Whenever a field goal kicker puts the football way off to the right or left of the goal post, it's called a "shank." House Minority Leader John Boehner and his colleagues among the GOP leadership shanked one this week on the earmarks issue. A GOP slot opened up on the House Appropriations Committee, which signs off on the pet projects of lawmakers. If Boehner and company were serious about ending the earmark culture, which has badly undermined the credibility of Congress, they had a perfect man to fill the vacancy: Jeff Flake of Arizona. He has introduced more amendments to strike earmarks than any other member of the House, and putting him on the appropriations panel would have shown that the GOP was no longer just talking about earmark reform. Instead, Boehner and company settled on Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama.

Bonner gets high marks for personal integrity and he certainly knows how the Appropriations panel works, having served as chief of staff to Rep. Sonny Callahan, who for many years was a powerful member of the committee. And Bonner has pledged support for the earmarks moratorium being pushed by the House GOP leadership. The problem is that Bonner's voting record, as tabulated by the National Taxpayers Union, puts him among such stellar proponents of earmark politics as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Louisiana's "Dollar Bill" Jefferson. It's all well and good for Bonner to talk about the need for earmark reform, but his voting record and the invitation to earmark applicants on his official web site tell a different story. It might be otherwise if Bonner's appointment were accompanied by a declaration that he will no longer seek earmarks for any purpose, but no such statement was heard.

What is doubly distressing about the Bonner appointment is that it came hard on the heels of the House GOP getting a major boost from an unexpected source. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman of California announced earlier this week his support of the GOP's earmarks moratorium, saying "we have a problem in Congress. Congressional spending through earmarks is out of control." Waxman pledged not to request any earmarks under the 2009 budget now being considered by Congress. Waxman shows real courage in defying the leadership of his party on the earmarks issue and joining the GOP effort. We wouldn't blame him, though, for having second thoughts as the GOP leadership's latest kick sails wide of the earmarks goal post.