Campaign donations play little to no part in earmarks

...The Associated Press recently listed a handful of lawmakers who backed earmarks for technology companies that, in turn, have made five-figure contributions to their campaigns, continuing a practice on Capitol Hill that was previously harder to track because of looser rules.

Rep. David Hobson, for one, obtained a $2.4 million earmark from a company whose executives, families and consultants have donated $43,350 to the Ohio Republican's campaign, according to research conducted by The Columbus Dispatch.

Defense industry executives and lobbyists are some of Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha's biggest campaign donors. Murtha, a Democrat and member of the House Appropriations Committee, accepted more than $29,000 this campaign cycle from a technology firm for which he helped land $8 million through earmarks.

A lobbyist interviewed by The Associated Press said many lawmakers seek campaign donations from corporations and organizations with the implied promise of forwarding earmarks on their behalf.

Rules prohibit members of Congress from raising money in their offices, but two lobbyists told The Associated Press that some lawmakers will make an indirect reference about donations in a Capitol Hill meeting about an earmark or a campaign staffer will suggest it explicitly in a telephone call days later.

"I know a bunch of members that if you go in to see them, somewhere in the conversation they somehow say, 'Well, we were looking through our list of campaign contributors and didn't happen to see you there,' " Frank Cushing, a lobbyist with National Group, told The Associated Press. "Is there a quid pro quo? No, not directly, but you'd have to be pretty dense not to figure it out."

This revolving door of perceived influence diminishes the good that the earmarks process can accomplish, and places all lawmakers under a microscope that fairly or unfairly questions their motivations, Ellis and others say. ...

... Their donations were revealed after The Telegraph looked behind the second door of the process – the one leading to the lobbyists who work Capitol Hill. They pitch their clients' ability to complete appropriations work and are often paid well for their lobbying.

This search discovered that over the years, Hodes, Gregg and Sununu had accepted eight donations from lobbying firms that represented 2008 earmark recipients.

Patton Boggs LLP, which has worked on behalf of BAE Systems, gave Hodes $1,000 for the 2008 cycle, and Holland & Knight, which lobbied for Genesse & Wyoming last year, gave him $1,500 for 2008.

Cassidy & Associates, a lobbyist that represents Elliot Health System, which benefited from a Gregg-backed $195,000 earmark, gave $343 in 2004 and $419 in 2002 to the senator's campaigns.

PMA Group, a firm that represents L-3 Communications, the recipient of a Sununu-sponsored $1 million defense appropriation, has twice donated to his Senate campaigns and had twice given to his campaigns for the House, when he represented the 1st District.