{"id":401947,"date":"2010-03-08T01:44:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T06:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.opensecrets.org,2010:\/news\/\/8.1407"},"modified":"2010-03-08T11:54:58","modified_gmt":"2010-03-08T16:54:58","slug":"campaign-cash-linked-to-earmarks-eric-massa-quits-amid-scandal-and-more-in-capital-eye-opener-march-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/401947","title":{"rendered":"Campaign Cash Linked to Earmarks, Eric Massa Quits Amid Scandal and More in Capital Eye Opener: March 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"jimmoran1.jpg\"<\/a>Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics:<\/p>\n

CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS EQUAL FEDERAL EARMARKS?<\/strong> Perhaps, at least in some cases detailed this weekend by the Washington Post<\/em>‘s Carol D. Leonnig, who writes<\/a> that “lobbyists and corporate officials talked bluntly in e-mail exchanges about connections between making generous campaign donations and securing federal funds through members of an important House Appropriations subcommittee.”<\/p>\n

Leonnig cites for her story hitherto secret e-mails under review by ethics investigators, including one from 2007 between Innovative Concepts<\/a> defense firm executives deciding who would attend a wine tasting fund-raiser for Rep. Jim Moran<\/a> (D-Va.). <\/p>\n

In it, one executive, who said he didn’t drink, asked why he had to buy a ticket. <\/p>\n

“You don’t have to drink … you just have to pay,” the other retorted.<\/p>\n

“LOL,” replied the first executive, according to the Post<\/em> article.<\/p>\n

The kicker? The FBI targeted and now-defunct PMA Group was hosting the event, and Innovative Concepts was actively seeking help from Moran’s office to secure contracts through defense earmarks added to a defense bill. Moran’s office, for its part, says it has no control over the communications of lobbyists or their clients.<\/p>\n

Late last year, the Center for Responsive Politics<\/a>, along with Taxpayers for Common Sense<\/a>, produced a project on this very issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In it, the Center and Taxpayers for Common Sense illustrate the often curious patterns of private companies and institutions either donating significant sums of campaign cash to lawmakers who direct federal earmarks their way, or, spend notable amounts of money lobbying the federal government in general.<\/p>\n

Read our coverage about the PMA Group’s demise following a federal investigation into its violation of campaign laws by clicking here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

As for Moran, he’s been the beneficiary<\/a> of millions of dollars worth of campaign money from a combination of lobbyists, lawyers and defense interests, the Center’s research indicates. He’s also received plenty of money<\/a> from organizations and companies for which he requested earmarks.<\/p>\n

People and political action committees associated with the PMA Group<\/a>, incidentally, represent his largest single donor pool<\/a> since the 1990 election cycle, the Center’s research shows.<\/p>\n

\"ericmassa.jpg\"<\/a>REP. ERIC MASSA TO QUIT TODAY AS SCANDAL RAGES:<\/strong> No Oval Office rendezvou<\/a>s<\/span> with interns, supposed trips<\/a> along the Appalachian Trail, New York-based high-end prostitutes<\/a>, Washington-based high-end prostitutes<\/a>, severance payments<\/a> to former staffers\/mistresses, titillating taxpayer-funded text messages<\/a>, love children<\/a> with campaign videographers behind cancer-fighting wives backs or toe-tapping visits<\/a> to Minnesota airport bathroom stalls.<\/p>\n

But freshman Rep. Eric Massa<\/a>, after last week saying he’d not seek reelection because of a battle with cancer, plans to resign today<\/a> after acknowledging he directed language at a male staffer that “might make a chief petty officer feel uncomfortable.” The staffer has filed a harassment complaint against Massa, who publicly apologized for the situation.<\/p>\n

Massa has not directly addressed reports<\/a> that the male staffer in question is accusing him specifically of sexual harassment. The House’s ethics committee confirmed it’s investigating the matter.<\/p>\n

Massa’s strongest financial backers<\/a> have been expressed Democratic and liberal organizations, leadership PACs and retirees. ActBlue<\/a>, along with people and political action committees associated with Corning<\/a>, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers<\/a>, AmeriPAC<\/a> and Service Employees International Union<\/a> have been particularly strong Massa backers<\/a>, the Center’s research indicates.<\/p>\n

CRP, IN THE NEWS:<\/strong> The Washington Post<\/em>‘s Anita Kumar quotes Executive Director Sheila Krumholz in this piece<\/a> about Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell withholding details about his whereabouts while on the job. “Totally hypocritical,” Krumholz called McDonnell’s actions — or lack thereof — in light of McDonnell’s criticisms of former Gov. Timothy Kaine for not releasing his travel schedule while governor … Other mentions of the Center in the press this weekend come in the Baltimore Sun<\/a><\/em>, Arizona Daily Sun<\/a><\/em>, the Christian Science Monitor<\/a> <\/em>and syndicated columnist Jonah Goldberg’s column<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Have a news tip or a link to pass along? We want to hear from you! E-mail us at press@crp.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics: CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS EQUAL FEDERAL EARMARKS? Perhaps, at least in some cases detailed this weekend by the Washington Post‘s Carol D. Leonnig, who writes that “lobbyists and corporate officials talked bluntly in e-mail exchanges about connections between making generous campaign donations and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3994,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3994"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}