Zimmer was against earmarks before he was for them

by: Jason Springer

Sun Sep 07, 2008 at 12:14:06 PM EDT

But, you know, when you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change. Come on! I mean, words mean something, you can't just make stuff up."

Zimmer has run his campaign on the evils of earmarks attacking Frank Lautenberg for just about everything, except for the things Lautenberg hasn't gotten for NJ, which Zimmer attacks for as well. There's a story in the Daily Record today about how Dick Zimmer and Tom Wyka agree on getting rid of earmarks, only they don't.  Wyka is consitent, while you can judge Zimmer's position for yourself.  First, he says this:

Zimmer doesn't think the earmark game looks good, either, saying, "I don't want to play the pork-barrel game better; I want to shut it down."

He said the pledge he signed "does not say I will not sponsor earmarks. It says earmarks should be transparent, they should be justified."

Zimmer said that from what he sees, Frelinghuysen's earmarks comply with that criteria. You can call that the GOP bond.