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November 19, 2009 Politics as Usual? A Glenn Beck case study Today's Show Segment Video-6:15

Rep. Jeff Flake has drafted a resolution that would condemn defense appropriators for failing to protect the dignity of the House in the wake of a lobbying scandal involving the panel's earmarks. The Arizona Republican says his aim is to alter the behavior of lawmakers responsible for defense appropriations, whose earmarks are often doled out to Pentagon contractors and their lobbyists, who, in turn, contribute money to the lawmakers’ campaigns. He accuses members of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense — Democrats and Republicans alike — of “contracting out” their job to lobbyists. Defense appropriators say that Flake, who does not...

The Senate approved Tara O’Toole’s nomination as Under Secretary for the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security via voice vote last night. As we pointed out the day before, this should be of concern to anyone interested in making sure that billions in taxpayer dollars do not get funneled to a bio-security boondoggle brought to you by O’Toole and her close and corrupt ally John Murtha, who is currently under investigation for ethics violations. Under O’Toole’s jurisdiction now falls the decision concerning the Murtha-supported effort to make the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) “the...

Conservatives who are excited about Republican victories in last night's elections should read this article in the Politico and remember that the GOP has a long way to go before it has any credibility as a small government party. The piece takes a close look at the House select committee on earmark reform, which Republican leaders created among much fanfare after the Nov. 2008 election to combat pork barrel spending projects. Yet the committee still hasn't delivered a report on earmark spending that was supposed to be completed in February, and more tellingly, eight out of the 10 members of...

Interactive map and links to earmark spending by state.

"Recall that Alan Mollohan (D-WV) is a former chair of the House Ethics Committee. That's the same Mollohan under federal investigation after the National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the department regarding a bizarre increase in Mollohan's net worth. For 2005, Mollohan and his wife reported assets worth $6.8 million to $25.7 million, up from $116,000 to $315,000 in 1999. His financial disclosure restatements came only after the group's complaint." --Doug Ross, Draining the Swamp NOTE: If the reader is a resident of WV-1 and feels moved to contact Alan Mollohan's office, contact information is provided throughout...

When software firm MobilVox wanted to break into the lucrative world of defense contracting, it pursued an unmistakable strategy: It expanded operations from its Northern Virginia base in Rep. James P. Moran's congressional district to the southwestern Pennsylvania district of Rep. John P. Murtha. Working with two of the most powerful members of a House subcommittee that controls Pentagon spending, the company also hired lobbying firms that employed former top aides of both the Democratic lawmakers and Mr. Murtha's brother. Company executives and their lobbyists donated thousands of dollars to the two congressmen. Soon, money flowed the other way. Between...

For years, Tom Coburn’s lectures on spending have been met with aggressive resistance by fellow Republicans who defend their right to send money back to their home states. But at a closed-door meeting of GOP senators this month, a tirade by the Oklahoman about the hypocrisy of using deficits to decry Democratic health care plans while voting for pumped-up appropriations bills was seconded by several senators. If there was dissent in the room, no one voiced it. “I don’t know that there’s another side,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who argues that Republican rhetoric on deficits is right but the...

It takes a while for most start-up companies to gain the confidence of a U.S. congressman and the promise of federal funds. But last year, a small Illinois company accomplished its goal in 16 days with the help of Rep. Peter J. Visclosky, a little-known Indiana Democrat who sits on the House committee that funds the Pentagon. In rapid succession, the three-employee technology firm, NanoSonix, filed its incorporation papers in Skokie, Ill., and hired a Washington lobbying firm, K&L Gates, which boasted to clients of its close relationship with Visclosky. A week later, Visclosky wrote a letter of support for...

The House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee dispensed $636 billion this year to the Pentagon. Its members must look on the $103 million they earmarked for favored projects as mere crumbs from the table. Outside the defense budget, however, $100 million a year is a tidy sum, and getting a piece of the action is a regular part of Washington's political culture. At the center is a mutually beneficial connection between members of Congress, their former staff members turned lobbyists, and corporations or non-profits seeking federal money -- what some social scientists call "relationship circles." In this instance, it's better described as...

Congressman John Murtha reminds me of Big Julie in play Guys and Dolls, who boasts: “I got a poifect record: thoity-three arrests, no convictions.” Months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group. What they found suggested that Murtha and his buddies at the PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. But that was just the tip of the iceberg, another one of John Murtha's most favorite contractors was charged for taking $200,000 in kickbacks, the FBI is Investigating Multi-Billion-Dollar Murtha favored Defense Contractor With Tax-Exempt Status, Murtha has even gotten family into the earmark business, and...

