TheDC Exclusive: Documentary filmmakers try to get government funding for ‘Museum of Government Waste’

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Daily Caller:

Could Congress be persuaded to spend taxpayer money on a Museum of Government Waste?

That’s what filmmakers Ellen and Jim Hubbard of Nevada have been trying to figure out for the last five years.

The couple is releasing a film — set to come out this year — about their quest to obtain an earmark from Congress for a museum dedicated to wasteful government spending.

The point of the film and project, Ellen Hubbard said, is to show the absurdity of what special pet projects Congress chooses to spend money on and the process one has to go through in order to obtain an earmark.

“In the beginning it started off as, ‘what’s the ultimate ridiculous earmark that we can come up with?’” Hubbard said in a phone interview with The Daily Caller, referencing taxpayer-funded museums dedicated to magic, wheels, tea pots and prison.

Despite understanding that they would be unlikely to actually obtain such an earmark, the Hubbards made a serious go at it anyway.

“We ended up hiring a lobbyist, we met with members of Congress, their staffs, several lobbyists,” Ellen Hubbard said.

“We never ever thought we would get an earmark just as regular citizens, let alone an earmark for something this crazy,” she added. “But we really authentically tried to get it.”

In meetings on Capitol Hill, they would say the museum has a wealthy backer who wants the government to support it with an earmark.

“And once you tell them about a wealthy backer, it was weird,” Hubbard said. “All of them acted the same way. The conversation shifted from ‘what’s your earmark’ to ‘how can we get this done.’ It was eye opening.”

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You can con some of the politicians all of the time...