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More Fiscal Conservativism ?

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Anonymous

Guest
First it was Alaska's Bridge to nowhere- Now its Kentucky's "Interstate Hiway" to nowhere....Another "fiscal conservative" party project :roll:

SPECIAL REPORT: INTERSTATE 66
Politics drive Kentucky road project that other states have rejected
Rep. Hal Rogers funneling millions to keep interstate route alive, putting other priorities at risk

By R. G. Dunlop
[email protected]
The Courier-Journal



SOMERSET, Ky. -- U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers has funneled nearly $90 million in federal funds toward a proposed interstate highway in Kentucky that likely will never cross the state, much less stretch beyond its borders.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071216/NEWS01/712160492
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I'd never heard of this Congressman before- but in doing a little research found that this site has put him on their "whos-who" of crook lists... :shock: Looks to me like there are still a couple dozen more or so that are missing from their list....

The 22 most corrupt members of Congress
Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Rep. David Scott (D-GA)
Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL)
Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-NM)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK)


Dishonorable mentions
Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-ID)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
--------------------------------------------------
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)

Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) is a 14th-term member of Congress representing Kentucky’s fifth congressional district. Rep. Rogers is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security and its former chair, where he was responsible for the $41.1 billion Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget. Rep. Rogers’ ethics issues stem from misuse of his position to steer millions of dollars in earmarks to campaign contributors, including a company that employs his son. A newspaper in his district, The Lexington Herald-Leader, has called Rep. Rogers the “Prince of Pork.”

NucSafe Inc.

NucSafe Inc. specializes in radiation detection technology, primarily for use in airports. In 2001, NucSafe executives met with Rep. Rogers, his staff and representatives of a local development group that Rep. Rogers co-founded. Two years later, the company relocated its manufacturing operations to Corbin, Kentucky, in Rep. Rogers’ district. Between 2004 and 2005, NucSafe executives gave $11,200 to Rep. Rogers’ reelection campaign committee and his leadership PAC. In 2005, NucSafe was awarded a $1.8 million grant from a DHS agency.

Accenture and Raytheon

Accenture LLP is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. In May 2004, DHS awarded Accenture a five-year contract worth potentially $10 billion to support the troubled and costly Smart Border Alliance US-VISIT Program. In September 2004, Accenture subcontracted the program to three companies, including Raytheon Company. Raytheon specializes in military and homeland security technology. Between 2003 and 2005, Raytheon and Accenture donated $31,000 to HALPAC.

Identification Card Industry


Since 1998, Rep. Rogers has been involved in efforts to bring to his district companies involved in producing the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (“TWIC”). Toward that end, he has inserted language in appropriations bills requiring the cards to be produced in Corbin, Kentucky, using technology also located there. Rep. Rogers has repeatedly threatened to halt legislation on TWIC programs unless the program is instituted in his district. Executives at three other companies involved in the testing of the identification cards in Corbin: LaserCard Systems, Maximus and Shenandoah Electronic Intelligence -- collectively donated $20,500 to HALPAC between 2002 and 2004.

John Rogers

In 2004, a Virginia-based company, BearingPoint, selected Senture, a call-center service provider, to set up a call-center for a test of a prototype transportation worker card. Just before the contract was awarded Senture hired Rep. Rogers’ son John as a computer systems administrator. Then in 2003, Senture won an unrelated $4 million contract with DHS to field calls from truckers. Between 2002 and 2005, officials from Senture, BearingPoint and its lobbyist, Van Scoyoc, donated $41,989 to Rep. Rogers’s campaign committee and PAC.

If, as it appears, Rep. Rogers accepted donations to his campaign and political action committees in exchange for earmarks, he may have violated the bribery statute or received illegal gratuities.

In addition, by funneling federal funds to Senture, which employed his son, Rep. Rogers may have dispensed special favors and violated House ethics rules.

http://www.beyonddelay.org/node/306
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
These guys were much more effective- cheaper- and a lot more honest than the boondoggle GW has going now with folks the likes of Rep. Rogers ripping it off :( :( :wink: :lol:

ATT1.jpg
 

Tex

Well-known member
I think the silence from Congressional oversight (ethics) committees points to how big the problem is. If they went after everyone in Congress gaming the system, there might be a lot of seats up for grab.

It is how far our system has entrenched itself for their self interests that they can't stop.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
passin thru said:
Didja see that a leftwing neosocialist group made this up. Perfect sheeple food.



