U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson, R-Urbana, has released his list of earmark requests for the 2010 federal budget, and it looks a bit different than in years past.

There are no requests for federal funds for private businesses, even if Defense Department contracts are involved.

"We're limiting them this year to only public projects," said Johnson's spokesman, Phil Bloomer. "The feeling is we can do the most good where we can help out local governments and local taxpayers avoid bond issues and property-tax increases and sales taxes."

This year's list of appropriations requests includes 25 projects totaling nearly $82 million. There's no guarantee that all projects will be funded, or will get their requested amounts.

The list of earmarks is heavily tilted to the northern half of Johnson's sprawling, 22-county district. Five earmarks are for University of Illinois projects, including $7.5 million for a College of Engineering initiative to establish a Center for Assured Critical Application and Infrastructure Security. The center would "address the development of trust validation tools for critical computer infrastructures," such as defense applications and financial and electrical power systems, according to a narrative on Johnson's Web site.

There also are three earmarks for Illinois State University and one – the largest of all Johnson's requests – for Eastern Illinois University. It would provide $25 million for a biomass-fired combined heating and power plant to replace the existing central plant. There also are requests for Richland Community College in Decatur and for Heartland Community College in Normal.

There's a $1.4 million request for the Illinois State Geological Survey in Champaign to continue its height modernization project that updates physical benchmarks in Illinois; $9 million for the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Lab in Champaign for an energy research project; and $4.5 million to the state geological survey to continue the Central Great Lakes Mapping Coalition's plan to do three-dimensional geological mapping to address issues of natural resources, water availability and economic development.

Other requests include $500,000 to Philo for a sanitary sewer system, $1.75 million to Urbana for pedestrian and bicycle-related improvements along Goodwin Avenue from Gregory Drive to Springfield Avenue, $7 million to Danville for replacement of the nearly 100-year-old Fairchild Street subway, $500,000 to the Douglas County sheriff's office to renovate and update the county jail, $1 million to Clifton for a sewer treatment plant and $1 million to Chebanse for a sewer system.

Bloomer said Johnson's office received $250 million in earmark requests from public entities.

"They had to winnow them down," he said. "A lot had to do with which projects had been listed the longest, which were most needed, or most prepared and ready to go.

"We figure that these are public projects and ought to be funded with public money."

Johnson was hardly alone among Illinois' congressional delegation in making earmark requests. Only Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Kenilworth, did not ask for earmarks. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, listed 13 pages of them, all with the introduction, "This is a good use of taxpayer money because ..."

And the new darling of House Republicans, Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, filed 84 earmark requests. Some were joint requests with other congressmen, including Johnson. Others included $32.5 million for the repair of the LaGrange Lock on the Illinois River and $5.75 million for the repair of roads and curbs at Oak Ridge Cemetery, burial place of Abraham Lincoln, in Springfield.

Briefs

Adam Andrzejewski, a Republican candidate for governor, will be at Merry-Ann's Diner, 1 E. Main St., C, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday. His visit is sponsored by the Tony Pomonis family of Champaign. Andrzejewski is a Hinsdale businessmen, husband and father of three girls. ... The city of Urbana will dedicate a commemorative plaque at 11 a.m. April 22 in front of the boyhood home of Roger Ebert at 410 E. Washington St., U. Ebert will be in town that week for his annual film festival at the Virginia Theatre. Ebert lived on Washington Street (and attended nearby Urbana High School and the University of Illinois) between 1942 and 1961. The public is invited to the ceremony. ... A study of last year's presidential voting finds that Illinois' 15th Congressional District, which includes Champaign-Urbana and Danville, is the 152nd most Republican district in the country (out of 435). Only one other Illinois district (the 19th, represented by Rep. John Shimkus) is more friendly to Republicans. Last November, according to the Washington-based Cook Political Report, the 15th District favored Republican John McCain by about 50 percent to 48 percent. Four years earlier, George Bush won the district by 59 percent to 41 percent.

Tom Kacich is a News-Gazette editor and columnist. His column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 351-5221 or at kacich<@>news-gazette.com.