Growls

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) calls its Porker of the Month designation “a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.” CAGW has named its August Porker of the Month, and he is Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.). Rogers received the dubious award “for sponsoring legislation that could give federal funding to his daughter’s nonprofit organization, which promotes overseas wildlife protection for cheetahs.”

CAGW’s justification includes the following:

“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.”

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. You can also view the video on You Tube.

You can call Rep. Hal Rogers on Capitol Hill at (202) 225-4601.