"Keep it in the family," that's what I always say. And when it comes to spreading around the hard earned tax dollars of Americans, many Congressmen take that cliche to heart.Many members have wives and family members working on their staff. But Representative Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts has taken the idea one step further and popped a couple of earmarks in the hopper for businesses where his wife is an employee or board member.Marino Eccher of the Boston Globe has the story: Lynch arranged the passage of $760,430 in federal earmarks for the South Boston Community Health Center. Margaret Lynch is the center's director of marketing and development. Earmarks totaling $881,018 were appropriated for the Gavin Foundation, a residential substance abuse program. Lynch's wife was named to the foundation's unpaid board just after it received its first earmark in 2003.The earmarks for the two organizations totaled $1.64 million. For both organizations, the funding was for substance...(Read Full Post)