Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

As earmark lobbyist gets out of jail, former colleagues still on the trail

DCCC invokes Murtha to aid Critz

A friend and colleague passes along the following email the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is sending out, signed by the widow of the late Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., Joyce Murtha: DCCC email

Potential Murtha successor Norm Dicks knows the favor factory

The abrupt passing of Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.) left many wondering who would replace the King of Pork as chair of the Defense Appropriations subcommitteebut anyone hoping his replacement might bring relief from a reputation for trading favors, rewarding campaign contributors and steering lucrative contracts to home districts would likely be disappointed by the pool of potential successors.  

Follow the (Airport) Money

Over the past five years, the Federal Aviation Administration has handed out nearly $18 billion in grants for almost 19,000 airport projects. In theory, these projects -- funded through the FAA's Airport Improvement Program -- are supposed to enhance safety or protect the environment. In fact, according to a Subsidyscope analysis of FAA data (neatly assembled into a searchable database by Sunlight's Kaitlin Lee), a fair amount of money has gone toward the building of parking lots and other questionable things.

Murtha's earmark recipients: How hands off (or on) is he?

Paul Singer reports in Roll Call on a tangled story that apparently involves the undisclosed hand of Rep. John Murtha but certainly involves his brother Kit (a retired lobbyist) and his former lobbying firm, five different companies doing business, directly or indirectly, with Defense (including one under federal indictment and one that allegedly wanted to outsource earmarked defense work to "China or someplace"), an earmark from the pre-disclosure era, some technical corrections added to the Tsunami relief bill that moved the funds for that earmark from one recipient to another (because the original recipient allegedly wanted to do the work in "China or someplace" rather than in Murtha's district), about $8.2 million of taxpayer money, and a whole lot of digging. Oh, and PMA Group makes a cameo appearance. Read the whole thing, but also consider this:

CREW visualizes Murtha web

Here's a picture worth well over a thousand words: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has assembled an interactive, "You Don't Know Jack" graphic showing the connections between Murtha, a trio of lobbying firms, relatives, staffers and the companies for whom he's gotten earmarks.

Pressure building on Murtha?

Justin Rood reports on the ABC News Investigative blog on the several different investigations of Rep. John Murtha, the defunct PMA Group which funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions to Murtha from its PAC, employees and its clients, many of which were the beneficiaries of Murtha earmarks. Rood notes that these investigations are all distinct inquiries:

Congress' family business, John Murtha edition

From the Washington Post:

Hill: No campaign cash for Visclosky from former PMA Group clients

On April 3rd, we noted that Rep. Pete Visclosky, one of the most prolific recipients of campaign cash from and earmarker of federal dollars to PMA Group clients, had requested no earmarks--not a single one--for former clients of the firm for fiscal year FY 2010. Oddly enough, employees and PACs of former PMA Group clients donated nothing to Visclosky's reelection campaign in the first quarter of 2009, according to Roxana Tiron of the Hill.

Former PMA Group Clients Get Defense Earmarks from Murtha for 2010

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., has requested defense related funding for five companies that hired the PMA Group last year, according to a review of the earmark requests released on the Congressman's website. Murtha has requested a total of $23.8 million to be directed to these companies.

Dicks requests earmark for Concurrent Technologies

Rep. Norm Dicks requested one Defense earmark for one former client of PMA Group:

Earmark requests due online today

I was just forwarded a press release from the office of Rep. Jeff Flake, reminding us that members have to post their earmark requests online today:

Must everything be earmarked?

Columnist George Will argues that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 -- the bailout bill that set up TARP, is unconstitutional because it delegates legislative power to the executive branch:

Murtha's pass through earmarks

Earmark disclosure isn't going to do any good if members can designate a middle man to take funds, then distribute them to private companies. But that's exactly what the Washington Post says Rep. John Murtha has been doing, and they've got documents to back them up: