Visclosky, Democrats Defeat Campaign Earmarks Probe

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st, joined his fellow Democrats in the House on Wednesday, in a mostly party-line vote, to table and effectively kill a resolution introduced on Monday by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., calling for the House Ethics Committee to investigate the relationship between earmarks and campaign contributions.

Flake introduced that resolution in the wake of recent media coverage of The PMA Group, the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm reportedly under investigation by the FBI. In Fiscal Year 2008 Visclosky secured 16 federal earmarks totaling $23,800,000 for PMA clients. Eight of those PMA clients, the recipients of nine separate earmarks totaling $12.6 million in Fiscal Year 2008, have contributed a total of $343,599 to Visclosky’s campaign committee over the last five election cycles.

Visclosky spokesman Jacob Ritvo told the Chesterton Tribune today that a House Ethics Committee investigation would be redundant. “Media reports suggest that a federal investigation of PMA is underway,” he said. “Congress does not need to duplicate that investigation.”

Read more: (Kevin Nevers, “Visclosky, Democrats Defeat Campaign Earmarks Probe,” Chesterton Tribune, 2/26/09)