I'm not sure about the info on Hunter-- but this site sure backs up what the site said about Rogers....And I have never thought of the National Review as Liberal.....This is the type neoconservative crook that should be brought up on treason charges- for holding up Homeland Security protection for the folks of the nation- while he worked the best deal for his and his elitist buddies pocketbooks... :shock: :( :mad: :mad:



May 17, 2006, 6:10 a.m.

A Disgrace

By The Editors


Harold Rogers, the smooth-talking Republican congressman from Kentucky, has emerged in recent weeks as an exemplary figure of congressional disgrace. Private companies have courted his favor with political donations, golf excursions, and exotic vacations, and he in turn has channeled millions of taxpayer dollars in their direction. From his powerful position as chairman of the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, he has plied constituents and corporations alike with funds from the national treasury. It is the work of the likes of Hal Rogers that has driven Congress’s approval rating to 22 percent, and if more people knew of him that number would only sink lower.

As the man in charge of Congress’s homeland-security budget, Rogers’s abuse of federal funds is not just a financial scandal—it is a matter of national security. Instead of directing his budget with the sole aim of providing for the public defense, he has turned the power of his position to his benefit—and, by extension, to the benefit of the companies who finance him and the local constituents who keep him in office.

As the New York Times recently recounted, lawmakers decided in 2002 to implement a standardized, tamper-proof, biometric ID card that would be issued to transportation workers nationwide. Rogers took this as an opportunity, inserting language into appropriations bills requiring that the new ID card rely on old technology that was produced at a plant in his district. Frustrated Homeland Security officials had to endure a lengthy delay and pay $4 million for a comparison study to show that the technology they preferred was superior to the one required by Rogers.

As the new ID card was developed and tested, Rogers kept up his meddling. He required that the new-technology production sites be relocated in Kentucky, and he helped award millions of dollars in contracts to various Kentucky companies that had together donated around $100,000 to his political campaigns. One of these companies employed Rogers’s son as a computer-systems administrator.

When Homeland Security officials decided that transportation workers would have to undergo background checks before being issued their new ID cards, Rogers again sprang into action. He stuck an earmark into an appropriations bill, mandating that a no-bid contract be given to the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) to handle the background-check operation at a price of tens of millions of dollars.

The Times reports that since 2000 the AAAE has paid for trips for Rogers and his wife totaling more than $75,000, “including six visits to Hawaii, four to California, and one to Ireland.” In addition, the group has donated around $18,000 to Rogers’s political campaigns in the last four years, and, in 2002, it honored him with its Congressional Leadership Award.

Rogers and his staff maintain that the earmark for the AAAE was motivated purely by considerations of speed and convenience. But since when have those things mattered to Rogers? His interference in this matter has only delayed the implementation of the new ID cards.

A public outcry has caused the AAAE’s no-bid deal to be rescinded. Various companies will now have a chance to bid on the contract, which we hope will be awarded on the basis of merit.

But Rogers’s disgrace cannot be rescinded, and it stands as a reminder of the need for congressional earmark reform. The House leadership deserves credit for already pushing one such reform, but there is still a long way to go. The power of lawmakers to direct public funds to private recipients with little oversight is a great facilitator of corruption. If anyone wonders why many conservatives recoil in disgust from the current Congress, look no further than Chairman Rogers.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YmM4ZTQ4NmZjNTM5ZWZkOTcxMzExMGU2YWUxM2FjNDM=
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
passin thru said:
When it left off Hellary.............that said enough that anything they say has to be discounted

I'll agree they didn't go far enough.....But from what I've found so far- everyone on their list has some mighty stinky laundrey they're hiding in their closet....
 

Texan

Well-known member
passin thru said:
When it left off Hellary.............that said enough that anything they say has to be discounted
Yep. That and the fact that out of 24 names on the list - including the two "Dishonorable mentions" - only FOUR of them are Democrats.

Twenty Republicans and only four Democrats? Give me a freakin' break...

An objective list would probably be more evenly split. There's plenty of the sorry bastards in both parties.
 

Tex

Well-known member
It is clear that in Congress, the majority's committee leaders hold the power and so you would expect that when the majority is republican, that the abusers would be republican. When they are democrats, the abusers would be democratic.