When software firm MobilVox wanted to break into the lucrative world of defense contracting, it pursued an unmistakable strategy: It expanded operations from its Northern Virginia base in Rep. James P. Moran's congressional district to the southwestern Pennsylvania district of Rep. John P. Murtha. Working with two of the most powerful members of a House subcommittee that controls Pentagon spending, the company also hired lobbying firms that employed former top aides of both the Democratic lawmakers and Mr. Murtha's brother. Company executives and their lobbyists donated thousands of dollars to the two congressmen. Soon, money flowed the other way. Between...

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An anti-earmark group Tuesday named Texas Senator and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison as October's “ Porker of the Month .” The group gives out the title to lawmakers, government officials and political candidates it thinks “have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers,” according to its website. The group said Hutchison has requested 149 earmarks worth $1.6 billion for fiscal year 2010. The Dallas Morning News reports that, by Hutcison’s own accounting, she has steered $8.7 billion to Texas in the past five years. Hutchison has argued if she hadn't secured those funds,...

The Washington Post reported over the weekend on the ongoing federal investigation into defense earmarks, saying that it was “increasingly focused on a former top aide to Rep. Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.) who worked with the congressman on funding requests from clients of a powerful lobbying firm, according to two sources familiar with the probe.” The story said that the aide, Charles E. Brimmer, Visclosky’s former longtime chief of staff, may have “suggested to some lobbyists that companies seeking Visclosky’s help in getting Pentagon funds would need to commit to a program of donations to the member of the...

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have taken a small but significant step to eliminate – well, almost – one of the most outrageous congressional behaviors in defense legislation. For years, these committees have raided the Pentagon’s critical Operation and Maintenance accounts to offset the cost of earmarks (pork) they add to their bills. A major part of the O&M budget pays for training, weapons maintenance, food, fuel, spare parts, and all the other things troops need when they go to war. Even though O&M spending is the budgetary embodiment of “Support Our Troops,” and even though research on these raids...

A federal investigation into defense contracts awarded through congressional earmarks is increasingly focused on a former top aide to Rep. Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.) who worked with the congressman on funding requests from clients of a powerful lobbying firm, according to two sources familiar with the probe. Investigators have gathered evidence that Charles E. Brimmer, Visclosky's former longtime chief of staff, suggested to some lobbyists that companies seeking Visclosky's help in getting Pentagon funds would need to commit to a program of donations to the member of the Appropriations defense subcommittee, the sources said. The Justice Department is trying to...

Earmarks are special instructions in spending bills directing money to projects in representatives' states and districts. Below the list of annual spending bills that follows is a map of earmarks. Select from the pull-down menus to review earmarks by state, by representative, and by status. Click on link for info, statistics and more...

WASHINGTON — The Nevada Cancer Institute, in Las Vegas, may not have a national reputation as a clinic or a research facility. But it does have the ear of its state’s senior senator, Harry Reid, the Democratic leader. And that is why the four-year-old institute could reap a big gain in federal reimbursements as part of the health care overhaul. Thanks to Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Cancer Institute could benefit from the health bill. After months of noisy public debates over big policy ideas like universal coverage and a public insurance option, the health care legislation is getting down...

John Murtha who has turned congressional earmarks into an art-form has directed two-hundred million of your tax dollars to the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. The Airport has so many pictures of the Congressman you would think that it was a monument to the pork-meister. Even that wouldn't be so bad if the airport was actually used, but Murtha Airport gets a total of THREE commercial flights a day, from Johnstown to Washington DC. This tribute to John Murtha is literally the airport to nowhere. Last week Senate Republican introduced,and the Democrats voted voted down an amendment by Senator DeMint...

INDIANA, Pa. -- The buzzer is broken at the John P. Murtha Institute for Homeland Security, and a paper note invites visitors, "Please knock." On a summer afternoon, a lone intern answers the door of the mostly empty basement offices that over the years have overseen $50 million in federal funds awarded to projects designed to make the nation safer. Named for the chairman of the powerful Appropriations subcommittee on defense, who has shepherded most of its funding, the Murtha Institute was supposed to embark on projects to protect America from terrorists and clean up environmental dangers. Much of the...

