Debt Panel Co-Chairman Murray Counts U.S. Defense Industry as a Top Donor

[Purveyor]

When Washington Democrat Patty Murray fought to keep her Senate seat last November, two allies emerged: the lobbying community and the defense industry.

As the newly appointed co-chairwoman of the 12-member, bipartisan committee charged with finding $1.5 trillion in budget savings, Murray’s campaign supporters now are sure to come calling for her help.

“If lobbyists are not trying to get to her, then their clients should probably fire them,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group in Washington. “Every lobbyist is going to go through their Rolodex to try and figure out all the connections to the 12 members of the ‘super committee.’”

About $900,000 in campaign contributions from lobbyists and political action committees associated with them poured into Murray’s 2010 campaign account, according to disclosure reports categorized by the Center for Responsive Politics. Defense companies’ PACs and employees chipped in almost $200,000 more, while hometown employer Boeing Co. delivered a critically timed endorsement in her re-election bid.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-11/debt-panel-co-chairman-murray-counts-the-defense-industry-as-a-top-donor.html

[Bumblebee]

1. She is my senator; she is no Sanders but then Sanders would never be

in a leadership position, let's get real. She has been, overall, very good and is, definitely, one of the more liberal ones among the "centrist" Dems. Boeing and US Defense are this state's realities. She could not have been a senator for all these years by winning only in Seattle. The eastern part of the state is almost as red as Idaho.

[Andy823]

2. I agree K&R nt

She is also my senator, and as for the east side being almost as red as Idaho, I can confirm that because I live on the east side!

Every single person on this panel is beholding to some group, corporation, etc. that gave them huge sums of money, and everyone of them will have those people trying to influence them in one way or another. ALL of the republicans signed Grover Norquist's pledge and that should be more of an issue with the country than anything else if you ask me.

[DCKit]

3. What you said - your states largest industries and employers.

Let's talk about all those folks who accept money from huge corporations that don't even have a presence in their districts - Koch bucks, specifically.