I would like to see some follow up on McCain's comments that the committee heads called up business leaders when their issues were up for review and basically asked for political donations.

This is how our government gets sold out.

Personally, I think that should be illegal and is at least unethical-- but there is never any ethics committee action. It proves that Congress can not hold itself accountable. This should change.
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
Texan said:
Twenty Republicans and only four Democrats? Give me a freakin' break...

An objective list would probably be more evenly split.
Why? Perhaps had the Democrats been in charge of all the committees for the last 10 years, the list would have been leaning the other way. As it is, it IS the republicans who are more likely to be corrupt. They were the ones who decided what was tabled and what was spent and where it was spent. I'm not saying the Democrats are saints or not equally corrupt, I am just saying they haven't had the chance over the past 10 years the way the Republicans have.
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
passin thru said:
Didja see that a leftwing neosocialist group made this up. Perfect sheeple food.

Neosocialist....that word must give you a tingle PT as you've about worn it out in postings the last few days.
 

Texan

Well-known member
Goodpasture said:
Texan said:
Twenty Republicans and only four Democrats? Give me a freakin' break...

An objective list would probably be more evenly split.
Why? Perhaps had the Democrats been in charge of all the committees for the last 10 years, the list would have been leaning the other way. As it is, it IS the republicans who are more likely to be corrupt. They were the ones who decided what was tabled and what was spent and where it was spent. I'm not saying the Democrats are saints or not equally corrupt, I am just saying they haven't had the chance over the past 10 years the way the Republicans have.
Check out the link, Goodpasture. This is an annual list. The 2007 annual list, put out since the one this time last year. Although some of them are on there for things that happened prior to the Dems assuming power, Democrats get credit for the leadership during most of the time since the last list was put out.

Also check out the reasons that most of them are listed. Only four that I could find are on the list for anything related to abusing committee powers.

I'm all for throwing out the sorry bastards that are guilty of corruption no matter what party they're in. But some of these things are just allegations. Of course, as long as their buddies are sitting on the 'Ethics Committees' (what a freakin' joke), a lot of the charges will probably go no further.

Without term limits, voting them out is probably the only way to get rid of them. And I just don't see much of that happening because too much of the electorate is uninformed or ambivalent. Or, if they do care, what they really care about most is how much federal money these guys bring back home.

Name recognition gets most of these guys re-elected every year. The fact that a no-good, murdering, drunk bastard like Ted Kennedy is still in the Senate is proof of that.
 

Texan

Well-known member
kolanuraven said:
passin thru said:
Didja see that a leftwing neosocialist group made this up. Perfect sheeple food.

Neosocialist....that word must give you a tingle PT as you've about worn it out in postings the last few days.
I like that word too, kola. Very appropriate in some cases. I think we need to see more of it. :lol:
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Texan said:
kolanuraven said:
passin thru said:
Didja see that a leftwing neosocialist group made this up. Perfect sheeple food.

Neosocialist....that word must give you a tingle PT as you've about worn it out in postings the last few days.
I like that word too, kola. Very appropriate in some cases. I think we need to see more of it. :lol:



Hmmmm...seems you get the tingle also.

You guys are " word-ho's" seems like!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

Mike

Well-known member
Texan said:
kolanuraven said:
passin thru said:
Didja see that a leftwing neosocialist group made this up. Perfect sheeple food.

Neosocialist....that word must give you a tingle PT as you've about worn it out in postings the last few days.
I like that word too, kola. Very appropriate in some cases. I think we need to see more of it. :lol:

I like it too, but I actually prefer just plain old "SOCIALIST"!

Fits them to a "T"!
 

backhoeboogie

Well-known member
Mike said:
Texan said:
kolanuraven said:
Neosocialist....that word must give you a tingle PT as you've about worn it out in postings the last few days.
I like that word too, kola. Very appropriate in some cases. I think we need to see more of it. :lol:

I like it too, but I actually prefer just plain old "SOCIALIST"!

Fits them to a "T"!

Count me in too. It is a bit more descriptive for pinpointing which idiots are being discussed.
 

passin thru

Well-known member
I came up with the word after reading the neocon label over and over from idiots that are trying to act intelligent. It was a spoof aimed at them. Which I might add it was hilarious watching them get their old jock strap in a bind.
Did ya notice I did not call them a neolib...............this wacko group of the liberal party are not liberals........................................

.......they are plain old Socialists
 
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