Pork: The "other" white meat

[DamnYankee]

Eye-Opening Earmarks
A brewing ethics controversy in the House
Sunday, June 14, 2009

CLAIMS THAT Washington lawmakers exchange earmarks for campaign contributions are nothing new. But the swirl of allegations surrounding the PMA Group, a defense lobbying firm that doled out millions of dollars to lawmakers before closing its doors after an alleged raid by federal agents last November, and Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) in particular, is unusually far-reaching. The cozy relationship between certain members of Congress and PMA is worrying, and we're glad that the House ethics committee is taking a closer look.

The PMA Group, a lobbying firm started by former Murtha aide Paul Magliochetti, handed out more than $40 million to members of Congress from 1998 to 2009, according to the New York Times. The Times reported that members of Congress set aside $300 million in earmarks for PMA's clients last year; Mr. Murtha alone earmarked $38.1 million.
washingtonpost.com

 

[Contessa_Sharra]

Summary data for Barack Obama | OpenSecrets

P R E S I D E N T I A L C A N D I D A T E
Barack Obama (D) Senator from Illinois

Obama's victory in the general election was aided by his tremendous fundraising success. Since the start of 2007, his campaign relied on bigger donors and smaller donors nearly equally, pulling in successive donations mostly over the Internet. After becoming his party's nominee, Obama declined public financing and the spending limits that came with it, making him the first major-party candidate since the system was created to reject taxpayers' money for the general election.



Source of Funds

Individual contributions $656,357,572------- 88%

PAC contributions ------$1,830 -------------- 0%

Candidate self-financing------ $0 ----------- 0%

Federal Funds ---------$0 ------------------- 0%

Other ------------------$88,626,223--------- 12%




Only those who wanted to contribute to Obama did so, mostly individuals on a one on one basis, and there was no "forcing" of taxpayers to contribute via the FED system to candidates they did not want. I have, in various areas, heard "conservatives" say that individuals should be allowed to contribute as much as they want, where they want. Has this changed? As for Murtha, I thought that the "Cons" had made him 'history.'

Some like the PAC/Lobbying system when it works for them, hate it when it goes the other way.

 

[MarkP]

1. Why is Norm Dicks never mentioned in these WAPO articles about PMA? Is Norm Dicks the new poster child for good government? Why does WAPO want to see Dicks as Chairman of this committee? According to opensecrets, Dicks was the 6th largest recipient of PMA donations? 2. This WAPO editiorial refers to the Kuchera company. It has been in business for over 20 years, and employees 300 employees of which 35% are handicapped. Why hasn't the media explored the questionable timing of the raid of this firm-2 days after the Obama inaguration?

 

[Oddball]

Only those who wanted to contribute to Obama did so, mostly individuals on a one on one basis, and there was no "forcing" of taxpayers to contribute via the FED system to candidates they did not want. I have, in various areas, heard "conservatives" say that individuals should be allowed to contribute as much as they want, where they want. Has this changed? As for Murtha, I thought that the "Cons" had made him 'history.'

The rest of that boded statement is; "with full and immediate disclosure of who those donors are and how much they contributed".

A good share of those "one-on-one" campaign contributions were completely untraceable cash donations from undisclosed sources.

How'z that "transparency" working out for ya??

 

[DamnYankee]

Summary data for Barack Obama | OpenSecrets

P R E S I D E N T I A L C A N D I D A T E
Barack Obama (D) Senator from Illinois

Obama's victory in the general election was aided by his tremendous fundraising success. Since the start of 2007, his campaign relied on bigger donors and smaller donors nearly equally, pulling in successive donations mostly over the Internet. After becoming his party's nominee, Obama declined public financing and the spending limits that came with it, making him the first major-party candidate since the system was created to reject taxpayers' money for the general election.



Source of Funds

Individual contributions $656,357,572------- 88%

PAC contributions ------$1,830 -------------- 0%

Candidate self-financing------ $0 ----------- 0%

Federal Funds ---------$0 ------------------- 0%

Other ------------------$88,626,223--------- 12%




Only those who wanted to contribute to Obama did so, mostly individuals on a one on one basis, and there was no "forcing" of taxpayers to contribute via the FED system to candidates they did not want. I have, in various areas, heard "conservatives" say that individuals should be allowed to contribute as much as they want, where they want. Has this changed? As for Murtha, I thought that the "Cons" had made him 'history.'

Some like the PAC/Lobbying system when it works for them, hate it when it goes the other way.

Oh geez.... Let's look at in terms we can understand shall we?

