According to a recent report by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste, a recent $2,000,000 land expansion project by the Chickamauga Chattanooga National Military Park and the organization of a Tennessee Meth Lab Task Force in Chattanooga are both examples of pork barrel projects in the Chattanooga area.
In a news article on the report, Chattanooga Councilman Manny Rico denied the projects were pork. The relevant portion of the article is presented here:
The watchdog group links Wamp to $35-million in pork barrel projects in the latest federal budget, many with ties to Chattanooga and Hamilton County. “That’s ridiculous, those are all necessities those are things we really need and other people benefit by them, its not, there’s no way its pork,” says Chattanooga Councilman Manny Rico.
He and other community leaders appear almost insulted by the inclusion of several projects, like nearly $2-million to expand the Chickamauga Chattanooga National Military Park. Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey says “we have a tradition in this country of preparing a place for our veterans to be laid to rest and their spouses and that’s what that land acquisition is about, and if thats pork, so be it.”
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