The King of Pork, Senator Robert C. Byrd, Dead at Age of 92

West Virginia Senator Robert C Byrd has died on Monday, June 28, 2010 at the age of 92. While we don’t wish ill on anyone, the King of Pork has long been a Senator with a bad reputation.

Senator Byrd was an eloquent man in his days in Congress. He also knew very clearly how to keep the voters happy in his home state of West Virginia. They liked him so much that they kept him in office for 57 years. That makes him the longest serving Senator in the history of our government. So much for term limits!



So, just how did Senator Byrd keep the voters happy? Pork, pork and more pork. Frankly, he had no shame. He sent billions in federal moneys to West Virginia in the form of pork. In the last 30 years, for instance, he sent more than 3.3 billion in aid in one form or another to the state. It became so bad that the missive efforts were even given a name, Byrd Droppings, by government waste watch groups.

Credit must be given where credit is due, however. Senator Byrd was honest about his efforts. Unlike politicians of this age, he fully admitted to backing up the truck to the Congressional bank and sending pork money to his state. How could he do this? Well, his answer was his state was the poorest in the country, suffered the worst in economic downturns and had been exploited for its natural resources without any of the money produced from said resources staying in the state. Given all this, he felt justified in “giving back” to the people of West Virginia. They obviously felt the same way be re-electing him so often.



I would like to tell you that the death of Senator Byrd brings to an end a period of major government waste and pork spending. Telling you that, however, would be a blatant lie. There are others in the House of Representatives and Senate that are shoveling pork as we speak. Want to know who? Just look up your representatives!

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