PAC Man, Part 2

In case you needed more evidence that those who give big bucks are, unsurprisingly, the same ones who get big favors...

USA Today has a story on the lobbying $$ spent by FedEx and UPS, and how our own Mike Rogers has enjoyed quite a bit of that shipping cash. Seems that UPS told Lansing's Capital Region International Airport that it wanted longer runways, and they were willing to grease the wheels to get it.

Among recipients from the UPS PAC was Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. He received $4,800 in contributions on March 19, 2007, CQ MoneyLine records show. Three days earlier, Rogers wrote a letter to House leaders seeking an earmark for Capital Regional International Airport, his local airfield.

Capital Region got $3.5 million that fiscal year for the runway extension. In 2006, Rogers got $3 million for the same project, his spokesman Sylvia Warner said.

UPS spokesman Michael Mangeot said there is no connection between Rogers' earmarks and the $45,000 in campaign contributions UPS' PAC has given Rogers since 2005 — the maximum donation allowed by law. He called the timing of the contributions in March 2007 "coincidence." (emphasis added)

Reuters followed up on the story, reporting that the Public Campaign Action Fund (PCAF) had done a bit more digging:

Public Campaign Action Fund (PCAF) has discovered that earlier that month, on March 5th, UPS lobbyist Robert Dotchin donated $500 to Rep. Rogers - the only such gift from Dotchin since Rep. Rogers began running for Congress in 2000.Public Campaign Action Fund (PCAF) has discovered that earlier that month, on March 5th, UPS lobbyist Robert Dotchin donated $500 to Rep. Rogers - the only such gift from Dotchin since Rep. Rogers began running for Congress in 2000. [skip]

PCAF found that Rep. Rogers' leadership PAC, MIKE PAC, has received $30,000 more, for a total of $75,000 from the UPS PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. (emphasis added)

The next time you hear Mr. Rogers moaning about how federal money is being wasted in Livingston County, ask him if he's interested in sending some of that private-sector lobbyist money our way... it really gets results!