Kirkpatrick's Illegal Pay to Play Connections

Kirkpatrick Earmark Requests tied to Suspicious Lobbyist Donations

News provided by

Oct 22, 2010, 04:34 ET

PRESCOTT, Ariz., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- First, Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick took $10,000 from SEIU, the group leading the boycott against Arizona. For 53 days she's ignored requests to return the money. Now we find out Kirkpatrick accepted campaign donations from lobbyists on the very same day she requested earmarks for their pet projects. Voters in Arizona's First Congressional District deserve to know why Ann Kirkpatrick is accepting tainted money.

"It didn't take very long for Ms. Kirkpatrick to be bought by the special interests financing her campaign," said Gosar Communications Director Stefani Zimmerman. "We already know she's soft on illegal immigration from her record in the State Legislature, so it's no surprise she accepted thousands of dollars from SEIU. But it's shocking she would accept campaign donations from lobbyists within minutes of requesting the earmarks for their clients. That's corruption you expect from Chicago politicians, not rural Arizona. It is possible that Ms. Kirkpatrick broke the law. The days of trading taxpayer money for campaign contributions have come to an end. The timing of these donations and earmark requests must be investigated."

The facts:

On April 3, 2009, Kirkpatrick made $4,608,500 in earmark requests for Northern Arizona University (NAU). Kirkpatrick has taken a total of $3,750 in campaign contributions from four lobbyists who lobbied Congress on behalf of Northern Arizona University for a biodefense laboratory expansion. One of those lobbyists, Barry Dill, contributed to her campaign within minutes of requesting these earmarks for NAU.
On December 19, 2009, Kirkpatrick secured $1.6 million in earmarks for the NAU Forensic Center Updates projects. That very same day she took $2,000 from three of the lobbyists who lobby Congress on behalf of NAU for this project.
On March 22, 2010, Kirkpatrick made $300,000 in earmark requests for Childhelp. Interestingly, Kirkpatrick took $2,000 in campaign contributions from Ellen Riddleberger, who lobbies Congress for appropriations on behalf of Childhelp. Of that money, Kirkpatrick took $1,000 within a week of requesting the FY 2011 earmark for Childhelp.
On March 22, 2010, Kirkpatrick made $5,000,000 in earmark requests for the City of Flagstaff, then accepted a campaign contribution from Robert Holmes, who lobbys Congress on behalf of the City of Flagstaff, less than a week after requesting this earmark.