Capuano Also Tied to PMA

Republican lobbying-ethics scandals helped convince voters to toss out the GOP and put Democrats back in control of the US House of Representatives. Now, with federal investigators examining the relationship between a lobbying firm and one of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s long-time allies, Democrats can expect great scrutiny — not only for wrongdoing, but also for hypocrisy.

That scrutiny may touch upon Somerville congressman Michael Capuano, who spearheaded implementing ethics reform for the new Democratic leadership, and who has ambitions of succeeding Ted Kennedy in the US Senate — but who might find himself uncomfortably close to the flame, as this still-burgeoning scandal unfolds.

Recent reports say that, in November, federal prosecutors, working with the Department of Defense (DoD), raided PMA Group, a lobbying firm with ties to Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha. Murtha, who along with Capuano is among Pelosi’s corps of trusted lieutenants, chairs the subcommittee that writes the DoD’s annual budget-appropriations bill; he has used that perch to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks to PMA clients.

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(David S. Bernstein, “Capuano Cornered?,” The Boston Phoenix, 3/3/09)