Ed O'Brien, Leavenworth County resident, speaks against U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda's proposed earmark for a Regional Prisons Museum in front of the Lansing Correctional Facility. The three boys dressed up are supposed to represent Americans' future as prisoners

Lansing ? From the Teapot Museum in North Carolina to the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska, one grass-roots organization is out to stop what it says is wasteful taxpayer spending on “questionable” projects.

And now, they’ve taken on the proposed Kansas Regional Prisons Museum in Lansing.

On Tuesday, Ed Frank, vice president of public affairs for Americans for Prosperity, said in the last couple years he’s watched federal spending spiral out of control, which he said is due in large part to Congress neglecting to properly prioritize its spending habits.

The group decided to visit the site of the Prisons Museum after hearing that U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., included it on her list of 64 appropriations requests waiting congressional approval. If the earmark were accepted, the museum would receive $1.18 million in federal funding.

“These (earmarks) have really caused federal spending to grow a lot more than we can afford,” Frank said.

The proposed Kansas Regional Prisons Museum would be built directly behind the Lansing Historical Museum. It is projected the museum would cost more than $3 million to build and would resemble the neighboring Lansing Correctional Facility, complete with fake watchtowers and a 12- to 14-foot-tall stone walls.

In a statement, a Boyda spokesman said the congresswoman supported transparency and accountability when it came to the federal budget, which is why she is part of only a handful of members of Congress who have released 2008 appropriations requests.

“Of course, running a transparent office means opening yourself up to all kinds of political potshots, including the completely unfounded kind,” the spokesman wrote. “The proposed Regional Prisons Museum is a tribute to a major cultural and economic force in northeast Kansas, and its construction would produce major economic dividends for the Leavenworth and Lansing area.”

Kenneth Bernard, mayor of Lansing and chairman of the board of directors for the Prisons Museum, couldn’t agree more and said the museum would be much more than a tool for economic development.

He said the comparisons the Americans for Prosperity used to other museums around the country were unfair. He said that the members of the organizations were looking through a limited scope and were missing the true idea behind the museum.

But Ed O’Brien, a Leavenworth County resident, said that like most people, he was “sick and tired” of increasing federal taxes and that despite what benefits the county received, he still thought the federal government should not be involved.

“The federal government can’t be funding all projects like this when we have the debt we do,” O’Brien said.