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Senate aide's spouse gets a windfall
By Matt Kelley
02/16/06 "USA
TODAY" -- -- WASHINGTON — Sen. Arlen Specter
helped direct almost $50 million in Pentagon spending during the
past four years to clients of the husband of one of his top
aides, records show.
Specter, R-Pa., used a process called "earmarking" 13 times to
set aside $48.7 million for six clients represented by lobbyist
Michael Herson and the firm he co-founded, American Defense
International. The clients paid Herson's firm nearly $1.5
million in fees since 2002, federal lobbying records show.
Herson's wife, Vicki Siegel Herson, is Specter's legislative
assistant for appropriations. She deals with Specter's work on
the Senate Appropriations Committee and its defense
subcommittee, where all the earmarks originated. Siegel, who
uses her maiden name at work, is a former lobbyist for defense
contractors who has worked for Specter since 1999. (Related
stories:
Firm's clients benefiting |
Anti-terror projects involved)
Earmarks are a way for powerful members of Congress to specify
how federal money must be spent. They have been the subject of
attention on Capitol Hill because they played a role in recent
scandals, including the bribery conviction of former
representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a longtime critic of earmarks,
introduced legislation last week to curb the use of earmarks.
The 2005 federal budget included 15,877 earmarks for $47.4
billion in spending, according to a Congressional Research
Service study that McCain requested.
In a statement responding to questions from USA TODAY, Specter
said he did not know the earmarks were going to clients of
Siegel's husband. "I am advised that at no time did her husband
lobby my office or seek appropriations from any member of my
staff," the statement said. Specter declined to be interviewed.
Specter claimed credit for all the earmarks in news releases,
noting the projects' ties to Pennsylvania. "These projects, key
to our nation's defense, will be invaluable in our continuing
war on terror," a Dec. 22 press release said in announcing $56
million worth of earmarks, including $17 million for four Herson
clients.
The earmarks paid for research, software and oxygen masks. The
largest of the earmarks — $11 million in fiscal 2005 and $6.5
million in fiscal 2006 — went to Drexel University for an
initiative to link the military's computer systems.
Senate ethics rules prohibit senators and their staffers from
using their positions to further their personal financial
interests. Taking official action in return for money or other
benefits is illegal. Ethical issues arise more frequently than
criminal cases, said Jan Baran, a Washington lawyer who has
handled several ethics cases. "Usually these types of situations
are political and not legal issues," he said.
Siegel did not return telephone and e-mail messages about her
role in the earmarks and if she recused herself from matters
involving her husband's firm.
Herson said neither he nor anyone from American Defense
International had lobbied Siegel or anyone in Specter's office.
"I do not set foot in Specter's office as a lobbyist," Herson
said.
Herson said he contacted members of Congress from New Jersey
about clients who got earmarks. Neither New Jersey senator is on
the Appropriations Committee, where the earmarks originated.
"Even when there is nothing improper about the actual earmark,
it's very difficult for citizens and even other members to be
sure," said Dennis Thompson, who teaches ethics at Harvard
University.
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