Reality Stole My Punch Line

The other day, I facetiously suggested that maybe Alaska could get federal money for its new P.R. campaign aimed at convincing the rest of America that the state is not greedy for federal money. David Boaz points out a detail from his December 23 Reason Online piece about Alaska's "bridges to nowhere" that I had forgotten:

The agency building Don Young's Way [one of the bridges] is advertising for lobbying firms to represent it in Washington at a cost of up to $150,000. The firms would engage in "lobbying, educating, reporting, communicating and coordinating."

If $150,000 actually buys enough educating, reporting, and communicating to make the $454 million Alaska got for the bridges seem like money well spent, I'd say it's a bargain.