Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) its November Porker of the Month for remarks he made during a speech in October in which he praised the idea of wealth redistribution and maligned the idea that people who create wealth should be entitled to keep it.

The remark occurred during an October 27, 2008 Indian-American Forum Candidate Night in suburban Virginia with his challenger Mark Ellmore (R).  Rep. Moran stated “Now, in the last seven years, we have had the highest corporate profit ever in American history, highest corporate profit.  We’ve had the highest productivity.  The American worker has produced more per person than at any time.  But it hasn’t been shared and that’s the problem.  Because we have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in this simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it and they have an antipathy towards the means of redistributing wealth.  And they may be able to sustain that for awhile, but it doesn’t work in the long run.”

“Rep. Moran’s punitive conclusion about creating wealth reflects the prevailing ethos of the current Congress,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “His remarks offer a window into the soul of the congressional leadership and offer a bare-knuckled preview of the kind of confiscatory policies taxpayers can expect now that there are even fewer fiscal conservatives on Capitol Hill.  This Congress intends to reward hard work and productivity with a government-mandated ‘sharing’ program.”

It is no surprise that Rep. Moran cannot grasp the concept of benefiting from the fruits of one’s labor because all he has ever produced is hot air.  He entered politics soon after graduate school, where he must have majored in putting his foot in his mouth.  In 2003, he said, “If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this.”  In June, 2006 he told a local group that when he took the helm of a House appropriations subcommittee he was going “to earmark the s__ out of it.”

“President-Elect Obama said repeatedly during his campaign that words matter,” said Schatz.  “If you take Rep. Moran at his word, citizens and taxpayers who have worked hard to be productive and entrepreneurial and built their wealth should grow up and abandon any quaint and “simplistic notions” that they can keep it.  First stop in the forced transfer of wealth could very well be massive redistribution from taxpayers to the grossly mismanaged domestic auto companies and their bloated union workers.  But stay tuned, that could be just the beginning.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.