Rep. Duncan Hunter

Congressman Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA-52) has picked up where his father, former Congressman Duncan L. Hunter, left off. The freshman member is doing his best to bring home the bacon for some of his biggest campaign donors, one of which is a company founded by his uncle. At the same time, Congressman Hunter touts his commitment to cutting government spending on his own website. It seems the best way to maintain government funding is to donate to Mr. Hunter’s campaign.

“The rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” said Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “It’s pretty easy to draw a straight line from the contributions to Congressman Hunter to the earmarks he is requesting for his biggest donors. Perhaps he should be more honest about his actions and just place a for sale sign on his door.”

Rep. Hunter requested $26 million in earmarks for General Atomics and $3 million for TREX Enterprises for Fiscal Year 2010. General Atomics employees are among his largest campaign donors, contributing at least $26,200 to his campaign and PAC since 2007. Employees of TREX aren’t far behind, donating at least $10,350 since 2007.

Both of these companies have hired one of his father’s former staffers to lobby on their behalf. Between 2003 and 2006, TREX employed the lobbying firm NorthPoint Strategies and its founding partner Frank C. Collins; General Atomics also employed the firm and Mr. Collins in 2003 and 2004. Mr. Collins founded the firm in 2002 after serving as chief of staff to convicted felon former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA-50) and as district director to former Rep. Hunter. Both former congressmen notoriously earmarked to General Atomics and even held fundraisers at General Atomics headquarters.

Click here to read CREW’s report, Congressman Duncan Hunter’s Pork Parade.

Senator Richard Shelby

Alabama's senior Senator Richard Shelby (R) takes great care of his former staffers... and their high paying clients too. CREW researchers found eight former Shelby staffers who have left his office to join or create lobbying firms and nearly $267 million in federal earmarks going to clients of former staffers since Fiscal Year 2008. In return, lobbying firms and clients have donated almost $1 million to his campaign committee and leadership PAC since 1999. Meanwhile, the lobbying firms employing former staffers of Sen. Shelby have collected over $10 million in lobbying fees from the former staffers' clients since 2007.

Unfortunately, as CREW uncovered in our previous Pork Parade project, this is business as usual in Washington. Too many members of Congress use the federal treasury as a personal checking account to support their friends, family and favorite donors.

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said:

"Sen. Shelby, like Rep. Murtha before him, takes trading earmarks for campaign dollars to a level most members of Congress can only dream about. Like Murtha, Shelby earmarks for the benefit of his former staffers turned lobbyists. It seems pork barrel spending knows no party limits." Sloan also noted, "Ironically, Shelby has been quick to condemn the Obama administration for its spending. It's always the other guy who is wasting our hard-earned taxpayer dollars."

John Bresnahan and Manu Raju covered CREW's report in Politico:

"In a mix of revolving-door and campaign finance politics, the same organizations that have enjoyed Shelby's earmarks have seen their lobbyists and employees contribute nearly $1 million to Shelby's campaign and political action committee since 1999, according to federal records."

"Shelby, elected to the Senate in 1986, has long been one of the most prodigious earmarkers in Congress, and he's unapologetic about sending money back home."

Get all the details here, in CREW's study, Senator Shelby's Pork Parade

While CREW's work was exhaustive, we may not have discovered all the former Shelby staffers-turned-lobbyists, earmarks or sources of campaign cash. Let us know if we missed something by emailing CREW's research team.