The Office of Congressional Ethics said yesterday its board voted unanimously to send its findings in the PMA lobbying firm case to the U.S. Justice Department. Among those members of Congress involved with that investigation include Bill Young of Pinellas County. That case had been looked at previously by a House Ethics Committee, and dropped.
That office's website says for the Office of Congressional Ethics says:
"certain evidence collected in the course of its investigation concerning appropriations earmarks and the now defunct lobbying firm" would be forwarded to Justice officials. It said the evidence pertains to findings by the board that "certain persons and companies saw their campaign donations as affecting decisions about earmarks."
The ethics office says the board made the referral after Arizona Republican Congressman Jeff Flake and New Hampshire Democrat Paul Hodes requested that the office release the evidence it had collected in its PMA Group investigation.
Back in February, the House ethics committee cleared Young and and six other defense appropriators (including the late John Murtha of Pennsylvania) in an investigation into earmarks and campaign contributions with PMA. That panel concluded that no rules or ethical guidelines were violated on whether Young and the other members of Congress or their staffs exchanged earmarks for campaign contributions.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2010.