PMA Group Earmark Express Barreling out of Control
By Alexa Shrugged on PMA Group
AIP Blog
Last week, I covered Rep. Pete Visclosky's (D-Ind.) involvement with the controversial PMA Group and said earmarks are the gateway to corruption. This week, we get a clearer picture of the reaches of this growing scandal.
In Friday's Wall Street Journal, columnist Kimberly Strassel paints a picture of the earmark train barreling out of control, endangering the party in power:
<<< Picture a freight train roaring down the tracks. Picture House Speaker Nancy Pelosi positioning her party on the rails. Picture a growing stream of nervous souls diving for the weeds. Picture all this, and you've got a sense of the Democrats' earmark-corruption problem.
This particular choo-choo has the name John Murtha emblazoned on the side, and with each chug is proving that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Republicans got tossed in 2006 in part for failing to police the earmarks at the center of the Jack Abramoff and other corruption scandals. Mrs. Pelosi is today leaving her members exposed to an earmark mess that might make Abramoff look junior varsity. >>>
According to the Wall Street Journal, at least 100 members of Congress requested earmarks for clients of PMA Group so the potential of scope of the problem is huge and could hurt the party. Dissention is stirring in the ranks:
<<< The result is growing dissent among Democrats, on full display this week. On one side is Mrs. Pelosi, who has demanded her party protect Mr. Murtha, a man hugely responsible for her ascent. On the other side are younger, first- and second-term Democrats who won their seats off GOP scandals and who have no interest in sacrificing them at the back-scratching altar. >>>
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has introduced a resolution for the ethics committee to investigate the PMA Group nine times and each time, he has gained a little more support from across the aisle, with the last vote supported by 29 Democrats. As Flake says, “This is a well-trodden path of denial that we Republicans already walked down. Democrats are now walking down that path. Philosophically, it's nuts.”
There are some Democrats who agree and are so concerned about the issue they have introduced a bill making it illegal for members of Congress to request earmarks for companies they’ve received campaign contributions from.
These actions have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi worried, and WSJ reports she has attempted to circle the wagons:
<<< Mrs. Pelosi has relentlessly fought to tamp down this uprising. In April, she recruited the former top Democrat on the ethics committee, Howard Berman, to lecture members in a closed-door meeting as to why they should continue to oppose Mr. Flake. In May, as the House prepared for another vote, Mrs. Pelosi's assistant, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, sent an email to staffers warning "Don't Be a Flake" and making clear defections would not be viewed charitably. >>>
Perhaps Madam Speaker should be spending more time fighting to end the abusive earmark practices that tripped up Republicans last time around and less time defending the most corrupt porkers. Otherwise, the earmark gravy train many members have been riding could derail causing mass casualties to her party.
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