Posted on 07/21/2009 9:29:35 AM PDT by jazusamo
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. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) asked the Federal Election Commission for permission to use his campaign funds to pay legal bills of current and former staffers as part of the investigation into the PMA Group, a lobbying shop that specialized in defense earmarks.
None of these lawmakers, who oversee more than $500 billion in Pentagon spending, have been accused of wrongdoing, and no one other than Visclosky and his former chief of staff, Charles Brimmer, has even been subpoenaed at this point.
But this web of legal actions, all focused on suspicious ties between lobbying, military contractors and the billions in funding they receive, has once again cast a negative light on the relationship between lawmakers and earmark recipients.
At this point, it’s unclear whether the separate Justice Department actions are part of one broad investigation into earmarking and government contractors or are separate probes on different tracks.
But the Department of Justice has certainly focused on some of the most powerful members of Congress. Murtha is chairman of the Defense Subcommittee, while Young, who chaired the full Appropriations Committee for six years, is currently ranking member of the panel. In addition to serving on Defense, Visclosky is chairman of the Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee.
All three lawmakers have consistently pushed tens of millions of dollars in earmarks for companies back in their districts. While Murtha may be the most well-known practitioner of the trade, both Young and Visclosky are masters of earmarking, as well.
“The chickens are coming home to roost,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a government watchdog group that opposes earmarking.
The Justice Department is “beating the drums, that’s for sure. They’re really stirring things up,” said a former Appropriations Committee staffer turned lobbyist. “Everyone is kind of waiting for the next shoe to drop.”
And while the criminal investigations heat up at DOJ, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is not protecting her members, letting ethics inquiries move ahead inside the House. The ethics committee has begun a preliminary review of lawmakers’ ties to PMA, after Democrats initially blocked such a probe.
“We are going to let the chips fall where they may,” said a top aide to one Democratic leader. “If they did something wrong, they are going to have to pay for it. We’re not going to cover anything up for them.”
The seemingly constant questions about Murtha and his relationship with legally troubled contractors have caused the most political headaches for Pelosi, who pledged to stop the “culture of corruption” she believes thrived under the Republican-controlled Congress.
In November, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA Group. Murtha has received more than $2.7 million in campaign donations from PMA, its lobbyists and clients over the past decade, but there have been no charges filed until now. The PMA search was followed in January by another federal raid on Kuchera Defense Systems, a Pennsylvania firm that has received more than $50 million in federal contracts via Murtha earmarks.
Last Wednesday, Richard “Rick” Ianieri, former CEO of Coherent Systems International, pleaded guilty to taking $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor on an $8.2 million Air Force contract earmarked by Murtha. Coherent’s lobbyist was Robert “Kit” Murtha, the congressman’s brother, who helped them win that earmark.
“We had no knowledge of these disturbing transactions, and if they are true, then the individuals and companies in question should be held accountable under the law,” said Matt Mazonkey, Murtha’s spokesman.
On the same day that Ianieri pleaded guilty, federal agents raided Conax Florida Corp. of St. Petersburg, Fla. Young has earmarked more than $28 million for Conax, a maker of safety devices for NASA and the Pentagon, since 2005, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
According to the Federal Election Commission record, Young received $6,000 in campaign contributions from Conax employees.
Young has never attracted the same kind of scrutiny for his earmarks as Murtha, although the St. Petersburg Times reported last year that Young steered more than $73 million in federal funds to a defense firm and nonprofit groups where two of his sons work.
“You’re going to have a hard time, with Young, finding people to say he’s somehow dirty or put him in the same category as Murtha,” said a former Appropriations Committee aide.
Visclosky, the least well-known of the defense appropriations trio, meanwhile, is searching for ways to cover his legal bills — and those of his staffers snared by his investigation.
Visclosky and Brimmer were issued subpoenas last month by a federal grand jury in Washington that is investigating PMA.
“It is possible that additional subpoenas or requests for information could be forthcoming for additional current and/or former staff members,” wrote Michael Malczewski, Visclosky’s treasurer.
With his reputation harmed by the PMA controversy, Visclosky has temporarily stepped aside from overseeing the energy and water spending bill. He has also given up $18,000 in PMA-related contributions.
While this swirl of legal action around companies and lobbyists looks bad for these lawmakers, it’s important to point out that none of them have been accused of enriching themselves personally — and that’s what brought down lawmakers in other recent cases.
The charges against former Reps. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), Jim Traficant (D-Ohio), William Jefferson (D-La.) and Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) involved taking official actions that directly benefited their own wallets.
“To my knowledge, none of these cases that are being discussed in the press have come up with any evidence of that at all,” noted Scott Lilly, a former staff director for the House Appropriations Committee who is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
But the scrutiny of the Department of Justice into who gets earmarks and how they get them must be rattling Capitol Hill.
“They realize that even with the best of intentions, you really need to know a lot about the people who are being helped by this process,” Lilly added. “And you need to know they’re on the level.”
Murtha knows a lot about a lot of people that are not on the level and gets tens of thousands in campaign donations from them.
Culture of Corruption Ping!
And to think that Democratic Party propagandists in the state run media actually have many Americans believing the Republican Party is the “culture of corruption”.
fat,treasonous,bastard ping.
Fox news just reported this story. Fox also mentioned that Murtha is one of the 20 most corrupt members of congress.
A person would have to try hard to get in the worst of that bunch. Maybe the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS WASTED IN PORK QUALIFIES HIM.
Two cooperating witnesses. The feds know PRECISELY where to take theses investigations that are close to Murtha.
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