BIG Oooopphs: Republican Lawmaker Sought $3.5 MILLION Earmark for Lobbying Firm

[L. Coyote]

Were we not taxpayers, this might be hilarious! "Oh Congress, please give my lobbyist friend $3.5 million."

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http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/29962
Jonathan Allen // Congressional Quarterly Today

23 Aug 2007 // A second lawmaker this year sent the House Appropriations Committee a letter asking for — and securing — an earmark for a lobbying firm rather than its client. And like a colleague who made the same mistake, he subsequently corrected the request.

New transparency rules adopted by the House at the beginning of the year have forced members to identify the earmarks they sponsor and the recipients of those earmarks, giving the public a clearer window into how earmarked dollars are apportioned.

Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, in a March 15 letter requested what became a $2 million earmark in the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill (HR 3222) for the development of a monoclonal anthrax antibody. His request to the committee mistakenly named Ervin Technical Associates, a boutique lobbying firm located on Capitol Hill, as the intended recipient of the earmark. But it is PharmAthene, an ETA client that pays the firm $200,000 a year, that wants the money to develop an anthrax antibody. .....

Latham’s office realized the error — and sent a corrected letter — after Congressional Quarterly reported Aug. 6 on a $3.5 million defense spending bill earmark that Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C., requested in a letter to the committee naming the lobbying shop Cassidy & Associates as the recipient. The firm is known for its ability to win earmarks in appropriations bills. ......

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Center for Responsive Politics.
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/firmsum.asp?txtname=Cassidy+%26+Assoc&year=2007

Cassidy & Assoc - Total Lobbying Income:

2007 = $10,480,000
includes Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Fdtn = $160,000 (http://www.nixonfoundation.org/)

2006 = $24,185,000
Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Fdtn = $120,000

2005 = $27,630,000
Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Fdtn = $240,000

2004 = $27,680,000
Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Fdtn = $240,000

2003 = $27,990,000
Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Fdtn = $100,000

2002 = $28,880,000
2001 = $32,100,000

[L. Coyote]

1. CREW: Earmarks = Long List odf Threads on Topic

Earmarks
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
http://www.citizensforethics.org/taxonomy/term/716

CREW's /taxonomy/term/ ordering of threads is useful

Scroll the page for lots of stuff on earmarks.


Senate Minority Leader not leading on ethics/lobby reform
Submitted by crew on 13 July 2007 - 2:34pm. Earmarks Ethics reform Mitch McConnell

From The Hill, pressure is growing on Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to rein in Senator DeMint who is holding up passage of ethics reform for the sake of earmarks reform:

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. This illustrates another example why common citizens just give up being

vigilant over their local municipality. They spend countless hours and countless amount of their own personal money to uncover the graft, and for all their trouble NO FUCKING AGENCY OF LAW WILL PICK UP THEIR INFORMATION OR CASE AND PURSUE IT; NO FUCKING NEWSPAPER WILL REPORT IT. Instead, the information gets filtered back to the local governmental crooks where they just learn how to file the correct paperwork to continue fucking the public over.

[L. Coyote]

3. Dang me. We could make some real money in the cynicism market these days!

Should have purchased cynicism futures in 2001 :rofl:

Seriously, is that part of the disenfranchisement plan. If so, register voters in your spare time!

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Do you have any doubt in your mind that Cassandra would have been

a grumpy, crotchety, short-tempered old lady before she reached middle-aged?

[L. Coyote]

5. wooosh ??

[L. Coyote]

6. kick for visibility