Porkers Get the Boot

Beginning of article

WASHINGTON

Three of the powerful Republican "Cardinals" -- the House Appropriations subcommittee chairmen who dispense federal pork -- were defeated in the midterm elections.

The losing Cardinals were Reps. Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania (Foreign Operations subcommittee), John Sweeney of New York (Treasury-Transportation-HUD) and Charles Taylor of North Carolina (Interior). Rep. Anne Northup of Kentucky, another senior pork- dispensing appropriator, also lost.

Two other defeated Republican senators, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Jim Talent of Missouri, voted for notorious pork projects: the "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska and the "Railroad to Nowhere" in …