Free Republic

Once powerful lobbyist Paul Magliochetti was sentenced Friday to 27 months in prison for making hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign donations and lying to the Federal Election Commission. U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III also sentenced Magliochetti to two years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $75,000 fine. Magliochetti, a former staffer on the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee who had close ties to the late Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), in September pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., to one count each of making false statements, illegal conduit political contributions and...

Defense contractors who openly discussed a suspected pay-to-play scheme in e-mails released by congressional ethics investigators had ties to a powerful lobbying firm and won millions of dollars in federal earmarks after contributing to the campaign of an Indiana congressman. Democratic Rep. Peter J. Visclosky requested a $2.5 million federal earmark for Nevada-based defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) five days after a March 2007 fundraiser for which the company's owners and its political action committee contributed $18,800 to the congressman's campaign. Similarly, Mr. Visclosky requested $2.5 million for defense firm 21st Century Systems — five days after its employees...

A congressional ethics office asked the Justice Department on Thursday to review evidence it found suggesting that companies are providing campaign cash to lawmakers for no-bid contracts, and consider a criminal probe. The Office of Congressional Ethics investigation focused on companies that were clients of the once powerful lobby firm the PMA Group and sought earmarked contracts from lawmakers who sat on the House Appropriations committee. The referral was an end-run around the House ethics committee, which earlier this year declined to investigate the matter as the OCE recommended and said it found no substantiation that lawmakers were engaged...

For immediate Release: Our Congressman, Peter Visclosky has decided to side with the “most disgusting and corrupt house in the history of America.” The passage of the Obama healthcare bill tonight by house democrats like Pete Visclosky is nothing more than a means to bring about socialism to our country and will lead to the destruction of not only our world class healthcare, but will be the undoing of our foundations of our republic. Cost will rise (Heritage Foundation estimates it at 2.5 Trillion by 2019), fraud will be prevalent (anyone remember the $3000 government toilet seats?), waiting lines will...

"I believe that our nation was founded on limited taxation and small government. Through our founding fathers infinite wisdom, they gave us the keys to freedom and justice for all us. It is up to us to protect those freedoms for the next generation. Like many of you, I am disgusted by what I see coming out of Washington from our elected officials. With current representatives like Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Senator Harry Reed, President Barrack Obama and our own Congressman Pete Visclosky, our great nation is on the fast track towards bankruptcy and our freedoms are being sacrificed daily for...

HAMMOND, IND., March 10, 2010 – Rob Pastore, local businessman and Republican candidate for U.S. Congressional District 1-IN, will be holding a campaign kickoff rally this Saturday, March 13th, from Noon to 3:00 PM, at Highland Main Square Park. “My candidacy offers both Republicans and Democrats a clear choice to improve the future of Northwest Indiana,” Pastore said. “The voters of the 1st Congressional District are fed up with the massive decline in jobs and the lack of economic opportunity in Northwest Indiana. The current Administration and Democratic Congressman Pete Visclosky have failed to put people back to work, and...

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...

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...

WASHINGTON – The revelation that Democratic appropriations kingpins may face a House ethics investigation of their campaign receipts from lobbyists for recipients of government grants and contracts moves Republicans closer to gaining a corruption issue in 2010. ... The Democratic chairman and senior Republican on the House ethics committee dropped their political bomb Thursday night, announcing that the panel is reviewing the practice of lawmakers steering money and contracts to favored companies, and then receiving campaign contributions in return for the "earmarks." The announcement came months after the Justice Department began a criminal investigation of the matter and a repetition...

Chuck Brimmer has resigned as chief of staff to Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) after being served with a subpoena as part of the federal grand jury probe of the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm. The news came as Visclosky announced Tuesday that he is handing off control of the energy and water spending bill while the federal inquiry proceeds. Visclosky spokesman Jacob Ritvo confirmed that Brimmer “has retired,” citing “respect for the process” in declining to comment further. Visclosky on Friday announced that some staffers — and his Congressional and campaign offices — had been subpoenaed in the probe....

