Ladies and Gentleman, Your New House Appropriations Chair: KY's Own Corrupt Hal Rogers

Move to Eastern Kentucky now, because it is getting ALL the money.

From the Courier:

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers — known for his ability to secure funding for projects in his Eastern Kentucky district — was selected Tuesday as the new chairman of House Appropriations, the most powerful committee in Congress.

The 5th District Republican was chosen by the GOP steering committee in a secret vote late Tuesday afternoon. The decision is expected to be ratified Wednesday by the rest of the House Republicans.

Rogers beat out fellow committee veteran and former chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., and relative newcomer Jack Kingston, R-Ga.

“I am humbled and thrilled with the steering committee's decision, and look forward to the honor and responsibility of leading the Appropriations Committee next year if the full GOP conference approves the recommendation tomorrow,” Rogers said in a statement.

“There is no doubt that we have a tough and demanding chore ahead of us. The nation is in a fiscal crisis, and hard decisions are coming.”

SNIP

Critics dubbed Rogers “the Prince of Pork” and called his earmark-benefitted district, where everything from highway construction to homeland security contracts had the Kentuckian's help over the years, “Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.”

Rogers secured 137 earmarks worth $251.9 million between 2008 and 2010, according to LegisStorm, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog group. That ranked him 99th among Senate and House members with earmarks.

Those decisions will involve taking money away from people in New York and LA and Chicgo and Kansas City and giving it to people in Pikeville and Hazard and Inez and Thousand Sticks.

It's a setback for the teabaggers, but a victory for old-fashioned political corruption.

UPDATE: Think Progress documents that Rogers is also one of the biggest "The stimulus is EVUL - but gimme the money" hypocrites.