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WASHINGTON - A group of government watchdog groups said Thursday that the House ethics committee should investigate Hoosier congressman's ties to a defense lobbying firm; the federal funding Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st, got for the firm's clients; and the campaign donations Visclosky received from the firm, its employees and its clients.
There has been no official announcement that Visclosky is under legal scrutiny. However, late last year the FBI raided the suburban Washington offices of the now-defunct lobby firm, The PMA Group.
Democracy 21, Common Cause, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG asked for the inquiry into Visclosky, Reps. John Murtha, D-Pa.; Jim Moran, D-Va., "and any other representative who the committee determines has been similarly involved with PMA."
The groups said the committee should "determine whether these House members were influenced by campaign contributions and other financial benefits in providing earmarks for clients of the PMA Group, in violation of House ethics rules, and whether any other ethics violations may have occurred in their activities related to these earmarks."
Visclosky, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, has gone to bat for PMA clients. In 2007, for instance, he won earmarks - inserts in spending bills - for 16 PMA clients for $23.8 million.
PMA and its clients' employees have sent thousands of dollars in contributions to Visclosky's campaign account. In mid-February, Visclosky said he would return at least $18,000 from donors who were listed as having ties to PMA.
PMA was founded by an associate of Murtha, chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
Groups and private citizens are barred from filing complaints with the ethics committee. Only members of the House can file a complaint with the ethics committee.
Meanwhile, Visclosky has asked the Federal Election Commission for permission to use some of the nearly $910,000 in his campaign account to pay for legal costs.
In a March 21 letter to the FEC, the treasurer for Visclosky's campaign wrote that "although details of the federal investigation are unknown, media reports insinuate that certain aspects of the investigation appear to relate to Congressman Visclosky's duties as a candidate for federal office and as a federal officeholder and would not exist irrespective of those duties."
The agency has not responded publicly.
Richard Kaelin, Visclosky's former chief of staff and a former Visclosky assistant on the House Appropriations Committee, has been a PMA lobbyist.
The New York Times reported last month that federal prosecutors are investigating whether PMA founder Paul Magliocchetti, "used 'straw' campaign contributors" as a "front to funnel illegal donations to friendly lawmakers." Organizations that track campaign donations have calculated that PMA employees and its clients contributed more than $40 million to lawmakers since 1998, including about $370,000 to Visclosky's 2008 campaign.
Taxpayers for Common Sense, which tracks earmarks, said Visclosky directed more than $33 million in earmarks to PMA clients in the past two years.
The watchdog groups' letter to the ethics committee quotes the House ethics manual that "no solicitation of a campaign or political contribution may be linked to any action taken or to be taken by a Member or employee in his or her official capacity" and "no campaign contribution that is linked to an official action is ever acceptable."
Visclosky's office has not yet responded to a media inquiry.
