FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 21, 2010
CONTACT:
Stefani Zimmerman
920-915-5323
Kirkpatrick’s Illegal Pay to Play Connections
Kirkpatrick Earmark Requests tied to Suspicious Lobbyist Donations
PRESCOTT, AZ –First, Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick took $10,000 from SEIU, the group leading the boycott against Arizona, and for 53 days has ignored requests to return the money. Now we find out that Kirkpatrick accepted campaign donations from lobbyists on the very same day she made earmark requests 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 that she’s soft on illegal immigration from her record in the State Legislator so it’s no surprise she accepted thousands of dollars from SEIU. BUT, it is shocking that she would accept campaign donations from lobbyists within minutes of requesting the earmarks they lobby on behalf of. This is the kind of 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 need to be investigated.”
Here are 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 and 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- the lobbyist that lobbied 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 and then accepted a campaign contribution from Robert Holmes, the lobbyist who lobbied Congress on behalf of the City of Flagstaff, less than a week after requesting this earmark.
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You assume cause and effect on a measly amount of campaign contributions. Whether or not the CD-1 congressperson receives campaign contributions from NAU lobbyists, since NAU IS the state university within CD-1, I would expect the CD-1 congressperson to do whatever they can to support this institution and to fight to bring funds to it!