Rogers' money magic

                    Tax funds turned into contributor's parking
                    lot
 

                    There's an exclusive new club forming for resort
                    owners in the Lake Cumberland area.

                    It's called Hal's Pals, and it pays to be a member.
                    Just ask J.D. Hamilton, who owns Lee's Ford Marina
                    Resort.

                    Parking can be a bit of a hassle at his resort during
                    tourist season, according to Hamilton. So, he
                    mentioned this little problem to U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, a high-ranking member of the House Appropriations
                    Committee.

                    With a wave of his magic congressional pen, Rogers sent the nation's taxpayers the $500,000 bill for the
                    new 200-space parking lot that the Army Corps of Engineers will build at Hamilton's resort.

                    "That's the American system," is the way Hamilton described his good fortune. Of course, "the American
                    system" may work a little more smoothly for someone like Hamilton, who is a frequent contributor to
                    political campaigns.

                    He gave $2,000 to Rogers' campaign last year. His resort also made a $5,000 contribution to House
                    Majority Leader Tom DeLay's legal defense fund at a fund-raiser hosted by Rogers during the time the 5th
                    District congressman was lobbying to become chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

                    As one of Hal's Pals, Hamilton can chat about common experiences with fellow member Robert Kenison,
                    developer of The Villas at Woodson Bend.

                    Like Hamilton, Kenison has contributed to Rogers' political campaigns. That seems to be the initiation fee
                    for joining this exclusive club.

                    Last year, the congressman's magic pen waved for Kenison, writing into the federal budget language
                    exempting his resort from the ban on new docks that the Corps of Engineers had enforced at Lake
                    Cumberland for 10 years.

                    For whom will the magic pen wave next? We don't know. But whoever it is will be blessed with good
                    fortune because it surely pays to be one of Hal's Pals.