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You are here: Home / Politics / Business As Usual

Business As Usual

by John Cole|  March 30, 20099:05 am| 23 Comments

This post is in: Politics, Outrage

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Life inside the DC bubble:

For most of the last three decades, the lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti might have been mistaken for an owner of the Alpine, a wood-paneled Italian restaurant across the Potomac River from Washington where he routinely presided over boisterous tables of lawmakers and their staff members.

“Get me some oysters! Get me some steamed crabs! Get me a rack of lamb!” Mr. Magliocchetti would tell the cooks, strolling into the kitchen. “Every day a different thing,” the chef and owner Ermanno Tonizzo recalled fondly. “I don’t think he has ever seen the menu.”

That impresario act — pulling bottles from the private wine locker labeled “Mags” to entertain lawmakers at the clubby Capital Grille steakhouse, sending gift baskets or wine to lawmakers and their aides, or leasing each of his lobbyists a Lexus — helped Mr. Magliocchetti, a protégé of the powerful Representative John P. Murtha, build his lobbying firm into one of the 10 biggest in Washington.

Now, however, Mr. Magliocchetti’s generosity is coming to an abrupt halt: his firm, the PMA Group, is closing its doors next week, after reports that federal prosecutors had recently raided his office and his home.

Will be fun to see who all is caught up in this one. Murtha’s name is being tossed around already.

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Reader Interactions

23Comments

  1. 1.

    dr. bloor

    March 30, 2009 at 9:08 am

    What’s it going to take with Murtha–a wooden stake? Silver crucifix? Whatever. Do it already.

  2. 2.

    cleek

    March 30, 2009 at 9:12 am

    gawd but Murtha is an embarrassment.

  3. 3.

    Corey

    March 30, 2009 at 9:16 am

    Love how this article makes Alpine sound like some high-class restaurant. I live down the street from it, and it’s a fucking shack, next door to a tattoo parlor, a gas station and a McDonalds.

  4. 4.

    MattF

    March 30, 2009 at 9:22 am

    There’s a suggestion here that there are persons in Washington (Democrats, even) who will do stuff for money, food, sex & so forth. Golly.

  5. 5.

    NonyNony

    March 30, 2009 at 9:27 am

    @dr. bloor:

    What’s it going to take with Murtha—a wooden stake? Silver crucifix? Whatever. Do it already.

    A solid corruption charge leveled against him and a decent primary challenger. Even then it’s probably 50-50 unless he’s actually wearing an orange prison jumpsuit.

    I’d say a solid corruption charge and a moderate Republican to oppose him in the general might work too, but from what I’ve seen the Republicans in his district don’t do moderation.

  6. 6.

    Dennis-SGMM

    March 30, 2009 at 9:31 am

    This is nothing more or less than an attempt to deny Mr. Magliocchetti’s right to Free Speech. Inasmuch as the Supreme Court to declare that money was a form of speech this blatant attempt to silence Mr. Magliocchetti must be decried by all fair-minded citizens. It’s not his fault that he has a lot more speech than the average citizen.

  7. 7.

    Totally not joe from Lowell

    March 30, 2009 at 9:31 am

    I can’t believe the Whip race came down to Murtha vs. Hoyer.

  8. 8.

    El Cid

    March 30, 2009 at 9:31 am

    It’s nice that the journalists are doing stories to keep up the spirits of us rabble.

    They should have a radio button on the story’s web page under "I’d like to see more stories like this."

  9. 9.

    Punchy

    March 30, 2009 at 9:34 am

    Murtha’s dirtier than a…..I have no idea. He gone.

    In other news, baseball is a week out from starting. Hot tits!

  10. 10.

    Mike in NC

    March 30, 2009 at 9:46 am

    Never heard of the turd Magliocchetti, but the Alpine used to be one of the best Northern Italian restaurants in the DC area. Yeah, it looked like a hole-in-the-wall on the outside — they often do — but the food was awesome. Been a couple of years, so things may have changed…

  11. 11.

    bago

    March 30, 2009 at 9:47 am

    money, food, sex

    Jesus, who needs that crap?

  12. 12.

    Leelee for Obama

    March 30, 2009 at 9:53 am

    Shocking news, this!

    There have been many times I loved what Murtha had to say, but the corruption around him has, forever, been loud enough to make it hard to hear.

  13. 13.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    March 30, 2009 at 10:02 am

    Melanie Sloan at CREW has been all over the Murtha case for years now. It’s about time the Feds got the wheels of justice moving. BTW John your boy Alan Mollohan seems to have a few questionable practices as well.

  14. 14.

    passerby

    March 30, 2009 at 10:18 am

    "the PMA Group, is closing its doors next week, after reports that federal prosecutors had recently raided his office and his home."

    I am encouraged by any reports of federal raids that make their way into the mainstream media. These reports reinforce my hopes that justice is being served and I make the assumption that what I’m seeing is the tip of the iceberg.

