Yesterday, House Republicans dealt the Tea Party and conservative advocacy groups a blow by electing Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) to chair the powerful Appropriations Committee next year.
Rogers is a famous earmarker, and a lot of critics see this as a harbinger that the GOP earmark ban might not be as ironclad as they’d like folks to believe. But just how much earmarking did Rogers really do? Enough to be named “Porker of the Month” by an anti-pork pressure group just four months ago.
Citizens Against Government Waste saddled Rogers with the award for “sponsoring legislation that could give federal funding to his daughter’s nonprofit organization, which promotes overseas wildlife protection for cheetahs.”
“Americans are being forced to tighten their belts while the economy is limping along, but that doesn’t deter porkers in Congress, like Rep. Rogers, who think nothing of using the hard-earned tax dollars of the U.S. Treasury to subsidize family members,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “Members of Congress should go out of their way to ensure that their actions in Congress never appear to be nepotistic. Rep. Rogers and members like him continue to behave as though the U.S. Treasury is their own personal piggy bank.”
Outside advocates have much less influence over these intramural contests than they do over actual legislation. And the GOP really does seem prepared to freeze earmarking. But whether it’s a harbinger of hypocrisy, or just bad p.r. for the GOP, it’s not winning them many points with their allies.
Full release below.
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) August Porker of the Month for sponsoring legislation that could give federal funding to his daughter’s nonprofit organization, which promotes overseas wildlife protection for cheetahs.
According to a July 26, 2010 article in the Lexington Herald-Leader, “U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, is sponsoring a bill to give $5 million a year to conservation groups that work overseas on behalf of endangered ‘great cats and rare canids,’ such as cheetahs, lions and Ethiopian wolves. One group interested in applying, should Rogers’ bill become law, is the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund. Its grants administrator, Allison Rogers, is the congressman’s daughter.
“Americans are being forced to tighten their belts while the economy is limping along, but that doesn’t deter porkers in Congress, like Rep. Rogers, who think nothing of using the hard-earned tax dollars of the U.S. Treasury to subsidize family members,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “Members of Congress should go out of their way to ensure that their actions in Congress never appear to be nepotistic. Rep. Rogers and members like him continue to behave as though the U.S. Treasury is their own personal piggy bank.”
Rep. Rogers has claimed there is no conflict of interest. Unfortunately, the bill that Rep. Rogers’ is sponsoring is narrow enough in scope that his support seems more than coincidental.
“Taxpayers are smarter than members of Congress think,” continued Schatz. “They can spot a ‘cheetah’ from a mile away.”
CAGW’s Porker of the Month can also be viewed on video which is co-produced with reason.tv, the video website of Reason Magazine. CAGW’s Porker of the Month is available on both CAGW’s homepage and at reason.tv.
For promoting nepotism by attempting to steer taxpayer money to his daughter’s nonprofit, CAGW names Rep. Hal Rogers its August 2010 Porker of the Month.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.
