IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 667 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 22, 2009 
Mr. FLAKE submitted the following resolution; which was laid on the table 
RESOLUTION 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
Whereas The Hill reported that a prominent lobbying firm, 
founded by Mr. Paul Magliocchetti and the subject of a 
‘‘federal investigation into potentially corrupt political 
contributions’’, has given $3.4 million in political dona-
tions to no less than 284 members of Congress; 
Whereas, the New York Times noted that Mr. Magliocchetti 
‘‘set up shop at the busy intersection between political 
fund-raising and taxpayer spending, directing tens of mil-
lions of dollars in contributions to lawmakers while steer-
ing hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks contracts 
back to his clients.’’; 
Whereas, a guest columnist recently highlighted in Roll Call 
that ‘‘. . . what [the firm’s] example reveals most clearly 
is the potentially corrupting link between campaign con-
tributions 
and 
earmarks. 
Even 
the 
most 
ardent 
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HRES 667 LTH 
earmarkers should want to avoid the appearance of such 
a pay-to-play system.’’; 
Whereas, multiple press reports have noted questions related 
to campaign contributions made by or on behalf of the 
firm; including questions related to ‘‘straw man’’ con-
tributions, the reimbursement of employees for political 
giving, pressure on clients to give, a suspicious pattern 
of giving, and the timing of donations relative to legisla-
tive activity; 
Whereas, Roll Call has taken note of the timing of contribu-
tions from employees the firm and its clients when it re-
ported that they ‘‘have provided thousands of dollars 
worth of campaign contributions to key Members in close 
proximity to legislative activity, such as the deadline for 
earmark request letters or passage of a spending bill.’’; 
Whereas, the Associated Press highlighted the ‘‘huge 
amounts of political donations’’ from the firm and its cli-
ents to select members and noted that ‘‘those political do-
nations have followed a distinct pattern: The giving is es-
pecially heavy in March, which is prime time for submit-
ting written earmark requests.’’; 
Whereas, clients of the firm received at least three hundred 
million dollars worth of earmarks in fiscal year 2009 ap-
propriations legislation, including several that were ap-
proved even after news of the FBI raid of the firm’s of-
fices and Justice Department investigation into the firm 
was well known; 
Whereas, after a cursory review, the fiscal year 2010 defense 
appropriations earmark list recently made available in-
cludes at least seventy earmarks worth hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars for former PMA clients; 
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Whereas, the Associated Press reported that ‘‘the FBI says 
the investigation is continuing, highlighting the close ties 
between special-interest spending provisions known as 
earmarks and the raising of campaign cash.’’; and 
Whereas, the persistent media attention focused on questions 
about the nature and timing of campaign contributions 
related to the firm, as well as reports of the Justice De-
partment conducting research on earmarks and campaign 
contributions, raise concern about the integrity of Con-
gressional proceedings and the dignity of the institution: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the Committee on Standards of Offi-
cial Conduct shall immediately establish an investigative 
subcommittee and begin an investigation into the relation-
ship between the source and timing of past campaign con-
tributions to Members of the House related to the raided 
firm and earmark requests made by Members of the 
House on behalf of clients of the raided firm. 
Æ 
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