PMA Lobbyist Pleads to Illegal Campaign Donations

A former defense lobbyist who helped clients secure more than $100 million in contracts pleaded guilty Friday to illegally funneling more than $380,000 in campaign contributions to House members controlling the Pentagon’s budget.

Paul J. Magliocchetti, 64, of Amelia Island, Fla., faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in December, though prosecutors agreed as part of a plea bargain to seek a term no longer than 6 1/2 years.

Magliocchetti founded and owned the now-defunct PMA lobbying group, which was a major player on Capitol Hill for decades.

In 2007 and 2008 alone, three top Democrats on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee—John Murtha of Pennsylvania, Jim Moran of Virginia, and Peter Visclosky of Indiana—directed $137 million in defense contracts to Magliocchetti’s clients, typically through earmarks. Before becoming a lobbyist, Magliocchetti once served as a subcommittee staffer and an aide to Murtha, who died earlier this year.

Read more: (Matthew Barakat, “Ex-Lobbyist Pleads to Illegal Campaign Donations,” Associated Press, 09/24/10)