Did DeFazio Flip-Flop on Jail?

Jail deputies used a letter from Congressman Peter DeFazio to bludgeon Lane County Commissioners for not immediately spending federal timber money on hiring back laid-off deputies earlier this year.

DeFazio’s letter warned that not spending the money on the jail now could hurt efforts to get more federal timber money.

So where did commissioners get the idea that they should be so fiscally conservative with the money?

Well, perhaps from DeFazio himself. For a November 2008 article, DeFazio told Eugene Weekly: “If I were a county commissioner, I would be extraordinarily conservative with these funds as they come in, and I would put as much of it as I could away.”

Audio of the full interview is online at tiny.cc/DeFaziojail (the quote comes in after about two minutes).

DeFazio noted in the interview that rising federal deficits will make the timber payments money harder to pass in the future. That appears to be happening right now.

An Associated Press investigation this week made the timber payments a prime target for cuts. The AP found that efforts to pass the timber money by spreading the pork has converted the program into a “sprawling entitlement” with little fiscal logic.

If timber payments don’t continue, the jail could now face a precipitous drop in funding rather than having a reserve to cushion a transition. — Alan Pittman