In the next 16 days, Congress will spend more than $3 trillion in taxpayer money. To cover these programs, some Americans will be working up to three hours of each day. Vast amounts of that money will be spent in the form of earmarks, specially designated pet projects that members of Congress use to bring federal funds back to their home states. Since 44 congressmen make no earmarks at all, that means the rest are doing more than their share. For example, in the House, just 4 percent of members took home 32 percent of all the bacon -- and...

Johnstown, Pa. If you hate the hubbub of crowded airports, you might want to consider flying out of Johnstown, Pa. The airport sees an average of fewer than 30 people per day, there is never a wait for security, you can park for free right outside the gate, and you are almost guaranteed a row to yourself on any flight. You might wonder how the region ever had the air traffic demand to justify such a facility. It didn't. But it is located in the district of one of Congress's most unapologetic earmarkers: Democrat John Murtha. In 20 years, Mr....

A tax policy expert says President Obama has reneged on his promise to keep his economic "stimulus" plan transparent and free of earmarks. The Associated Press reports that Senators Max Baucus (D-Montana) and John Tester (D-Montana) persuaded the Obama administration to award $15 million in federal stimulus money to a Montana checkpoint along the Canadian border that serves only three people a day. A similar checkpoint in North Dakota, which serves about 73 people a day, is also getting $15 million for renovations. Meanwhile, a border checkpoint in Laredo, Texas -- which serves more than 55,000 travelers and 4,200 trucks...

It seems every election we are promised by both parties to get earmarks (pork) under control. They always promise to be better than previous legislatures were, but they always seem to increase their wasteful spending. So how does your Nevada congressional members rank for fiscal year 2009, and how much pork barrel spending were they responsible for? From best to worst as far as pork is concerned:

He just now said there was no prok or earmark spending in the $787B stimulus bill.

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved President Obama’s plan to kill the F-22 fighter jet. But Democratic leaders bucked White House veto threats on other programs, and they heatedly rejected a Republican effort to strip more than 550 earmarked expenditures from the $636 billion military bill. Mr. Obama and other political leaders had hailed last week’s vote in the Senate to cancel the F-22 as a sign of their progress in changing military spending practices. But in sometimes tense exchanges on the House floor on Thursday, two Republicans, Representatives Jeff Flake of Arizona and John Campbell of California, sought...

Members of the House ethics committee, who are investigating a pattern of lawmakers steering federal funds to generous defense contractors, are all set to have their pet military projects funded by the same committee whose activities they are probing. The 10 committee members together would get 29 earmarks -- or $59 million in federal funding for projects they requested in their districts or states -- under a proposed House military spending bill up for a vote today or tomorrow. The details were approved last week by the House defense appropriations subcommittee, whose practice of steering earmarks to a well-connected lobby...

Maybe Nancy Pelosi is just sick and tired of John Murtha getting all of the "bennies" from the defense budget. Not anymore, the defense policy bill has a provision that Pelosi has been pushing for a long time. It would speed up the transfer of military bases to private developers. The reason Pelosi wants the provision is Treasure Island, a Navy base that closed in 1993 and sits atop a man-made island in the San Francisco Bay. The city wants the Island and wants it cheap. For years the Navy and the City have been haggling over the sales price,...

WASHINGTON -- A House panel approved a big Pentagon spending bill this week that included nearly 150 items tucked in by lawmakers on behalf of companies and other entities whose employees donated to their campaigns. The Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama swept into power on a promise to reform the process of lawmakers trying to dictate in detail how funds are spent, known as "earmarks." When Mr. Obama signed a spending bill for the current fiscal year in March, he said the earmark-laden legislation should be an "end to the old way of doing business, and the beginning of...

Tucked into the voluminous congressional plan for U.S. military spending next year is a $160 million pot of money intended to help Mexico's police buy American-made police radios.It's a major purchase that one radio manufacturer got rolling, 12 members of Congress formally requested and a powerful defense appropriations chairman championed, according to records and congressional staff. But details of the plan to pump Pentagon funds into Mexico's crime-fighting efforts are cloaked in vaguely worded language in the House defense bill. The program is a one of many congressional requests in the bill, which also includes 1,080 projects worth $2.7 billion...

