According to the annual “Pig Book” issued by the taxpayer-advocacy group Citizens Against Government Waste, New York lags behind almost every other state in the receipt of “pork,” the proverbial bacon — in the form of constituent-friendly projects — that our elected representatives are expected to bring home. In terms of pork per capita, it seems only California, Massachusetts, Georgia, Michigan, and North Carolina do worse. We suppose this could be seen as virtue on the part of our congressional representation — or incompetence. Or maybe it’s just a case of our large population distorting the numbers. Or it could be that by electing so many Democrats, New Yorkers do themselves harm in a Republican-controlled Congress — a point to remember when it comes time to vote.

More fundamentally, we might take issue with how CAGW defines pork. The group’s criteria is that an appro priation meet at least one of these criteria, according to the book’s introduction: “Requested by only one chamber of Congress; Not specifically authorized; Not competitively awarded; Not requested by the President; Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding; Not the subject of congressional hearings; or Serves only a local or special interest.” It seems to us that at least some of these are suspect. The Constitution grants the power of appropriation to the Congress, making us wonder why any spending not requested by the president is assumed invalid. Similarly, items requested by only one house of Congress do not seem overly suspicious to us. The legislative body has two houses for a reason.

There are plenty of ways to designate what is and what isn’t pork. And CAGW does a valuable public service by shining a light on wasteful spending, of which there’s plenty. But their criteria don’t necessarily jibe with the Constitution.