The FLS story is more or less a fluff piece (I know, you're shocked). My favorite part is either the article's assertion that he's been in his new job for "a little over three months" (uh, hello? he was elected in mid Dec.), the fact that he has "a dozen health care industry representatives who have crammed into his office for a briefing" or Wittman's defense of earmarks as "a tool that could help Washington bureaucrats to more intelligently distribute money."
One thing the article doesnt mention is that House Minority Leader Boehner has failed to deliver on his effort to put Wittman on the House Armed Services Committee in this heavily military district. Something that Speaker Pelosi was able to do for another recent special election winner, Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA). (Being in the majority has it's priveleges. That's a good point to drive home for Dem congressional candidates this fall)
On a more positive note, Wittman has decided to name a post office after the late JoAnn Davis in her hometown of Gloucester. No objection to that whatsoever. Great move in fact. But if you go to Congressman Wittman's website and look for any legislation that he's sponsored, you'll find this:
Voted against improvements to mine safety
Voted against the HOPE VI grant program that is designed to help revitalize severely distressed public housing
Voted against overriding President Bush's veto of SCHIP reauthorizing and expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program
Voted against the extension of the Protect America Act that would have extended the current FISA law for 21 days and given Congress time to resolve the differences between the House and Senate bills
I worked on a $26M per year Army program at one company. One year a small company in Texas got a $6M earmark to do some work that was within our contract scope--a contract that we had won in a full and open competition. I estimated that the actual cost of the earmark work was less than $1.5M. I asked my Army customer what he was going to do. He just shrugged and said, "I'm going to give them $6M and hope that they deliver something." The company receiving the earmark had donated $50,000 in campaign contributions to their local (Democratic) Congressman who was a sub-committee chairman on the Armed Services Committee. That is your tax dollars at work.
As the poster above noted, both Democrats and Republicans use them. It is how they raise campaign contributions and ensure their incumbancy.
If Whitman is already into earmarks, then he is a quick study. I predict that he will shortly be following in the footsteps of Duke Cunningham and William Jefferson.