Friday, February 20, 2009
Politicians - too numerous to name
O.K. Here's my bet.
If you have even the slightest bit of respect for politicians and their ethics, this article will ruin it for you...
If you have even the slightest bit of respect for politicians and their ethics, this article will ruin it for you...
This is from Jonathan Allen and Alex Knott at CQpolitics.com:
"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.
See CQ's list of House members who secured earmarks for clients of The PMA Group in the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations law.
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."