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury has subpoenaed a Democratic congressman in a corruption probe, the first concrete indication that a long-simmering Justice Department investigation of a top lobbying firm also has the potential to seriously damage congressional careers. On Friday, Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., acknowledged the grand jury has demanded documents from his office, some employees and his campaign committees. The probe focuses on the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that specialized in securing federal contracts for defense firms from Visclosky, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and others on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee that Murtha chairs.

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...

Groups want ethics probe of Murtha, othersBy Sean Lengell Saturday, May 2, 2009 Four political watchdog groups that typically support Democratic causes want a congressional ethics panel to probe ties between three House Democrats and the defunct Washington lobbying firm, the PMA Group, which benefited from the lawmakers' help. In a letter Thursday to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, the groups Common Cause, Public Citizen, Democracy 21 and U.S. PIRG asked for the panel to investigate whether Reps. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana and James P. Moran of Virginia were influenced by...

WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement officials who raided the lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti’s PMA Group appear to be examining the firm’s relationship with Representative Peter J. Visclosky, a low-profile lawmaker with big influence over federal spending, people familiar with the matter said this week. One person with knowledge of the investigation into the PMA Group said prosecutors had asked specific questions about Mr. Visclosky and his staff. Two people close to Mr. Visclosky, an Indiana Democrat, said he was taking steps to prepare for legal scrutiny, including retaining lawyers to review his compliance with campaign finance laws. All spoke on condition...

Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) is returning at least $16,000 in campaign donations made by The PMA Group, a lobby shop raided by the FBI in November. Also Tuesday, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) joined Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) in deciding to give back thousands of dollars in donations received from PMA . Visclosky is specifically returning donations made by two men in Florida listed in federal election commission documents as PMA employees and associates. The two men, one a sommelier at the Ritz Carlton hotel on Amelia Island and the other a golf marketing director on the same beach resort, were...

10, Credit Cards Taken From Visclosky POSTED: 5:51 pm EST December 16, 2007 MERRILLVILLE, Ind. -- Police were seeking a man suspected of robbing U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky outside a Merrillville supermarket. The 12-term congressman from northwestern Indiana was robbed about 9 p.m. Friday as he was walking alone with groceries to his car. "I was putting my grocery bag on the back seat when I was grabbed from behind. I never saw it coming," Visclosky said Saturday. The man demanded his wallet and keys. He escaped with about $10 in cash and Visclosky's credit cards. The credit cards have...

MERRILLVILLE (AP) — Police were seeking a man suspected of robbing U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky outside a Merrillville supermarket. The 12-term congressman from northwest Indiana was robbed about 9 p.m. Friday as he was walking alone with groceries to his car. "I was putting my grocery bag on the back seat when I was grabbed from behind. I never saw it coming," Visclosky said Saturday. The man demanded his wallet and keys. He escaped with about $10 in cash and Visclosky's credit cards. The credit cards have since been canceled. Visclosky did not believe the robber realized who he was....

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky finds himself at the center of the national firestorm over "pork" spending, those pet projects members of Congress fund with earmarks to major bills. The Indiana Democrat has been identified as the sixth-biggest earmarker in the U.S. House, with $116.8 million set aside for special projects in fiscal 2008 budget bills, according to figures compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense. In a CNBC interview, one Washington watchdog group accused Visclosky of pioneering "green pork," which are earmarks masquerading as seed money for environmental breakthroughs. In his first response to numerous reports in national media, Visclosky on...

My democommie Congressman Pete Visclosky had a Social Security forum at 2:30 this afternoon. I figure setting an afternoon forum was to assure that nobody with a job could show up!! So I decided I need to take some time away from my business and give my congress critter a little heat! Usually my congressman's town meetings attract less than fifty people, so I was shocked to see the room jammed packed and people scrambling to open the divider into the adjacent room. Seems a co-sponsor of the forum was the Alliance for Retired Americans which I now know is...