Robert Byrd is a putz

Link.

Capitol Hill insiders love to tell the story about how Senator Robert C. Byrd once killed a multimillion-dollar federal building project for his home-state West Virginia University because the public school had hired a lobbyist to help wrangle the cash. Byrd's message: As senator, it's his job to win federal dollars for West Virginia.

Granted, the event occurred 17 years ago and perhaps there should be some statute of limitations on having to defend putz-like behavior, but this was an act of monumental political pettiness.