Feds raid Murtha pork machine
posted at 9:37 am on February 10, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
John Murtha has good reason to sweat these days. Not since Abscam have federal investigators closed in on his exercise of power through the use of pork. Feds raided the lobbying firm that Murtha uses to wield that power and signaled clearly their targeting of the King of Pork:
The FBI raided the offices of a defense lobbying firm with close ties to Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Penn.), sources tell ABC News.
The FBI searched the Virginia headquarters of the PMA Group in November, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. PMA was founded by former Murtha aide Paul Magliochetti and specializes in winning earmarked taxpayer funds for its clients. …
PMA is the second company with close ties to Murtha to be raided by federal agents recently. In January, agents from the FBI, the IRS and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service searched the office of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems, as well as the homes of the firms’ founders. The companies reportedly have received over $100 million in earmarks, thanks to Murtha’s efforts.
The New York Times notes that PMA’s main calling card is its ties to Murtha, but Hot Air readers already knew that. Two weeks ago, I wrote about how PMA helped engineer Murtha’s rescue from William Russell’s bid to unseat him in the last election. Thanks to Murtha’s big mouth, PMA had to work overtime to get Murtha re-elected by the constituents he called “racists” and “rednecks”. Why was PMA so interested in the Murtha rescue?
In 2007, PMA got 17 earmarks for $65 million to its clients. In 2008, when pork austerity became a bigger issue, Murtha still got $28 million in nine earmarks for PMA clients. Four of those 2008 clients got $18 million of that money, and they ponied up $30,000 to Murtha in the final days of his last election (Argon ST, MTS Technologies Inc., DRS Technologies Inc. and Advanced Acoustic Concepts).
According to the two reports, the federal raid took place in November, immediately after the election. Even more interestingly, Kuchera didn’t work through PMA to get its earmarks from Murtha, suggesting a wider look at the last election and Murtha’s surprising rescue. The feds have found something of interest, and they appear to be circling Murtha and identifying his lines of communication.
Stay tuned. Russell might be needed for a special election in the future.
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If y’all heard my howling laughter, y’all would be afraid.
cozmo on May 8, 2013 at 12:50 PM
Organizer bus votes count just as much as intense votes. Good thing gubernatorial elections on VA don’t coincide with presidential elections.
forest on May 8, 2013 at 12:52 PM
As long as the polls are not filled with illegal votes and voters, no democrat should ever be elected again outside of New England and the Pacific coast. The rest of the country is still sane.
Wino on May 8, 2013 at 12:53 PM
Come on, Virginia, man up! Terry will spend all his time raising money for the Democrats.
Cindy Munford on May 8, 2013 at 12:56 PM
Every time you have “NBC/Marist Poll” in a headline, I always misread it as “NBC/Marxist Poll”. I think my version is more accurate.
Agent of the Cross on May 8, 2013 at 12:57 PM
Kenneth Cuccinelli could be a great.
Capitalist Hog on May 8, 2013 at 12:57 PM
LEVIN loves him some Cooch.
But would he be another Jeff Flake?
PappyD61 on May 8, 2013 at 1:00 PM
He he.. I always read it the same way.. Must be the correlation my brain makes between NBC and Marxists.
melle1228 on May 8, 2013 at 1:02 PM
I don’t understand the question, Jeff Flake is in Congress. One thing for sure, he won’t be Terry McAuliffe.
Cindy Munford on May 8, 2013 at 1:06 PM
Yes, McAuliffe can (and does) spew BS like an erupting volcano but he’s just another ‘tax and spend’ Marxist.
Thanks for posting. I thought perhaps I was the only one that red it that way.
PS As a Virginia resident, I don’t recall my household being contacted to contribute to an NBC/’Marxist’ poll. Guess I’ll have to express myself at my polling place.
oldleprechaun on May 8, 2013 at 1:18 PM
Nothing a truckload of missing ballots won’t fix. Add in a legion of illegal aliens, felons, dead and multiple voters… along with a couple of 100% Mccauliffe distiricts and it’s a landslide.
acyl72 on May 8, 2013 at 1:19 PM
…have his people vote more often!
KOOLAID2 on May 8, 2013 at 1:43 PM
Just like the dead heat in last night’s drubbing in SC.
Punchenko on May 8, 2013 at 1:44 PM
Wasn’t Romney winning the intensity gap? I will say this Ken Cuccinelli is a hottie, perhaps he should consider some shirtless campaign stops.
libfreeordie on May 8, 2013 at 2:01 PM
I hope that the Republicans learned a lesson from the election of Al Franken and that they like the Democrats have tens of thousands of ballots waiting to be “found” in closets, car trunks and anywhere else they can think of.
RJL on May 8, 2013 at 2:42 PM
Cooch has a face for the ladies (and a few others), and it is not hurting him. Maybe VA can let him go national in 2016.
leftnomore on May 8, 2013 at 10:27 PM