...What we are is plain to God, and I Hope it is also plain to your conscience. 2 Cor 5:11 Jack Turda accused innocent Marines of "killing civilians in cold blood". Now that he has been caught w/his hand in the Pork Barrel again isn’t it time to admit his guilt and resign? If he can accuse Marines of murder w/no evidence, yet he fights this obvious corruption; he is a hypocrite, but I repeat myself. He received over $1.3 million in kickbacks to save his seat while giving a business in his district over $100 million of our hard...

The Appropriations Defense Subcommittee — always considered the high altar of congressional spending power — has suddenly become a liability for lawmakers touched by criminal inquiries scrutinizing the nexus of lobbyists, earmarks and Pentagon contracts. Just in the past week: A Pennsylvania businessman with ties to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme, leading to new questions about Murtha’s role in getting earmarks for his brother’s lobbying business. FBI agents raided a Florida company linked to Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), leading Young to withdraw a $4 million funding request for the firm the next day. And Rep....

One of the most favored insiders in Representative John Murtha’s rich churn of defense earmarks has pleaded guilty to criminal charges, shedding light on a twisting, pay-to-play money trail. The contractor, Richard Ianieri, admitted taking $200,000 in bribes from another big defense contractor in the Murtha orbit, and is cooperating with investigators. “What’s that got to do with me?” commented Mr. Murtha, who previously lavished praise and tens of millions of dollars in contracts on the two companies caught up in the criminal investigation. He asks an ever more urgent question. Investigators have not identified him as a target. But...

Back in March when President Obama signed the Omnibus bill he made a speech promising earmark reform: .... Earmarks must have a legitimate and worthy public purpose. Earmarks that members do seek must be aired on those members' websites in advance, so the public and the press can examine them and judge their merits for themselves. Each earmark must be open to scrutiny at public hearings, where members will have to justify their expense to the taxpayer. Next, any earmark for a for-profit private company should be subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other federal contracts. The awarding...

WASHINGTON -- Despite cries for reform, the earmark process is alive and well in Congress. As lawmakers write the military budget for fiscal-year 2010, every member on the House defense-appropriations subcommittee has requested funds for contractors and other organizations with employees who have donated money to their campaigns. The 18 members of the subcommittee are seeking a total of about $2 billion on behalf of such companies, universities and nonprofit groups, according to a review of campaign-finance data and nearly 400 earmark requests in the 2010 defense-spending bill by the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense. Employees of those entities donated...

Want to see a full list of the earmarks in the Energy and Water Bill that the House is about to begin debating? Well, I hope you have some stamina because there are 1,866 of them to read. You’ll notice that many of them are being requested by “the President.” That would be the Barack Obama 2012 re-election campaign project you are seeing there. For some reason, my list is causing trouble with the code here, so the full list was posted by Jamie Dupree. Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

...Recently, Roll Call highlighted the lobbying organization connected to Congressman Jack Murtha, D-Pa.—the PMA Group—and its efforts to sue its former clients for unpaid debts. They noted that a company called Badenoch LLC was countersuing PMA, claiming that the PMA had cheated it out of a $3 million earmark. Badenoch LLC is a small defense contractor, which is developing an alternative to the military humvee, which it believes will be safer and more roadworthy. A little digging into public records reveals an interesting financial relationship between the president of Badenoch LLC and the Congressman who sponsored his company’s previous earmark...

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is threatening to renew his assault on defense earmarks if the ethics committee isn’t seriously investigating corruption allegations surrounding member-directed contracts. “I’m frustrated that all of this is hanging out there,” Flake said. “There seems to be a new story every day, and we’re still going through the appropriations cycle as if nothing is amiss.” Flake suspects that Democrats will prevent a thorough examination of earmarks in the defense-spending bill by restricting debate on the measure. He said he thinks Democrats are purposely moving the defense bill to the floor late this year so that it...

The House could start work as early as today on a bill funding energy and water projects in the US. It funds 1,866 earmarks - most of them from President Obama. Here is the raw list for you to look through. You will notice that some projects don't have any monetary amount associated with them. Those are funded by the Corps of Engineers as money is available. The description of the project is followed by the cost and the sponsor

Congressman John Murtha reminds me of Big Julie in play Guys and Dolls, who boasts: “I got a poifect record: thoity-three arrests, no convictions.” Months ago, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA group. What they found suggested that Murtha and his buddies at the PMA Group operated their own little Earmark Factory. But that was just the tip of the iceberg, another one of John Murtha's most favorite contractors was charged for taking $200,000 in kickbacks, the FBI is Investigating Multi-Billion-Dollar Murtha favored Defense Contractor With Tax-Exempt Status, Murtha has even gotten family into the earmark business, and...

