Murtha Goes After Earmarks When Effort To Investigate Is Thwarted

CBSnews.com

President Obama, is really the change you said you were going to bring to Washington?

On March 11, 2009 Obama signed the $410 Billion Congressional earmark spending bill in hiding. From the Star Tribune out of Minneapolis- President Obama said on Wednesday that he will sign an "imperfect" spending bill packed with special projects in order to keep government running, but he vowed that it will be the last one and proposed ways to curb lawmakers from abusing the process in the future.

Evidently nobody told John Murtha. According to CBSnews.com Murtha wants another $134 million in earmarks for his district. He posted the requests on his website.

From CBSnews.com: Four of the earmark requests from Murtha’s office are for current or former clients of a lobbying firm, the PMA Group, that is currently under federal investigation for connection to possible "straw" donations to Murtha and other Democratic members of the House.

PMA Group clients include: Advanced Acoustic Concepts ($5 million request), Argon ST ($8 million request), MTS Technologies, Inc. ($5 million request) and Planning Systems Inc. ($2.3 million request).

Two requests totaling $3.7 million are for Pennsylvania State University, but the Murtha's office says they are not intended for the Electro Optic Center (EOC) in Freeport, Pa. which has received millions in defense contracts and has been the subject of recent scrutiny by the FBI.

Please refer to my previous post where Kanjo and Carney voted to table a motion to investigate (1) the source and timing of past campaign contributions to Members of the House related to the raided prominent defense-lobbying firm; and (2) earmark requests made by Members on behalf of the firm's clients.

While a number of entities with connections to Murtha are under federal law enforcement scrutiny, Murtha himself has not been named as the target of the investigation.

President Obama, what was that about proposing ways to prevent lawmakers from abusing the process. Kanjorski and ethics is like oil and water. And Carney should know better.

Oh, one other minor detail. Murtha missed a deadline to start disclosing his ties to political action committees(PACs) as required by law. From CQ Politics: Some senior congressional appropriators are among those with known connections to committees that did not register as leadership PACs, until after being asked about missing the deadline. They include: Reps. John P. Murtha , D-Pa.,

Do you recall when Murtha called his constituents "rednecks" and "racists" last fall?

CARNEY AND KANJORSKI VOTE TO TABLE MURTHA'S ETHICS INVESTIGATION

Here is a summary of House Resolution 312.

Requires the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, or a designated investigative subcommittee, to begin immediately an investigation and report to the House on the relationship between: (1) the source and timing of past campaign contributions to Members of the House related to the raided prominent defense-lobbying firm; and (2) earmark requests made by Members on behalf of the firm's clients.

Partial Text of House Resolution 312

Whereas The Hill reported that a prominent lobbying firm, founded by Mr. Paul Magliocchetti and the subject of a `federal investigation into potentially corrupt political contributions', has given $3.4 million in political donations to no less than 284 Members of Congress;

Whereas the New York Times noted that Mr. Magliocchetti `set up shop at the busy intersection between political fund-raising and taxpayer spending, directing tens of millions of dollars in contributions to lawmakers while steering hundreds of millions of dollars in earmark contracts back to his clients.';

Resolved, That--

(1) the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, or a subcommittee of the committee designated by the committee and its members appointed by the chairman and ranking member, shall immediately begin an investigation into the relationship between the source and timing of past campaign contributions to Members of the House related to the raided firm and earmark requests made by Members of the House on behalf of clients of the raided firm; and

(2) the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall submit a report of its findings to the House of Representatives within 2 months after the date of adoption of the resolution.

Lobbying as usual.

New York Times Gives Nancy Pelosi Some Sage Advice About Murtha

An edtiorial which appears in today's New York Times advises Nancy Pelosi to investigate Rep. John Murtha and his shenanigans with the PMA lobbyist group.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi should listen to the wise Democrats who are pushing for an ethics inquiry into the far-too-cozy relationship between lawmakers and the PMA Group of superlobbyists.

The Justice Department is investigating whether PMA used illegal straw donors to lard the campaign kitties of cooperative lawmakers. The firm — which shut itself down after being raided by federal agents — fed and fed richly off the defense appropriations subcommittee led by Representative John Murtha, the House baron of Pentagon spending.

Beyond the criminal investigation, the House needs to look into any violations of its own ethics rules. And the Democrats need to deliver on their party’s ethics promises — and more and more of them know it. As Representative Ron Kind told The Hill newspaper, “As long as this is not dealt with in the right manner, it’s just going to be a cloud hanging over us.”

It May Be A Specter To Behold But Who Is Tim Be-Holden To?

The Lebanon Daily News reports that a large contributor for the last several years to the campaign committee of Congressman Tim Holden is under investigation by the FBI.

The FBI is investigating PMA Group, Holden’s biggest campaign contributor in the past several elections, for making unlawful contributions to members of Congress. Using the names of at least two people who do not work for the company but are associated with its founder, Paul Magliochetti, investigators believe PMA increased the amount of money it could legally funnel to politicians.

Since 2001, Holden has received $75,000 from PMA Group and its associates, according to CRP. Last year, his campaign received $23,750, which put him among the top congressional members receiving donations from the firm.

PMA clients have also benefited from Holden’s influence. Last year, he arranged an earmark of $3.2 million for Fidelity Technologies that was contained in a massive defense-appropriations bill.

Holden, whose 17th Congressional District includes Lebanon County, claims there is nothing inappropriate about the contributions he has received from PMA or his efforts on behalf of Fidelity Technologies. The company, which manufactures training simulators for the military, was once in Holden’s congressional district and now lies just a few blocks outside of it. Many of his constituents are Fidelity Technologies employees, and the contract secured their jobs, Holden said.

