Mass. Rep. gave earmarks to wife's groups

BOSTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., has procured federal earmarks for non-profit health centers with connections to his wife, documents show.

Lynch procured congressional grants totaling $760,430 for the South Boston Community Health Center, where his wife, Margaret Lynch, is director of marketing and development, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

Meanwhile, earmarks totaling $881,018 were appropriated for the Gavin Foundation, a residential substance abuse program in South Boston, where Margaret Lynch was named to its unpaid board just after it received its first earmark in 2003, the newspaper said.

Stephen Lynch told the Globe there has been no favoritism involved in the funding, pointing out that his wife has received no financial benefit from the earmarks, as documented in a letter from the House Committee on Standards and Official Conduct concluding that Margaret Lynch had no financial interest in the earmarks.

But Steve Ellis, vice president of the non-partisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, told the newspaper that any earmark directed to an organization with personal ties to a congressman -- even if fully disclosed -- raised red flags.