The federal budget is $2,650,000,000 (that's billion) and Murtha's earmarks were $38,100,000 (that's million). That makes Murtha's earmarks 1.4377358490566036% of the total federal budget. His little district in Pennsylvania sure got a piece of the pie, didn't they???

Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district is currently represented by Democrat John Murtha.

[edit] Geography
The 12th Pennsylvania congressional district is located in southwestern Pennsylvania. It is a heavily Gerrymandered district. It consists of all of Greene County, and parts of Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties.

The district was drawn specifically for Murtha, including many heavily Democratic regions, while leaving more right-leaning Pittsburgh suburban regions to the 4th or 18th district, and rural conservative regions to the 3rd or 9th district.[citation needed]

The 12th includes all of Greene County, a highly rural region that still has a traditionally Democratic influence due to its labor leanings. In Washington county, the city of Washington, a large and Democratic edge suburb of Pittsburgh is a part of the 12th, as well as the eastern portion of the county, which includes the very Democratic former steel megacenter, the Monongahela Valley region. However, more rural western Washington County and the suburban northern portion of the county (with towns like McDonald and Canonsburg) belongs to the 18th. The western portion of Fayette County, including the city of Uniontown, a labor Democratic stronghold is part of this district, while the rural mountainous eastern portion is a part of the 9th.

The 12th District continues eastward, including southeastern and northeastern parts of Westmoreland County, including the labor Democratic city of Latrobe, while leaving the suburban western part of the county (with towns such as Murrysville) and the generally right-leaning city of Greensburg in the 18th. Portions of Somerset and Cambria Counties are also included in this district. This strip, the part of a large coal area with Democratic leanings, is Murtha's main base. It includes his home city of Johnstown. The 12th also contains a part of Indiana County, mainly the liberal college town of Indiana.

The 12th completes its wrap around the metro Pittsburgh region by ending in the northeastern corner of the city's suburbs, containing middle class regions such as Lower Burrell and the working class suburb of New Kensington. A portion of Armstrong County is also included in the district, including several industrial suburbs such as Freeport and Apollo.
Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[xotoxi]

And I know of yet a third white meat.

 

[DamnYankee]

And I know of yet a third white meat.

Great.... Does it have anything to do with this thread topic?

 

[DamnYankee]

Only those who wanted to contribute to Obama did so, mostly individuals on a one on one basis, and there was no "forcing" of taxpayers to contribute via the FED system to candidates they did not want. I have, in various areas, heard "conservatives" say that individuals should be allowed to contribute as much as they want, where they want. Has this changed? As for Murtha, I thought that the "Cons" had made him 'history.'

The rest of that boded statement is; "with full and immediate disclosure of who those donors are and how much they contributed".

A good share of those "one-on-one" campaign contributions were completely untraceable cash donations from undisclosed sources.

How'z that "transparency" working out for ya??

Obama is as transparent as any other damned politician. I can see right through him....

 

[xotoxi]

And I know of yet a third white meat.

Great.... Does it have anything to do with this thread topic?

Aren't you implying that, with all the pork, we are fucked?

If so, then my comment is not all that far off topic...

 

[DamnYankee]

And I know of yet a third white meat.

Great.... Does it have anything to do with this thread topic?

Aren't you implying that, with all the pork, we are fucked?

If so, then my comment is not all that far off topic...

Already been fucked over by every color of meat there is. So your point?

 

[foggedinn]

My congressman (Gene Taylor D-Mississippi) doesn't engage in pork barrel politics. He brings home the bacon.

He's one of those blue dogs you keep hearing about. You know, a DINO.

 

[Nik]

Summary data for Barack Obama | OpenSecrets

P R E S I D E N T I A L C A N D I D A T E
Barack Obama (D) Senator from Illinois

Obama's victory in the general election was aided by his tremendous fundraising success. Since the start of 2007, his campaign relied on bigger donors and smaller donors nearly equally, pulling in successive donations mostly over the Internet. After becoming his party's nominee, Obama declined public financing and the spending limits that came with it, making him the first major-party candidate since the system was created to reject taxpayers' money for the general election.



Source of Funds

Individual contributions $656,357,572------- 88%

PAC contributions ------$1,830 -------------- 0%

Candidate self-financing------ $0 ----------- 0%

Federal Funds ---------$0 ------------------- 0%

Other ------------------$88,626,223--------- 12%




Only those who wanted to contribute to Obama did so, mostly individuals on a one on one basis, and there was no "forcing" of taxpayers to contribute via the FED system to candidates they did not want. I have, in various areas, heard "conservatives" say that individuals should be allowed to contribute as much as they want, where they want. Has this changed? As for Murtha, I thought that the "Cons" had made him 'history.'

