New front in Berkeley-Marines war: U.S. Senate
Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Friday, February 15, 2008

(02-15) 04:00 PST Washington - --

The fighting over Berkeley's snub of the U.S. Marine Corps hasn't died down - it's moved to the U.S. Senate.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint made good on his threat to punish the Berkeley City Council by introducing a proposal Thursday to strip the city of more than $2.1 million in federal earmarks and give the money instead to the Marine Corps.

"This particular case became the business of the American people when the city of Berkeley insulted our troops and their constitutional mission to defend our country, while still coming to the federal government asking for special taxpayer-funded handouts," DeMint said.

The measure appears to be going nowhere. Lawmakers are loath to rescind another member's earmarks - for fear of losing their own. DeMint attached it as an amendment to an Indian health bill, and Democrats warned it could be ruled non-germane.

But the bill's slim odds didn't stop California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer from rushing to the Senate floor to denounce it.

"State and local governments all across the nation pass resolutions and measures that many of us don't agree with on a host of issues. Disagreements are part of the political process," she said.

"Why on Earth would we punish good, decent citizens because some members of their local government or their sewer district or the mosquito abatement district or water district, any of their districts, say something that's highly offensive?"

Boxer said she disagreed with the letter the City Council originally approved, which called the Marines "unwelcome intruders" for operating a downtown recruiting center. But she noted that DeMint is ignoring the latest developments: The council voted 7-2 Wednesday not to send the letter, while restating its opposition to the war and refusing to apologize.

"You would think Sen. DeMint would be very glad of that," she said. "He's not. He's still angry and he is still wanting to fight the battle of a couple weeks ago."

In fact, the Berkeley City Council may be the only group trying to make this fight go away. Anti-war groups like Code Pink are loving the attention paid to their cause. And for talk radio hosts and politicians on the right, it's an easy way to marginalize the war's critics as unpatriotic.

For DeMint, it's a double-bonus: He gets to appear both pro-military and anti-pork-barrel spending.

But the threat to Berkeley's funding is unusual. And it's not simply DeMint. His 10 Senate co-sponsors include Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. In the House, the same "Semper Fi Act" has 71 co-sponsors.

The five earmarks were all approved last year: $750,000 for ferry service to Berkeley and Albany; $87,000 for the Berkeley Unified School District's Edible Schoolyard program; $94,000 for the city's police and fire emergency communications system; $975,000 for the Robert T. Matsui Foundation for Public Service at UC Berkeley; and $239,000 for the Ed Roberts Campus, which serves disabled adults and children.

Since this whole debate is a food fight, it was no surprise which earmark DeMint attacked first.

"One earmark provides gourmet organic lunches to schools in the Berkeley school district while our Marines make do with military rations of sloppy joes and chili beans," he said. "This is unacceptable."

Boxer was apoplectic. She showed photos of students in Berkeley working in the garden, learning how to plant and grow vegetables.

"They work the garden, they learn about nutrition, they learn how to cook the food," Boxer said. "Here's a program that teaches them to love the whole notion of eating in a healthy way, and that's the program he went after?"

No action had been taken on DeMint's amendment as of late Thursday.

E-mail Zachary Coile at zcoile@sfchronicle.com.

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