To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
Posted on 05/19/2009 12:23:09 PM PDT by jazusamo
Democrats who now run Capitol Hill have come under fire from government watchdog groups and the issue involves one as old as politics itself – pay to play. A now defunct Washington, D.C., lobbying firm called The PMA Group is at the heart of what could be the Beltway’s next big money scandal. The FBI is looking into allegations that several lawmakers gave lucrative defense contracts to their campaign contributors. The three principle targets of this federal investigation are Democratic Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania, Peter Visclosky of Indiana and Jim Moran of Virginia.
Investigators want to know for whose benefit and why lucrative earmarks for defense contractors were secured by these three lawmakers. They, along with several dozen lawmakers, mostly Democrats but some Republicans, received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from employees working for PMA. "What remains to be seen is if Congressman Murtha will find himself indicted because of the PMA investigation,” said Melanie Sloan, Executive Director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a Washington, D.C. - based government watchdog group. But that would come only if the Justice Department proves Murtha received a personal financial benefit, and not just a campaign contribution
There's a push to open an ethics investigation on Capitol Hill into this issue. An ethics committee probe, however, can only be requested by members of Congress, currently run by Democrats.
As a military city here in El Paso, Texas, KFOX wanted to know if PMA’s reach was felt by the district’s representative, Congressman Silvestre Reyes. It should be noted Reyes is not implicated in any FBI investigation. But KFOX did find that PMA and its employees gave Reyes close to $44,000 in campaign money. PMA was the No. 1 contributor to his re-election bid in 2008.
In pouring over public campaign records, however, KFOX discovered several defense contractors who gave generously to Reyes’ campaign also received millions of dollars in federal contracts, sometimes with specific help from the congressman. These records raise similar questions over the issue of paying to play with help from an elected official. So KFOX posed a question to Reyes, asking why there are several individuals, political action committees and businesses on record giving a lot of campaign money for his re-election, and in return they get huge earmarks. “Well, first of all, I would dispute that in return they get huge earmarks,” said Reyes. "I wish we had public financing 'cause I don't like to raise money. To me that creates suspicion from people like you."
But Reyes has gotten good at fundraising. A KFOX investigation found that over the last eight years, Reyes' fundraising amounts doubled from $400,000 back in 200 to the $1 million mark last year. “The more power you have, the more you have the ability to pull in campaign contributions,” said Sloan. “It’s the system that's the problem. It’s not Mr. Reyes in particular who's doing anything wrong here. He's just playing the game,” said Reyes.
As Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and member of the House Armed Services Committee, Reyes either supervises or helps pass legislation important to defense contractors. As KFOX poured through public campaign finance disclosure information, there's one noticeable coincidence. Several campaign donors, who gave to Reyes, also received lucrative government contracts, sometimes with the specific help from Reyes.
One defense contractor in particular that stands out from a long list of donors who also happen to be contract recipients is called Digital Fusion. The Alabama based company is a subsidiary of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc, headquartered in San Diego, Calif.
Since 2006, employees and executives working at Digital Fusion contributed $22,000 in campaign funds to Reyes. And during this same time period, the company received just over $ 6 million in federal contracts with direct help from him. "Whether or not its actual corruption, the earmark process makes less trusting of [the] government,” said Sloan.
Just a few years ago, Digital Fusion did not have any office facilities in El Paso. Now they're just one block away from the Fort Bliss Military post. Ever since the company set up its office, they've been getting several federal contracts with the military. The company's Web site says it began investing in Fort Bliss starting in 2006 because of Base Closure and Realignment Commission process.
Their contract with Fort Bliss involves support for the Air and Missile Defense Battle Lab. KFOX called Fort Bliss public information offices to get more details about this particular federal contract. The military refereed us back to Digital Fusion. The staff working in the El Paso office sent us to their company back in Alabama. There too, no one wanted to discuss either the company, political contributions, or what they do at Fort Bliss.
The only response KFOX received from Digital Fusion came as an e-mail from the parent company, Kratos. It read: "Digital fusion and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions have formal policies which establish appropriate legal guidelines for campaign contributions by the companies and their executives. Kratos is proud to play a vital role in securing the future of fort bliss, advancing the capabilities of the U. S. Army, and supporting the El Paso community."
As for Reyes, he says Digital Fusion's work has saved U.S. soldiers' lives. But his relationship with the company stands at arm's length. “I have never accepted a contribution as a quid pro quo for any kind of an earmark or any kind of special consideration.”
In trying to have greater transparency on the part of the current Congress, lawmakers are now required to post their requested earmarks on their Web site. In this most recent 20-10 fiscal year appropriations, Reyes requested yet again another million dollars for Digital Fusion.
Murtha has to be the big daddy in this field and if the ongoing fed investigation brings him down there will be quite a change in the way others in Congress operate in the future.
To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
I can absolutely state that making donations to incumbents leads to ear marks. I know two former friends who did just that at the coaching of some DC lobbyists and both landed multi-million dollar earmarks after making the donations.
This kind of selling of our lawmakers’ influence makes me sick!
Of course and it also helps you keep your auto dealership!!!And have a government(tax payer) paid free hanger to park your private plane.
Of course not!
All of our elected representatives are above reproach.
Agreed...Murtha has arrogantly said this is the way we do business and also said if I'm corrupt I do it for my district, I believe he and others don't think there's a thing wrong with it. It'd be nice if he had a few years in a federal prison to think about those statements.
“I can absolutely state that making donations to incumbents leads to ear marks. I know two former friends who did just that at the coaching of some DC lobbyists and both landed multi-million dollar earmarks after making the donations.”
It’s as old as central government. Indeed, its as old as government, period.
If you want change, then try, convict, and execute public officials for influence peddling and abuse of power. At this point, a public official risks nothing in doing this sort of thing.
http://www.ourcaucus.com/Article2-1.html
Does a bear Obama in the woods?
Great site, thanks for linking. Bookmarked for further use.
Would you hire any of these people?
Does a bear $hit in the woods?
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