Guest Columns

Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Lobsters Made Taxpayers See Red

Published

5 months ago

July 11, 2024

Topline: Maine lobsters are known for their sharp claws, and in 2008 they could have taught the federal government a thing or two about penny pinching.

The Lobster Institute

House members floated $178,000 to Maine’s Lobster Institute, helping fund outreach and education with money that would be worth $258,000 today.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports. Coburn’s Wastebook 2008 included 65 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $1.3 billion, including the $178,000 wasted on lobsters.

Key facts: The grant funds came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, even though the Lobster Institute had recently told the Bangor Daily News that it accepts money from “sponsors and endowments so that it will not need to rely on the federal government.”

The Institute helped organize the first-ever International Lobster Congress and created the now-defunct Lobster Cam, which updated online every two minutes with pictures of shellfish.

Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.

That doesn’t mean the Institute ignores the culinary field. They’ve created lobster-based dog treats called “Lobster Bisque-its” and helped publish “A Lobster in Every Pot,” a cookbook filled with “100 workmanlike recipes, trivia and lobstering reminiscences.”

A graphic reminder of wasteful spending

The House voted 328-87 to fund the Institute, but no one took more heat than Rep. Kenny Hulshof. His primary election opponent sent staffers dressed as lobsters to Hulshof’s campaign events to remind voters about his wasteful spending.

Background: The earmark was proposed by Maine’s Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and Democratic Rep. Tom Allen.

Collins still represents Maine and helped secure nearly $568 million in earmark funding this year, giving Maine more earmarked cash than all but four other states.

Summary: For the sake of food safety, let’s hope the Lobster Institute’s fish is prepared with more care than the federal government’s half-baked funding initiatives.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.

Adam Andrzejewski

CEO at OpenTheBooks.com | Website | + posts

Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.

Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.

The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.

Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.

Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.

Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.

Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.

In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.

Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).

Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.