trying to get federal funding to the Army Corps.  They can do quite a bit with $40,000 when it comes to studying how much commerce will be lost if the channel is shoaling or if it needs to be dredged to accomodate deeper draft vessels.  That money may also pay for computer modeling, figuring out where the spoils can be dumped, testing the spoils, etc.

It might be crazy to try to hold up Congressional business over this but it also isn't the responsibility of the harbor master, state, etc.

[Scout26]

Maintaining a channel like that is the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers,

There's the problem.

The ACE went from being a place to put West Point Grads to give the locals some expertise in engineering (pre Civil War) to "We'll do it for you" to "It's ours now, so just shutup and let us run it"

Every port charges fees to dock.  THAT money should be used to operate and maintain the port. With the ACE just acting as advisors, not running the show.   

It might be crazy to try to hold up Congressional business over this but it also isn't the responsibility of the harbor master, state, etc.

IT should be and THAT'S THE FARKING PROBLEM !!!!!

[Ned Hamford]

40k.... I think her salary could more than cover that.

[Perd Hapley]

It appears Ned's gender confusion is extending beyond his own identity.

[Waitone]

A little backroom information.  Charleston is a premier east coast port that has fallen in favor because it has not kept up with competing ports.  Seems SC (the political structure is infested with RINO's) has decided the state should manage the port as opposed to a private company like all the competitors.  IIRC Charleston move from #2 to # 6 on the east coast because SC would not make the necessary improvements.  Now the herd of RINO's (AKA SC's legislature) senses once again their lunch will be eaten by Savannah so the response is to do another study paid for by someone else.  Hundreds of millions of dollars in business at stake and the RINO herd is quibbling over chicken feed.  No privately operated business would be that stoopid yet we see consistent behavior out of SC RINO herd.   The solution to the problem is to get SC out of the mix and let a private company manage the port.  The fact that Lindsey Graham chirps up is not surprising.

[Boomhauer]

40k.... I think her salary could more than cover that.

I know Lindsay has a girl's name and he looks a bit queer...but it's a he.

the political structure is infested with RINO's)

The wailing and gnashing of teeth by the RHINOs in conflict with governors like Sanford (before he went full retard) and Haley is quite epic. They absolutely do not want to give up their Democrat Lite status...i.e, the SC "Republicans" are often basically Dems who harp on "family values" and such yet spend and grab pork projects just like the Democrats.

[dm1333]

Every port charges fees to dock.  THAT money should be used to operate and maintain the port.

Those fees are used to maintain the port facilities like docks, terminals, etc.  The Army Corps is only responsible for the actual channel being dredged to whatever control depth is selected.  The Army Corps in most cases isn't doing the dredging, either.  They pay a commercial firm to come in and do the actual work, they make sure the work meets the specifications in the contract. 

I've dealt with having one federal channel dredged several times since 2003 and also worked with the Army Corps at a second place to get dredging completed.  I was thoroughly impressed with the work that they did.  They have a core group of Ph.d eggheads at their headquarters who will come out and measure how much materiel needs to be removed, figure out where to get rid of it, work around fishing/spawning/environmental concerns, meet with the public and allay concerns they might have, write the contract, ensure the contractors are doing the job correctly and then ask for feedback after everything is done and actually listen to what people have to say.

I WANT the Army Corps in charge of dredging these channels as opposed to having 24 or 25 states maintaining their own channels.  With the ACE you get consistency.  Mariners want that.  Just like with NOAA/NIMA/NUMA (whatever the people who make our charts are called this week)producing nautical charts.  I want that one agency making charts of the same quality across the board instead of 24 or 25 states producing their own. 

Having said all that, it still is crazy to try to hold up Congress over this. 

[Scout26]

Those fees are used to maintain the port facilities like docks, terminals, etc.  The Army Corps is only responsible for the actual channel being dredged to whatever control depth is selected.  The Army Corps in most cases isn't doing the dredging, either.  They pay a commercial firm to come in and do the actual work, they make sure the work meets the specifications in the contract. 

I've dealt with having one federal channel dredged several times since 2003 and also worked with the Army Corps at a second place to get dredging completed.  I was thoroughly impressed with the work that they did.  They have a core group of Ph.d eggheads at their headquarters who will come out and measure how much materiel needs to be removed, figure out where to get rid of it, work around fishing/spawning/environmental concerns, meet with the public and allay concerns they might have, write the contract, ensure the contractors are doing the job correctly and then ask for feedback after everything is done and actually listen to what people have to say.

I WANT the Army Corps in charge of dredging these channels as opposed to having 24 or 25 states maintaining their own channels.  With the ACE you get consistency.  Mariners want that.  Just like with NOAA/NIMA/NUMA (whatever the people who make our charts are called this week)producing nautical charts.  I want that one agency making charts of the same quality across the board instead of 24 or 25 states producing their own. 

Having said all that, it still is crazy to try to hold up Congress over this. 

Those "eggheads" used to be West Point grads waitin' around for the next war or Indian uprisin', and they used to advise the locals on how to maintain said channels, etc.  NOT DO THE WORK FOR THEM.

States "do" and "pay", the feds "advise".
 

[dm1333]

The Ph.d eggheads that I was talking about are civilian employees of the ACE.  The ACE has also been involved in stuff like dredging harbors and rivers for over a hundred years, it isn't something they just took over. 

[Scout26]

The Ph.d eggheads that I was talking about are civilian employees of the ACE.  The ACE has also been involved in stuff like dredging harbors and rivers for over a hundred years, it isn't something they just took over. 

I understand that.  It's called mission creep.  It was wrong a hundred years ago when it started and it's wrong now.