How One Lobbyist Funneled 1.5 million to Jack Murtha and Associates

The PMA groups has so many connections to Murtha and one can only imagine what types of back door deals were involved here.

By Jonathan Allen and Alex Knott, CQ Staff

A defense lobbyist and his family made $1.5 million in political contributions from 2000 through 2008 as the lobbyist’s now-embattled firm helped clients win billions of dollars in federal contracts. A sizable chunk of those campaign dollars went to the House members who control Pentagon spending.

Paul Magliocchetti, founder of the PMA Group, and nine of his relatives — two children, his daughter-in-law, his current wife, his ex-wife and his ex-wife’s parents, sister and brother-in-law — poured contributions into the coffers of candidates, political action committees and national and state party committees, according to a CQ review of public documents.

During this time, PMA grew from a start-up to the 11th-richest lobbying outfit in the country.

The top beneficiaries were a select group of Democratic members of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, other allies of the top Pentagon appropriator in the House, Rep. John P. Murtha , D-Pa., and the company’s own political action committee, which in turn made contributions to many of the same lawmakers.

Magliochetti’s lobbying practice is now reportedly at the center of an FBI probe following the search of its suburban Virginia office late last year. The firm is slated to close at the end of the month, its staff and clients are moving to other lobbying shops and Magliocchetti himself has called it quits.

Magliocchetti is a former Appropriations Committee aide who worked closely with Murtha and played up that relationship to help build his business.

In assembling his team, Magliocchetti hired former top aides to Reps. Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana and James P. Moran of Virginia as well as some former Defense Department officials.

In federal election terms, the $1.5 million in contributions is a sizeable sum for one family over a nine-year time span. All but one of the family members were recorded as working for PMA in campaign finance reports, and most also were listed as having other employers.

And how does one Family funnel 1.5 million?

• Magliocchetti himself has donated $355,000 since the beginning of 2000 through 2008.

• His 33-year-old son, Mark Magliocchetti, has given $279,000 and Mark’s wife, Leslie, has given $210,000 during the same period, bringing the couple’s total to almost $500,000.

Leslie has been listed in campaign finance reports as an employee of PMA, a board member of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and manager at a business called The Black Rooster with no other identifying details. Nonprofit filings with the IRS show that Leslie Magliocchetti worked at the women’s council.

• Jennifer Magliocchetti, Paul’s daughter, donated the $72,000 from the beginning 2005 through 2008, federal campaign finance records show. The 31-year-old is an assistant ticket director for the Class A Tampa Yankees baseball team. She did not reply to an e-mailed request for an interview or a telephone message.

• Nancy Magliocchetti, Paul Magliocchetti’s ex-wife, gave $107,000 from the beginning of 2000 and through 2004.

• Her parents, Edwin and LeWanna Kreger, who have since died, made $83,000 in campaign contributions from the beginning of 2000 through 2005. Edwin Kreger was listed as a PMA employee when two of his donations were reported.

• Nancy Magliocchetti’s sister and brother-in-law, Joseph and Sandy Welch, together were credited with $216,375 in donations from the beginning of 2000 through 2006. Both were listed as PMA employees on some of their contributions.

Joseph Welch was a police sergeant in Fairfax County, Va. Aside from being recorded as a PMA worker and homemaker, Sandy Welch was listed as a schoolteacher on some campaign finance reports. She hung up the phone on Monday when a caller identified himself as a reporter.

The names of Nancy Magliocchetti, her parents, her sister and her brother-in-law do not appear in federal campaign finance records after her divorce from Paul Magliocchetti.

• Paul Magliocchetti’s current wife, Rebecca DeRosa, is listed in federal records as contributing $221,000 to campaigns beginning in 2000 through 2008.

She previously was married to Terrence DeRosa, who was the head of a division of a company that used PMA for its lobbying. That company, DRS Technologies, paid PMA $4.8 million in lobbying fees from 1998 through 2008, including $560,000 in each of the last two years.

On the brights side there are no records of the family dog making contributions.