Money in, Money out: Lobby Shop Works Dems

Sometimes you’ve just gotta admire a well-oiled machine.

The PMA Group, headed by a former aide to Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), have long had a simple system. Clients pump hundreds of thousands into his campaign committee, and Rep. Murtha uses his legendary porkbarreling skills to ensure PMA’s clients get their millions. It worked fine while Murtha was still in the minority, and it’s working great now.

Roll Call totaled (sub. req.) up the damage last month:

— Murtha’s defense appropriations subcommittee recently passed its 2008 bill. PMA clients came away with 36 earmarks — one-third of the total projects in the bill — worth a total of $100.5 million.

— The three lawmakers on Murtha’s committee responsible for earmarking that money — Reps. Murtha, Jim Moran (D-VA) and Pete Visclosky (D-IN) — are getting the expected support from PMA clients, who donated $542,350 in the first six months of this year, or 26 percent of the trio’s total fundraising. Everybody’s back got scratched.

And today, Roll Call reports that House intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) is getting in on the act:

A new political action committee created by the brother of Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) raised $50,000 this spring almost entirely from staff and clients of powerhouse lobbying shop PMA Group, and within weeks, those same donors reaped millions of dollars in earmarks from Reyes and other Members of Congress closely affiliated with PMA.

On March 1, Jesus “Chuy” Reyes filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission establishing BEST PAC. Reyes is the brother and campaign manager of Rep. Reyes, the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and creation of the political action committee was the Congressman’s decision, his office said Friday.

By the first week of June, the PAC had raised $35,000 from 32 individuals, almost every one of whom was an employee of the PMA Group or an employee of a defense or intelligence technology firm represented by PMA. Most of the donations were made on May 7, four days before the Intelligence panel approved the 2008 intelligence authorization bill, which included earmarks for several donors to the PAC.

Reyes’ spokeswoman explains to Roll Call that it’s just a coincidence that the thousands in contributions landed so close to the passage of the bill. Or as she puts it:

“These are all moving targets, and the scheduling of events is all done well in advance… It would be difficult to draw a connection between the passage of a bill and these events.”

So maybe next time the fundraiser will be scheduled with appearances in mind.