Rob Hotakainen of our Washington, D.C., bureau added a blog post s aying Dicks is “one of 16 members of Congress who had taken actions to aid entities connected to their immediate families.”
This is not the first time Dicks’ influence over earmarks has been called into question. A Congressional Quarterly report in 2009 said he ranked high among the more than 100 House members who secured earmarks for clients of a much-scrutinized lobbying firm, The PMA Group.
Dicks was not accused of wrongdoing, and but the CQ story said PMA was at the heart of a lobbying scandal that touched on then-U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.:
<div style=”padding-left: 40pt; padding-right: 40pt;”>
PMA’s offices have been raided, and the firm closed its political action committee last week amid reports that the FBI is investigating possibly illegal campaign contributions to Murtha and other lawmakers.
Dicks, now in his 18th term, had asked for some $11.3 million of contracts on his own and secured $800,000 more with others. Dicks also received $91,600 in campaign donations from the PMA Group and employees since 2001, the article contended.
