“[Having earmarks] changes the nature of who a congressman is. All of a sudden, he is a favor factory,” Norquist told me.

He noted that there is legislation in Congress to curb the use of earmarks right now, like conservative Republican Senator Tom Coburn's call for a one-year moratorium.

“Getting Democrats to cosponsor that would be great,” Norquist said. “If he [Weiner] can be the beginning of a bunch of Democrat cosponsors to come forward, that would be very helpful.”

After saying he’d reach out to Weiner to talk to him about this issue, Norquist added, “I’ve worked with [Ralph] Nader on this subject. So the idea that the left is capable of playing a key role in this does not surprise me at all.”

It should be noted that Weiner has secured his fair share of earmarks, bringing home at least $8.6 million worth of it.