PMA to be Probed by House Ethics Panel

The House ethics committee announced today that is conducting a preliminary inquiry into the lobbying firm PMA Group’s ability to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for clients while steering millions of dollars in donations to key Democrats.

In a statement, the committee announced that its leaders had “previously authorized a review of certain specified allegations” against the now shuttered lobbying group, whose offices were raided by the FBI last fall.

The announcement was forced by an unusual House vote last week in which the committee was compelled to declare whether such a review had begun, following a months-long effort by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to pass a resolution ordering an ethics committee review.

Read more: (Paul Kane, “House Ethics Panel to Probe PMA,” The Washington Post’s “Capitol Briefing” blog, 6/11/09)