The Democrat from West Virginia tops tham all for spending tax dollars on his own pet projects.
At age 90, Sen. Robert Byrd (pictured) of West Virginia has been in the Senate longer than anybody else.
And he's spent much of that time as head of the most powerful spending committee, with extraordinary control over earmarks - grants of your tax dollars without the normal public review.
Byrd was the first senator to rack up a total of $1 billion in earmarks for his home state.
That was in 1999. Today he's past the $3 billion mark.
And though tradition frowns on sitting members of Congress funding projects in their own name, they don't seem to have a problem with it in Byrd Country. West Virginia is full of ventures paid for with your tax dollars but named after him.
You can take the Robert C. Byrd Highway to the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam, explore space through the Robert C. Byrd Telescope, and work at the Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex.
In all, we found more than 40 projects bearing the Byrd name. Many of them sound perfectly reasonable, but the problem is other needy communities never get a crack at the money.
The worst part is the money was not his to spend.
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A picture of my cave
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