The best politicians money can buy- the continuing saga

Maybe I missed something in the Dayton Daily Newsless- but, this news from February’s Cleveland Plain Dealer (thank’s TG) covers the Fed’s raiding a defense lobbying firm that has given considerable amounts to Congressmen Hobson, Turner and Austria.

PMA Group specializes in securing defense earmarks for clients in spending bills. The Center for Responsive Politics says it was the top campaign donor last year to 40 members of Congress, including Ohio Democrats Tim Ryan of Niles and Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, as well as Springfield Republican David Hobson, who retired from Congress at the beginning of this year.

Although PMA gave Murtha’s campaign fund $134,200 over the years, it’s only his fifth largest career donor, behind defense behemoths like General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. In the 2007-2008 campaign cycle, it was his 10th largest donor, with $26,700.

But PMA lobbyists have been the top source of Ryan and Hobson’s campaign cash throughout their careers…

Hobson got $87,500 from PMA throughout his career, while Kaptur got $40,500. During the last election cycle, PMA gave Kaptur’s campaign $26,500. Kaptur’s top all-time donors are unions.

Other current Ohio members of Congress who have accepted PMA money include GOP Sen. George Voinovich, Democrats John Boccieri of Alliance, Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, Mary Jo Kilroy of Columbus and Republicans Steve Austria of Beavercreek and Michael Turner of Centerville.

via Federal authorities raid top donor to Ohio congressmen – Openers – cleveland.com ^[1].

I think it’s time to do what I heard The Onion advocating- dress our congressmen up like NASCAR drivers- with all of their sponsors clearly on display. If we want to see real change, it’s time to kick the lobbyists off the hill.

What do companies like PMA get for their investments? How much is it costing the taxpayers? And why, didn’t this make the DDN?