Congress

The earmarks for the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act were released. Below are the earmarks that Marcy Kaptur requested with your money. Do you see anything interesting in the list?:

COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE - Earmarks

WASHINGTON- Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) made the following
statement after President Obama's address to the joint session of
Congress this evening.

"President Obama's address to Congress and our nation tonight provided a
sober reminder of the struggles we face as a nation. However, President
Obama relied on tired rhetoric of pointing fingers of blame on past
administrations and fixing the problems we struggle with by introducing
massive government spending, oversight, and regulation.

Unfortunately, President Obama's proposed tax and spend policy outlined

Flake targets earmarks in wake of scandal
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rep.-flake-going-after-earmarks-in-w...

Flake targets earmarks in wake of scandal
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rep.-flake-going-after-earmarks-in-w...

One Representative has had enough and Jeff has identified some specific PMA earmarks in the omnibus spending bill, which is a new discovery.
http://flake.house.gov/
ID'd specific earmarks.
http://flake.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=112328

“If clients of a lobbying firm currently under federal investigation are receiving earmarks in it, this bill has not received adequate scrutiny,” said Flake.

Flake also has an Opt-Ed in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/opinion/24flake.html?_r=1

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Earmark Requests from Obama Transportation Secretary
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/02/earmark-request.html

Region's politicians tied to embattled lobbying firm
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/jessica-coomes/index.ssf?/base/news-0/12...

Two tips of the hat and a little nudge
http://www.dailyitem.com/0110_editorials/local_story_054001532.html

Ryan will return donations if they are found illegal
http://www.cantonrep.com/ohio/x426338866/Ryan-will-return-donations-if-t...

Perlmutter, Udall, Lamborn among lobby firm’s lawmaker friends

Earmark reform? 2009 spending bill contains 9,000 of them
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/62614.html

Earmark reform? 2009 spending bill contains 9,000 of them
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/62614.html

This is in the nationaljournal.com in the story titled "Most Lawmakers Keeping Questionable PMA Contributions":

A spokesman for Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, another member of the Defense Appropriations panel, said "her campaign's decision will hinge on how the story unfolds because we really don't know very much right now." PMA Group was Kaptur's single-largest donor, giving $26,500 in her most recent race.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/cdp_20090220_7211.php

Ohio representative Tim Ryan says:

Most Lawmakers Keeping Questionable PMA Contributions
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/cdp_20090220_7211.php

Kanjorski, Carney delay action on funds from embroiled firms
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2009/02/21/news/sc_times_trib.2...
and
http://www.thedailyreview.com/articles/2009/02/21/news/tw_review.2009022...

Report: U.S. Rep. Dicks was No. 4 in earmarks for questioned PMA Group
http://www.theolympian.com/politicsblog/story/764966.html

Ryan to return funds

Massachusetts pols allegedly got funds for busted lobbyist’s clients
http://news.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/2009_02_21_Massachuse...

Tim Ryan Among Valley Congressmen Named in Campaign Contribution Probe
http://www.wytv.com/content/news/local/story/Tim-Ryan-Among-Valley-Congr...

PMA Group Contributions Hard to Track
http://www.rollcall.com/news/32470-1.html

Embattled firm donated thousands to Carney, Kanjorski

Through my poking around I have found that Linda Lynch is a very busy lady. She is a homemaker, housewife, a PMA attorney, a teacher, a real estate agent, a consultant and maybe a PMA lobbyist. They are all of Woodbridge VA and possibly Dumfries VA. If I were a betting man, I think that this lady will have some explaining to do. Maybe there is more than one Linda Lynch in the area, but given the numbers and the donating behavior, I think she is another funnel for the PMA group. You won't read that anywhere else.

I listened to the NPR segment on the PMA Group online this evening and one of the things it mentioned was:

Among the PMA donors were two of the company's board members, who are friends of Magliocchetti from Florida, where he has a beach condo. In campaign reports, contributions from the two Floridians often appear to be coordinated — same day, same dollar amount, same recipient.

That could suggest PMA was making the contributions in their names, which would be illegal.

Please bear with me, since this is breaking news, I will be posting quite a bit about the scandal as different angles appear or something noteworthy shows up.

The Hill is reporting another donor, Jon Walker, never existed or at least did not work for the company reported.

Unlike the donor in the Washington Post article, this donor has given to Marcy Kaptur.

From The Hill:

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List of stories of interest on the PMA scandal:

Lobbying Firm's Ties To Democrats Under Scrutiny -really good
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100850606

The next lobbying scandal
http://blog.nj.com/njv_thurman_hart/2009/02/the_next_lobbying_scandal.html

Firm with Murtha Ties Got Earmarks From Nearly One-Fourth of House (CQ Politics)
http://www.taxpayer.net/resources.php?category=&type=Project&proj_id=193...

PMA Group Shuttering Its Lobbying Practice
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003055876

The Congressional Quarterly has a feature story today on how PMA secured 300 million in earmarks in one bill. Marcy Kaptur is included in the 104 and is solely responsible for 1.6 million in earmarks specifically for PMA clients. This ranked her 29th out of 104 for that bill. There are 435 members of the house and only those 104 asked for earmarks for PMA clients in the 2008 defense appropriations law. Marcy Kaptur is #19 out of the top twenty recipients of PMA lobbying money.
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Read the story at:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003055541

More is being reported on Marcy Kaptur's largest donor last year, the lobbyist group PMA. There are some very shady campaign finance/lobbying reporting going on as reported by the Washington Post. This is potentially could be as big as Tom Noe or Jack Abramoff and you know how many people they brought down in 06. Has the Blade run any reports on this? I may have missed it.
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WASHINGTON- Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) made the following
statement after he and all 178 House Republicans voted against H.R. 1,
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Unfortunately, H.R. 1, the Democrat's spending bill, is still
fundamentally flawed and the Conference Committee did nothing to change
the fact that this is basically a pork barrel bill by the Democrat
majority in Congress and the administration. No one had time to read
this legislation which will cost American taxpayers over $1 trillion, in

LATTA TO HOST COURTHOUSE CONFERENCES

WASHINGTON- Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) will host a series
of Courthouse Conferences throughout the Fifth District during the week
of February 16th.

The Courthouse Conferences will provide constituents with an opportunity
to sit down with Congressman Latta to discuss issues that are important
to them, their families, and communities. Congressman Latta's district
staff will also be in attendance to assist with casework or issues
regarding Federal government agencies.

Courthouse Conference information is as follows:

What? Marcy Kaptur taking big bucks from a lobbying firm? I thought she denounced the special interests. Well this special interest, which she accepted big money from, is now under investigation.
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A defense lobbying firm that is a top political donor to several Ohio members of Congress has been raided by federal law enforcement authorities.
...
Hobson got $87,500 from PMA throughout his career, while Kaptur got $40,500. During the last election cycle, PMA gave Kaptur's campaign $26,500. Kaptur's top all-time donors are unions.
...
Read more at:

LATTA ANNOUNCES 2009 CONGRESSIONAL ART COMPETITION

BOWLING GREEN- Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) announces the
2009 Congressional Art Competition for Ohio's Fifth Congressional
District. The competition is open to all high school students who
reside in the Fifth Congressional District.

"The Congressional Art Competition is an excellent chance for high
school students across our great nation to showcase their artistic
ability, and I look forward to seeing the great artistic talent students
in the Fifth District possess," Latta said in today's announcement.