"Congress has passed a historic bill to fund long-standing claims from Black farmers and Native Americans, including the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

It's a moment to celebrate. Yet, in a reality-bending twist, Democrats are accusing Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl of surreptitiously adding the Apache deal as an earmark.

They're gleefully claiming Kyl violated the Republican pledge to avoid putting those pet projects, known as earmarks, into legislation.

How preposterous. How completely outrageous.

Kyl has been a dogged champion of justice and reason in settling tribal water rights in Arizona. To label the White Mountain Apache agreement as an earmark is turning the truth upside down, inside out and backward. It's a $200 million settlement negotiated with the federal government. The one string left to tie up was congressional approval, which Kyl has been working on since 2008.

He found the perfect opportunity in a bill that funded other settlements. The most high profile were cases of federal discrimination against Black farmers and the mismanagement of American Indian trust funds. But there were smaller settlements with Native American groups in other states. No one is silly enough to label those as earmarks."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Kyl's achievement is not an earmark (The Arizona Republic 12/3)

Related Stories:
Senate passes water rights settlements for tribes in three states (11/22)