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Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it’s a trap.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

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It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

The lights are all blinking red.

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If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

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Let me file that under fuck it.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Maybe They Are Just Really Interested in Virginia Politics?

Maybe They Are Just Really Interested in Virginia Politics?

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This is absurd:

More than a dozen defense contractors with business before U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a member of the powerful House Appropriations defense subcommittee, have donated thousands of dollars to Moran’s younger brother Brian, a candidate for governor of Virginia.

Brian Moran filed a campaign finance report this week that shows he collected $80,000 during the first three months of 2009 from 18 contractors that have been longtime backers of the congressman. Seven of the firms are awaiting approval of Moran-backed earmarks totaling $14.5 million.

Many of the firms are Virginia-based, and those executives who would speak about the gifts said they have long been politically active in the state and have known both brothers for years. Others have been heavy federal contributors with little involvement in state politics. Most have benefited from Jim Moran’s role in crafting defense spending bills each year.

Even if this didn’t have a bad odor to it, Brian Moran should at least have had the sense to reject the money, knowing full well how bad it looks.

And the thing you have to keep in mind is that this is the subtext of the upcoming fight over the Pentagon budget, which I suspect will be bruising. These companies have spent a vast sum of money and have spread the industry across so many districts so that cutting one program affects so many politicians that once a weapon system is approved, it becomes a perpetual motion machine as far as budgeting.

Reader Interactions

21Comments

  1. 1.

    Napoleon

    These companies have spent a vast sum of money and have spread the industry across so many districts so that cutting one program affects so many politicians that once a weapon system is approved, it becomes a perpetual motion machine as far as budgeting.

    I just read yesterday, maybe in Matt Y’s piece over at TAP, that Eisenhower’s phrase "Military-Industrial Complex" in his fairwell address was originally going to be "Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex"

  2. 2.

    alec

    If by absurd you mean a fairly typical move to ensure access to Congressional budget allocation. Do you think military contractors, AIPAC, and the big banks gained their influence by just funding one team? No, they bought off the whole god damn game.

  3. 3.

    baldheadeddork

    Heh. Wonder if this story breaking now has anything to do with this video Moran put together about Terry McAuliffe trying to buy the nomination.

  4. 4.

    Dennis-SGMM

    But, but, but, money is speech. Just because someone can sit besides a pol and yell into his ear while the rest of us can only murmur in the distance doesn’t meant that the system has been distorted.

  5. 5.

    kay

    I want print displayed underneath any member of Congress who appears on television discussing the defense budget, or appropriations process.
    Number of defense contractors in district or state, and contributions collected.
    I don’t mind having those discussions, the "save my district’s industry" or "I owe my campaign contributor" discussion. I’m okay with that.
    That’s not what we’re having, though, instead we’re pretending this is about national security, and that’s why we never get any meaningful reform. The disconcerting part is, everyone knows what we aren’t talking about. You have to really make an effort to ignore it.

  7. 7.

    Ash Can

    This is one of the main reasons I love this site — John et al. don’t hesitate to call bullshit on Dems/leftists/liberals when the situation warrants. And I say this as a Dem/leftist/liberal myself.

    At best, Moran’s a moran for not figuring out the optics on this. At worst, he’s a crook. In any event, he deserves grief on it.

  8. 8.

    kay

    @alec:

    No, they bought off the whole god damn game.

    They did, and it’s this cesspool of corruption, and no one singles it out. The government spends lots and lots of money, and contracts out lots and lots of work. Why have there been so many corruption scandals involving this particular piece of the budget, over the last 30 years?
    I’d also like a focus on Homeland Security contracting. Someone needs to explain why Ashcroft, Rudy and now Chertoff are all in the homeland security contracting business. Chertoff must have set up his new security consulting firm during his tenure. It’s already up and running.

  11. 11.

    Incertus

    Ken Silverstein had a short bit in Harper’s a couple of days ago which I blogged about which really illustrated how widespread the problem is. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is my congress-critter, and a fairly progressive one, but you can bet your ass she won’t vote to cut much from the defense budget because General Dynamics dropped a nice little group of engineers in her district, and she won’t want to take the chance that they’ll "be forced to relocate."

  13. 13.

    PeakVT

    As long as our campaign financing system remains private, this kind of legalized bribery will take place. The difference with these donations is that the "optics" looked worse than normal.

    Unfortunately, I don’t see how the problem can be fixed without altering the 1st amendment.

  14. 14.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    As a local, I can say that Jim Moran is well "known" as being shady. Unfortunately, it being Virginia, I can’t vote for his Republican opponent in good faith, and his primary challengers have been non-existent.

  15. 15.

    Elroy's Lunch

    Every election where Jim Moran is up for re-election is always a source of consternation for Mrs. Elroy’s Lunch. She can’t stand the man but she can’t bring herself to pull the Republican lever.

    Me, I just hold my nose and put him back on the Hill.

  17. 17.

    flyingdonut

    I was redistricted into Moran’s district in the last round – my little sliver of the People’s Republic of Reston was shoved into the 8th. He’s a bully and a thug, and it makes me annoyed that there’s no real competition on the Dem side. The Republican candidates against him have, uniformly, been monkeys.

  18. 18.

    alec

    As Marx said, the only real freedom in a capitalist society is freedom of trade, or in a more contemporary sense, money.

  21. 21.

    BruinKid

    @alec:

    Interesting you should bring up AIPAC, because Moran was one of the few Congressmen who dared to criticize AIPAC publicly, for which he was unfortunately bashed by both sides.

    In an interview with Tikkun, a California-based Jewish magazine, Moran said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is "the most powerful lobby and has pushed [the Iraq] war from the beginning. I don’t think they represent the mainstream of American Jewish thinking at all, but because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful — most of them are quite wealthy — they have been able to exert power."

    Gotta admit, he does deserve props for that.

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