High on the Hog

It makes sense that lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti, the subject of a story in The New York Times on Sunday, spent his formative years as a protege of Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. The article fails to mention that Murtha won $150 million in earmarks in the 2008 defense spending bill, more than any other legislator in the House.

The article offers another snapshot of how business gets done Washington, D.C., except in this case it seems Magliocchetti of PMA Group pissed someone off enough to embarrass him with these small potatoes, in this case served roasted with rosemary, as Mags likes them.

We can just see him now walking into the Alpine restaurant followed by a few portly Congressmen, already licking their lips.  “Get me some oysters! Get me some steamed crabs! Get me a rack of lamb!” He wouldn’t want his guys waiting for appetizers.

Talk about lacking teeth: the article cites federal ethics laws prohibiting lawmakers or staff “from accepting free meals of gifts worth more than $50 or a total of more than $100 over the course of a year.” A year! A Benjamin in Washington barely covers the tip for lunch.

We like the line: “Mr. Magliochetti acquired his taste for the high life as a Congressional staff member wined and dined by lobbyists in the era before strict ethics rules.”

Obviously, rules like the one cited above has led to the ascetic era in which we’re living today.

It seems that Mags as a young congressional staffer, in addition to Italian cooking, “picked up his taste for gumbo on visits to shipbuilders around New Orleans, and a fondness for cowboy boots from former Representative Charlie Wilson of Texas.”

Of course, now that Mags has swung through the revolving door and become one of the biggest defense lobbyists on K Street, he offers a lot more than crawfish soup and python-skinned boots. Since 1998, the article states, employees of PMA Group and its clients have contributed $7.8 million to members of Murtha’s defense subcommittee, and $2.4 million to Murtha himself.

Fancy lunches are just the tip of the curly tail on this big old hog. Follow the tail, and see where it goes.