Federal investigators are probing the relationship between three prominent Members of Congress and their relationship to a now-defunct lobbying firm that appears to have been the fulcrum of a massive “pay-to-play” scheme in which the representatives offered earmarks in return for campaign contributions.
The three congressmen are Representatives John Murtha of Pennsylvania, Jim Moran of Virginia and Pete Visclosky of Indiana, all Democrats. The defunct lobbying group was known as the PMA Group. It was started by a former Murtha aide.
Last week, the FBI issued subpoenas to Visclosky employees and his congressional and campaign offices, seeking documents in connection with the probe. Visclosky has been in a position to obtain and to shepherd millions of dollars worth of earmarks in his position as chairman of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Murtha and Moran similarly are in powerful committee positions that allow them to determine who is on the receiving end of millions of dollars in funding via earmarks.
Today, the Sunlight Foundation’s Bill Allison, who has done yeoman’s labor in tracking the money and political links in the PMA Group scandal, posted a graphic that, well, graphically, demonstrates the flow of money and influence centered in Visclosky. If this graphic doesn’t persuade critics that earmarks are the key to the culture of corruption that dominates Congress, I don’t know what else will.
For example, Viscolsky sponsored an earmark worth $1.6 milion that went to Cryptek, Inc. In return, Cryptek contributions to Visclosky between 1998 and 2008 totalled nearly $20,000. Allison has much more, which he details here.
The same ind of graphic can be constructed from publicly available data concerning congressional earmarks and campaign contributions for virtually every present and recently departed representative and senators.
UPDATE: Correction on PMA founder and Murtha
Just received this email from Rep. John Murtha’s spokesman, Matthew Mazonkey: “You incorrectly list Paul Magliochetti as a “former Murtha aide.” Paul was not a former Murtha aide. He was a staff analyst for the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee under Chairman Bill Chappel. Murtha was never Chairman or Ranking Member of the committee while Paul worked there, and therefore never a “Murtha aide.” Please correct.”
Done. We’ve also asked Mazonkey to clarify whether he is saying Magliochetti never worked for the subcommittee at the same time as Murtha was a member of that panel.
