Good move, Rep. Visclosky
For a guy who’s under investigation for money-in-politics corruption, Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) is doing a pretty good job by stepping away from his leadership post.
Washington Post dishes the details; Public Citizen’s lobbying and ethics expert Craig Holman sums up the issue:
Visclosky’s ties to PMA Group – a lobbying firm under federal investigation for an alleged contributions-for-earmarks scheme – run uncomfortably deep. He has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from PMA Group employees and has been responsible for helping direct tens of millions of dollars worth of special spending projects to PMA clients. This relationship, coupled with the fact that Visclosky’s former chief of staff helped run the lobbying firm, has rightly drawn close scrutiny from the Department of Justice, resulting in subpoenas of both Visclosky’s congressional and campaign offices in an ongoing criminal investigation of the PMA Group.
According to Holman, the next thing Visclosky should do is relinquish his chairmanship of the House Energy and Water subcommittee until the Department of Justice has finished its investigation. Not that he has to do this — but it would certainly give the public an added boost of confidence in our federal government if even potentially corrupt Representatives are crafting the nation’s laws.