'Prince of Pork' did not serve taxpayers

Former St. Louis Congressman Robert A. Young III died last week at the age of 83. You would have had to follow Missouri politics for quite a while to recall Young. He was elected over 30 years ago to represent a blue-collar district in St. Louis. And Young was as blue-collar as you could get.

Young was a veteran of World War II and a union man from beginning to end. He came from a strong union family and Young never forgot those roots. He carried the union on his back when he went to Washington, D.C., and by all accounts, he did an outstanding job representing their interests.

For 10 years - until the Reagan revolution in the '80s - Young was a champion for every federal dollar available to spend on public works projects in St. Louis. And Young was very good at what he did.

Young was called the "Prince of Pork" for his untiring ability to bring federal dollars back to his St. Louis district. He was once accused of trading votes for federal dollars in his district. He famously said, "If that's a fault, I'm guilty."

I well remember Young and his brand of politics. He came along at a time when I was - by virtue of being in the newspaper business - beginning to appreciate and understand how the political system works. Despite loathing his political stances, I had to admire Young for his uncanny ability to squeeze the last federal tax dollar available for St. Louis.

Young was remembered fondly by his colleagues following his passing last week. His name is stamped on some of those brick and mortar victories he had for his St. Louis district.

But lost in all of the adulation for Young was the stark reality that he never saw a tax-driven project he disliked as long as it came to St. Louis. He was more than willing to spend tax dollars that surely could have gone to better projects or more urgent issues. But Young was a big-government, tax-and-

spend Democrat in the traditional mold.

Young's rags-to-power story was impressive regardless of your political persuasion. And if the purpose of a Congressman is to represent the district at the expense of anything else, then Young did a tremendous job during his decade in Washington.

As a conservative, I take a slightly different approach toward spending tax dollars. Young's pride in trading votes for public works dollars probably wouldn't play quite so well these days. His approach - along with many others - helped to spend money like it was water. I believe he often put jobs and his district above the greater good. His followers would never agree but they also could never convince me otherwise.