WASHINGTON — With the current chairman under fire for his connections to a lobbying firm under FBI investigation, Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., could be in line to take over the chairmanship of the House panel that oversees Pentagon funding. But even as that possibility looms, Dicks himself faces increased scrutiny for his relationship to the lobbying firm at the heart of the investigation. So far, Dicks hasn't been sucked into the latest earmark-campaign contribution scandal on Capitol Hill, though he and a handful of other lawmakers have skated around the edges. Dicks adamantly denies any wrongdoing and said he hasn't...

For the past several years, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has funneled more than $3 million in earmarks to a company in his district to build an underwater “swimmer detection” sonar system for the Navy to use to protect its docks and ships. But the company, KDH Defense Systems, sews bulletproof vests. It had never built a sonar system and had no expertise in sonar engineering. The sonar project was to be the first product of a new “startup” company. Documents indicate the company did have a plan — which never came to pass — to partner with other local defense...

A former executive for a defense contractor with ties to powerful Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha is charged by federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh with taking about $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor. The executive charged is Richard Ianieri, of Doylestown, who used to work for a company called Coherent Systems International Corp.

Federal prosecutors filed corruption charges yesterday against a onetime defense contractor who has ties to both U.S. Rep. John Murtha and a suburban Johnstown defense contractor currently under criminal investigation. Richard S. Ianieri, former president and CEO of Coherent Systems International Corp., was accused of accepting $200,000 in kickbacks. He is charged through a criminal information and is expected to plead guilty. No date has yet been set. According to the court filing entered yesterday, Mr. Ianieri is accused of taking the kickbacks from a date unknown through January 2006 while an officer for Coherent, which was a prime contractor...

Washington - They're known as "monuments to me," airports, bridges and courthouses named after the lawmakers who secured the federal funds to build them. Dave Obey says he won't allow any more earmarks for such projects - even though his name is already etched on a building back home in Wausau.The David R. Obey Center for Health Sciences at Northcentral Technical College features a water wall, atrium and a state-of-the-art surgical suite. It was constructed thanks to a $20 million earmark the Wisconsin congressman tucked into a federal spending bill in 2001.Obey did not specify that the building be...

A floor fight that carried out into the hallway erupted between Maxine Waters (D-CA) and the Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wisc.). While it is a bit unusual to see Democrats trying to stop other Democrats from spending, David Obey may be the bright shinning light for Dems. It turns out that Maxine Waters was trying to get pork set aside for a monument to herself. She was asking for funding for a school to be built that already carried her name. When Obey refused that she came back with a plan that would have the committee approving a funding...

This "Thrilla in the Congress" has been brewing for a couple of weeks. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), has been upset that committee chair David Obey intended to deny her request to earmark $1 million dollars from the US Treasury for the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center. According to house sources it is never a good thing to get on the bad side of one of Maxine Waters’ outbursts. Two weeks ago Waters confronted Obey behind closed doors in a Democratic whip meeting. Obey told Waters that he was no longer allowing earmarks named after Members and would only make exceptions...

Two Democrats got into a verbal altercation — and according to one a physical one — on the floor of the House on Thursday night over an appropriations earmark one was seeking. After the House floor had largely cleared following a series of votes, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) split apart from a heated conversation and began yelling at one another. “You’re out of line,” Waters shot while walking down toward the well. “You’re out of line,” Obey shot back before turning and walking away. But then Obey stopped, turned back toward Waters, and shouted:...

Reject McCaul Amendment Banning the Practice WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the third time in one week House Democrats have sent a clear message that they favor continuing the self-serving practice of using taxpayer dollars to fund projects named after sitting members of Congress. Wednesday night, Democrat leadership denied the House a vote on the latest amendment from Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX 10) which would ban the practice.

Congressman Jim McDermott has now explained what he was thinking when he sought to use taxpayer dollars to polish up The Rainier Club's windowsills. He was thinking: Why aren't you making a grab for cash, too? "This is not a ridiculous request," McDermott said. "Everybody in the 7th District has the right to make a request — the University of Washington, The Rainier Club, everybody." Set aside for now the tone-deafness of comparing our largest public university, reeling from budget cuts, with a private social club (where choice subcommittee assignments include the likes of "Greeting and Hospitality" and "Single Malt...