“I’ve been working with (Fidelity Technologies) since my third term in Congress,” Holden said. “This project was not just something that was dreamt up. It was brought before the Pentagon, which fully vetted it, and it has been a very useful tool for the military.

Nice try Tim, but wasn't that Cornerstone Technologies working on a project for the military? Tom Daschle, Nancy Killefer, Timothy Geithner, Hilda Solis, Ron Kirk, and Kathleen Sebelius(who, by the way, replaced Tom Daschle as nominee after he withdrew)all owed back taxes. They were fully vetted, right? How can so many of President Obama's nominees owe back taxes?????? Who said only Republicans were rich?

John Murtha Summary

PMA- More here

Murtha doesn't apologize I wonder if he borrowed that phrase from Paul Kanjorski.

Advice From Murtha Allies Guided Funding Requests, Documents Show

The Washington Post is reporting Electro-Optics Center relied on advice from a long time Murtha friend who now is an employee of the Congressman.

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 17, 2009; A06

A Pennsylvania defense research center regularly consulted with two "handlers" close to Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) as it collected nearly $250 million in federal funding through the lawmaker, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and sources familiar with the funding requests. The center then channeled a significant portion of the funding to companies that were among Murtha's campaign supporters.

The two advisers included a lobbyist for PMA Group, a firm with close ties to Murtha that is the subject of a federal investigation into whether it made illegal contributions by reimbursing donors to the Pennsylvania lawmaker and other members of Congress. The Electro-Optics Center also relied on advice from a longtime Murtha friend who now works on the congressman's appropriations staff.

Federal agents are also exploring how the center obtained its funds after they received dozens of internal documents last year. It is unclear whether the records have become a central focus of the Justice Department's probe, but they open a window into a largely hidden process in which powerful lawmakers can direct funds to pet projects.

The Electro-Optics Center, created by Murtha a decade ago under the auspices of Pennsylvania State University, was envisioned as a way to spur a new high-tech industry and create jobs in economically depressed western Pennsylvania. Last year, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh received a packet of budget materials, memos and e-mails from inside the center documenting how closely its managers conferred with PMA about the best ways to get its projects funded in the federal budget, according to two sources familiar with the information.

The center was supposed to help contractors in researching laser and optics technology to improve products for the military, and center officials said contractors were supposed to benefit from some of the federal funds.

Unlike in traditional earmarks -- funding for specific projects publicly requested by members of Congress -- most of the money for the center came through a budget maneuver known as a "plus-up." The process for this kind of earmark allows lawmakers to add money to an existing program in the budget without public disclosure. The center sought $120 million in this type of money for itself and other companies in 2006 alone, according to the records.

Several of the center's partners hired PMA for lobbying. In the 2008 budget, PMA clients received $299 million in defense earmarks through Murtha and other lawmakers. PMA and its clients gave $775,000 in contributions to Murtha in the last election cycle.

You can read the rest on their website.

Murtha's Earmark Troubles Spilling Over Into The Halls Of Congress

Paul Kanjorski took offense to criticism over the money he obtained for companies owned, operated, or employing members of his family. He never fully understood the contempt of the public or disdain for such a blatant distrust for the public's money. I believe had he owned up to the situation his electoral challenges would be a lot less from any contender.

Let's move onto John Murtha. Forget we are all rednecks, well the people who live in his district anyway. There is an earmark scandal breaking(click on link for entire article) over a lobbyist firm linked to Murtha. PMA, the firm with ties to Murtha, secured earmarks from nearly one-fourth of Congress.

PMA’s offices have been raided, and the firm closed its political action committee last week amid reports that the FBI is investigating possibly illegal campaign contributions to Murtha and other lawmakers.

No matter what the outcome of the federal investigation, PMA’s earmark success illustrates how a well-connected lobbying firm operates on Capitol Hill. And earmark accountability rules imposed by the Democrats in 2007 make it possible to see how extensively PMA worked the Hill for its clients.In the spending bill managed by Murtha, the fiscal 2008 Defense appropriation, 104 House members got earmarks for projects sought by PMA clients, according to Congressional Quarterly’s analysis of a database constructed by Ashdown’s group. From CQPolitics:

Those House members, plus a handful of senators, combined to route nearly $300 million in public money to clients of PMA through that one law (PL 110-116).

And when the lawmakers were in need — as they all are to finance their campaigns — PMA came through for them.

According to CQ MoneyLine, the same House members who took responsibility for PMA’s earmarks in that spending bill have, since 2001, accepted a cumulative $1,815,138 in campaign contributions from PMA’s political action committee and employees of the firm.

PMA and its employees have not given campaign money to the top three House Republican leaders, John A. Boehner of Ohio, Eric Cantor of Virginia and Mike Pence of Indiana.

Whyd did I start this article off about Paul Kanjorski? Here's what the Democrats in Pennsylvania did according to the report.

Among the top 20 recipients of PMA campaign dollars since 2001 are Pennsylvania Democrats Mike Doyle ($69,400), Tim Holden ($57,275), Paul Kanjorski ($37,150) and Chris Carney ($38,500) — even though Carney was first elected in 2006.

In the PMA donation top 30 are Pennsylvania Reps. Patrick J. Murphy ($29,250), Allyson Y. Schwartz ($25,000) and Jason Altmire ($24,500). Schwartz was first elected in 2004, and Altmire and Murphy first won their seats in 2006.

Those Pennsylvanians combined for $17.3 million in PMA earmarks in the single fiscal 2008 bill shepherded by Murtha.

So much for Barack Obama's pledge concerning lobbyists. His work is cut out for him to get his flock back inside the fence.