Some like the PAC/Lobbying system when it works for them, hate it when it goes the other way.

Oh geez.... Let's look at in terms we can understand shall we?

The federal budget is $2,650,000,000 (that's billion) and Murtha's earmarks were $38,100,000 (that's million). That makes Murtha's earmarks 1.4377358490566036% of the total federal budget. His little district in Pennsylvania sure got a piece of the pie, didn't they???

Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district is currently represented by Democrat John Murtha.

[edit] Geography
The 12th Pennsylvania congressional district is located in southwestern Pennsylvania. It is a heavily Gerrymandered district. It consists of all of Greene County, and parts of Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties.

The district was drawn specifically for Murtha, including many heavily Democratic regions, while leaving more right-leaning Pittsburgh suburban regions to the 4th or 18th district, and rural conservative regions to the 3rd or 9th district.[citation needed]

The 12th includes all of Greene County, a highly rural region that still has a traditionally Democratic influence due to its labor leanings. In Washington county, the city of Washington, a large and Democratic edge suburb of Pittsburgh is a part of the 12th, as well as the eastern portion of the county, which includes the very Democratic former steel megacenter, the Monongahela Valley region. However, more rural western Washington County and the suburban northern portion of the county (with towns like McDonald and Canonsburg) belongs to the 18th. The western portion of Fayette County, including the city of Uniontown, a labor Democratic stronghold is part of this district, while the rural mountainous eastern portion is a part of the 9th.

The 12th District continues eastward, including southeastern and northeastern parts of Westmoreland County, including the labor Democratic city of Latrobe, while leaving the suburban western part of the county (with towns such as Murrysville) and the generally right-leaning city of Greensburg in the 18th. Portions of Somerset and Cambria Counties are also included in this district. This strip, the part of a large coal area with Democratic leanings, is Murtha's main base. It includes his home city of Johnstown. The 12th also contains a part of Indiana County, mainly the liberal college town of Indiana.

The 12th completes its wrap around the metro Pittsburgh region by ending in the northeastern corner of the city's suburbs, containing middle class regions such as Lower Burrell and the working class suburb of New Kensington. A portion of Armstrong County is also included in the district, including several industrial suburbs such as Freeport and Apollo.
Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The federal budget is just a touch more than $2,650,000,000. You got your facts wrong.

 

[DamnYankee]

My congressman (Gene Taylor D-Mississippi) doesn't engage in pork barrel politics. He brings home the bacon.

He's one of those blue dogs you keep hearing about. You know, a DINO.

These days, unfortunately, Dems don't have a monopoly on porking. Murtha, however, has long been known as the King, and how such a small district, in terms of population, gets such a nice slice of the pie is beyond me.

 

[DamnYankee]

Summary data for Barack Obama | OpenSecrets

P R E S I D E N T I A L C A N D I D A T E
Barack Obama (D) Senator from Illinois

Obama's victory in the general election was aided by his tremendous fundraising success. Since the start of 2007, his campaign relied on bigger donors and smaller donors nearly equally, pulling in successive donations mostly over the Internet. After becoming his party's nominee, Obama declined public financing and the spending limits that came with it, making him the first major-party candidate since the system was created to reject taxpayers' money for the general election.



Source of Funds

Individual contributions $656,357,572------- 88%

PAC contributions ------$1,830 -------------- 0%

Candidate self-financing------ $0 ----------- 0%

Federal Funds ---------$0 ------------------- 0%

Other ------------------$88,626,223--------- 12%




Only those who wanted to contribute to Obama did so, mostly individuals on a one on one basis, and there was no "forcing" of taxpayers to contribute via the FED system to candidates they did not want. I have, in various areas, heard "conservatives" say that individuals should be allowed to contribute as much as they want, where they want. Has this changed? As for Murtha, I thought that the "Cons" had made him 'history.'

Some like the PAC/Lobbying system when it works for them, hate it when it goes the other way.

Oh geez.... Let's look at in terms we can understand shall we?

The federal budget is $2,650,000,000 (that's billion) and Murtha's earmarks were $38,100,000 (that's million). That makes Murtha's earmarks 1.4377358490566036% of the total federal budget. His little district in Pennsylvania sure got a piece of the pie, didn't they???

Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district is currently represented by Democrat John Murtha.

[edit] Geography
The 12th Pennsylvania congressional district is located in southwestern Pennsylvania. It is a heavily Gerrymandered district. It consists of all of Greene County, and parts of Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties.

