Last night I began some research into PMA and their campaign contributions given recent news of phony donors. In another new local item, US Rep Visclosky is denying any wrong doing. He secured over $20 million in earmarks for PMA clients in 08 and they are his largest contributor. Murtha's name didn't turn up for me as much as some others but it's early and many potential avenues of giving remain unexplored.
In 2004, Magliocchetti's firm became Visclosky's top donor, and it has topped that list every year since.A Post-Tribune analysis last year of Visclosky's 2008 congressional earmark requests showed Visclosky secured more than $20 million in contracts for PMA clients, representing a quarter of the solo earmarks he obtained.
Too soon to tell, but could the smoldering PMA scandal be a Democrat version of Abramoff? It's possible but would take much more than is presently known. Consider a Harper's piece from 2006 that mentions PMA and a Richard Kaelin - among others:
One PMA employee worth noting is Richard Kaelin, Visclosky’s former chief of staff. He directly represents ProLogic and Nuvant, another firm that has offices at the Purdue Technology Center. Kaelin’s biography says that while working for the congressman, he developed “long-term planning and strategy” for the appropriations process and fund-raising. Translated, this suggests that he’s an expert in the high art of the political payoff.
Now see this link for the names of Democrats he was dropping money on - from $500 to $2000 a clip in some cases. His is a known PMA name and we're now learning they are alleged to have used false names, too.
Here's another link- scroll to bottom to page through about 500 PMA donations, most of which appear to go to Democrats. There's also a "Display Stats for year" drop down menu 1/4 of the way down on the center-right side of the page. You can see who was getting money for their 2010 campaign at link above.
Flip it to 2008 and you'll see they gave from 10 - 24k a piece to nine Dems. And, to be fair, some notable Republican Senators as well - Collins-2k, Graham-3k and Sununu-3k. But that isn't much in politics today.
Dems did well in 2006- 32k for Viscloski alone. Ben Nelson stands out on the Senate side at 14k, as does Corker at a much lower amount - 6.7k - for Republicans.
Now, you can take an employee name from that list - I just grabbed up "Judith Zink" for a test (and am not alleging any wrong doing) - but then go over and put her name in and get a result at Campaign Money.com. She gave at least some other money under 3 or more company names interspersed with PMA donations. Probably legit btw, if she consulted. But her annual total in 08 was 37k. She gave 34k in 06, and 17k in 04 - smaller amounts in 00 and 02. So you're talking about 100k and she is only one name and was only serious the last few cycles.
Also going back to here and clicking back (at bottom) through the pages you can see which specific pols they really liked.
Dicks in 2008 - Republican Hobson as well - and so on. Patrick Murphy, Christopher Carney big. They had some favorites I suspect we'll find were on specific committees of importance to them.
Their PAC distributed almost 400k. Scroll all the way down and see all the Dems (mostly) to whom they gave that money. If nothing else, you'll understand what makes modern Washington go round.
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