Alaska ranked No. 1, with $380 million, or $555.54 per person.

In 2007, his first year in office, Carney secured the most money among freshman members by sponsoring 21 projects totaling $18.2 million.

All 49 of the new Democratic lawmakers in 2007 sponsored or co-sponsored at least one earmark for a combined $351 million. Freshman Republicans got approval for projects worth $65 million.

“We call it bribing people with their own money,” said Thomas Schatz, president of the counsel for CAGW.

The good news, Schatz said, is the amount of earmarks stuffed into appropriations bills in 2007 was down about 6 percent, to $27.2 billion, from $29 billion in 2006.

The bad news?

“There is no good earmark,” Schatz said.

Carney’s position that bureaucrats shouldn’t decide the needs of individual districts makes no sense, Schatz said, since they’re involved in all other aspects of government.

Under that argument, Schatz said, “We could save a lot of money and eliminate bureaucracy. Let the Congress handle everything.”

Much has been made by Hackett of Carney’s support for spending $50,000 to create a mule museum in California and $188,000 for the Lobster Institute in Maine, both Republican-backed projects that Hackett deems particularly wasteful.

Carney defended the projects and said all members have a chance to question one another’s financial requests.

“We rely on the good sense of our colleagues who sometimes are asked to make a case” for funding, he said, adding that projects like the museum create jobs.

In light of the country’s troubled economy, Hackett said the need to put an end to earmarks in favor of more discretionary spending is even greater.

“We have finite resources in this country and we can’t fund everything,” he said. “The reality is we need to cut spending.”

Besides, Hackett added, with $450 billion available in federal funds, Carney hasn’t been able to bring home much bacon to the 10th District.