The district was drawn specifically for Murtha, including many heavily Democratic regions, while leaving more right-leaning Pittsburgh suburban regions to the 4th or 18th district, and rural conservative regions to the 3rd or 9th district.[citation needed]

The 12th includes all of Greene County, a highly rural region that still has a traditionally Democratic influence due to its labor leanings. In Washington county, the city of Washington, a large and Democratic edge suburb of Pittsburgh is a part of the 12th, as well as the eastern portion of the county, which includes the very Democratic former steel megacenter, the Monongahela Valley region. However, more rural western Washington County and the suburban northern portion of the county (with towns like McDonald and Canonsburg) belongs to the 18th. The western portion of Fayette County, including the city of Uniontown, a labor Democratic stronghold is part of this district, while the rural mountainous eastern portion is a part of the 9th.

The 12th District continues eastward, including southeastern and northeastern parts of Westmoreland County, including the labor Democratic city of Latrobe, while leaving the suburban western part of the county (with towns such as Murrysville) and the generally right-leaning city of Greensburg in the 18th. Portions of Somerset and Cambria Counties are also included in this district. This strip, the part of a large coal area with Democratic leanings, is Murtha's main base. It includes his home city of Johnstown. The 12th also contains a part of Indiana County, mainly the liberal college town of Indiana.

The 12th completes its wrap around the metro Pittsburgh region by ending in the northeastern corner of the city's suburbs, containing middle class regions such as Lower Burrell and the working class suburb of New Kensington. A portion of Armstrong County is also included in the district, including several industrial suburbs such as Freeport and Apollo.
Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The federal budget is just a touch more than $2,650,000,000. You got your facts wrong.

You must have missed the memo. I'm not in the habit of posting bullshit that I can't back up.

These figures are from an analysis of detailed tables in the “Analytical Perspectives” book of the Budget of the United States Government, [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/index.html] Fiscal Year 2009. The figures are federal funds, which do not include trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised and spent separately from income taxes.
The Federal Pie Chart

 

[EriktheRed]

Well, for those boasting of the GOP taking over Congress again next year, this could be a big help:

The Biggest Dem Scandal You've Never Heard Of | TPMMuckraker

Exerpt:

PMA's lobbying activities centered on winning earmarks doled out by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, chaired by John Murtha of Pennsylvania. It was founded in the late 1980s by a former Murtha aide on the committee, Paul Magliocchetti. And it was staffed over the years by ex-aides for Murtha, Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN), and Rep. James Moran (D-VA).

TPMmuckraker has kept a close eye on the case. Major newspaper editorial boards have voiced their concerns. The Times and the Post have each done solid reporting. So why, at this point, nine months after the FBI raid appeared in the news, aren't we hearing more about this? Why hasn't it stuck?

It's probably a combination of factors: the infrequent media leaks from the Feds; the complexity and diffuseness of the case; and the lack of a single high-profile figure who is the focus of investigators.

It's not for lack of color that the story hasn't taken off. Like many Washington influence peddlers, Magliocchetti was a boisterous figure known for wooing lawmakers with fancy meals and booze. His wine locker at the Capital Grille steakhouse was famously labeled "Mags."

The FBI raided PMA's offices last November, and its top lobbyists scattered after the episode became public (the Feds have also reportedly raided Magliocchetti's home). The firm went under this spring.

The amounts of money involved -- including plenty of taxpayer dollars -- are staggering. Seven lawmakers who are under scrutiny by two House ethics panels steered $200 million to PMA clients in the past two years, according to watchdog groups.

 

[Oddball]

Murhta is the biggest crook in congress, irregardless of party affiliation.

He makes William Jefferson look like a petty shoplifter.

 

[MaggieMae]

My congressman (Gene Taylor D-Mississippi) doesn't engage in pork barrel politics. He brings home the bacon.

He's one of those blue dogs you keep hearing about. You know, a DINO.

I like Gene Taylor a lot. So far, I also like Haley Barbour (surprise surprise) who is considering running for president in 2012. Generally, what attracts me to any politician are no-nonsense, non-ideologues, who recognize reality before it slaps 'em in the head, Democrat OR Republican.

Regarding Murtha, the evidence keeps piling up and I suspect he will be sharing space with Duke Cunningham one of these days.

 

[Ame®icano]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywgUCdefSW8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywgUCdefSW8[/ame]

 

[garyd]

I love how the Dems keep reminding us of why we voted them out of power in 1994. By the way this is the same ethics committee that is essentailly covering Rangles pathetic ass to the extent it can.