    I gotta believe that there are many such activities happening under the radar. There’s so much we aren’t being told.

    I ask myself why isn’t this incident headline news.

    Another assumption: In DC there are Abramoffs and Magliochetties aplenty with congress folk to match.

    Just because it ain’t on TV doesn’t mean it ain’t happening.

    Go! Feds Go!

  15. 15.

    Nikki

    March 30, 2009 at 10:18 am

    If he’s dirty, take him down.

  16. 16.

    tavella

    March 30, 2009 at 10:59 am

    @Mike in NC: Never heard of the turd Magliocchetti, but the Alpine used to be one of the best Northern Italian restaurants in the DC area. Yeah, it looked like a hole-in-the-wall on the outside—they often do—but the food was awesome. Been a couple of years, so things may have changed…

    Back in the day, it was the classy restaurant to go to in Arlington, when the only competition was El Sombrero and a couple of pizza places. It’s kind of… old fashioned these days, though, I’m somewhat surprised at a it being used.

  17. 17.

    b-psycho

    March 30, 2009 at 11:08 am

    I wonder how the steaks are at that place…

  18. 18.

    Incertus

    March 30, 2009 at 11:14 am

    @Nikki: Seconded. And you know, I don’t hear much opposition to that attitude on the left side of the blogosphere, unlike the way many Republicans circled the wagons around DeLay. Dirty’s dirty–get him out if he is.

  19. 19.

    someguy

    March 30, 2009 at 11:14 am

    This smells like trumped up BS, probably coming from some Bush embed dead-ender that burrowed into the AUSA’s office, or maybe some pissed off former Marine FBI-er, and now the villagers are eager to pimp it because there’s blood in the water. So what if some people are getting a little money here or there? All of them probably are, and strangely enough, I’m not laying odds on 535 indictments coming down next week. Ditch Murtha and Hoyer will be the last man standing among the underbosses, and he will find a replacement, probably a like-minded bluedog. Remember Tom Delay? This smells similar, a takedown based on charges that probably most lawmakers would be susceptible to. So cheer for the circular firing squad if you must, but if you prioritize clean over effective there’s a good chance you’ll get neither.

  20. 20.

    Barbara

    March 30, 2009 at 11:17 am

    If you think the Alpine is a shack you haven’t been inside. It’s old, that’s for sure, but it’s still run by the original owners, a pair of brothers who emigrated from Italy to the U.S. in the 50s. The food is good and the atmosphere is generally fun and "clubby." I suspect he likes it because it has a number of private rooms. Yes, I live down the street too but I’ve actually eaten there. Another restaurant nearby that you might also think is a storefront shack is Layalina — except that it’s the favorite D.C. hang out of the former ambassador of Saudi Arabia and the current king of Jordan.

  21. 21.

    argh

    March 30, 2009 at 11:33 am

    Incertus says: "And you know, I don’t hear much opposition to that attitude on the left side of the blogosphere, unlike the way many Republicans circled the wagons around DeLay. Dirty’s dirty—get him out if he is."

    Admirable observation giving props to libs … and sure ’nuff the very next post has our first very concerned wagon-circler-er:

    Someguy: "So what if some people are getting a little money here or there? All of them probably are…. Remember Tom Delay? This smells similar, a takedown based on charges that probably most lawmakers would be susceptible to."

    Funny blog.

  22. 22.

    geg6

    March 30, 2009 at 11:44 am

    @someguy:

    I cannot agree with you more.

    Yes, Murtha is an earmarks slut. Big time and with no apologies whatsoever. But I have seen no evidence that he has enriched himself or just some fatcat cronies on those earmarks. He has enriched his entire congressional district, every man, woman, and child within it. The post-steel-industry-era Johnstown area and Westmoreland County would be the poorest pocket in Appalachia without his earmarks.

    This is an effort (and I have no doubt Mary Beth Buchanan is behind it) to take down Murtha because he’s a defense hawk who went rogue over Iraq. The Sunday Post-Gazette had a long article about Murtha and his lobbyist ties. Murtha admitted every one of those ties, pointed to projects in his district that those deals made happen (or are in the course of being made to happen), and refused to apologize for making things better for his constituents. Comments from people in the district said they were happy that he was able to steer some projects there as it is a district that has gone through some pretty damn bad times, economically, for the last hundred years or so due to the greed of steel barons, the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, the collapse of the steel and mining industries in Western PA, and the neglect of Pennsylvania politicians over that entire period of time. Jack Murtha has done everything he possibly could to change that dynamic (for good or for ill) and the people there, in general, are grateful and don’t fault him for it. Especially because he hasn’t seemed to get rich off of the whole thing.

  23. 23.

    D-Chance.

    March 30, 2009 at 2:52 pm

    @argh:

    80+ comments on Limbaugh and Breitbart posts; only 20 or so on someone who wields REAL power.

    Nope, no wagon-circling around these parts, no, sir! Now, SHUSH~! and maybe it will go away…

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