Published: February 20, 2009 12:15 am      

Murtha: Feds aren’t talking to me about lobbying probe

U.S. Rep. John Murtha said Thursday he has not been contacted by federal authorities concerning the investigation of a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm run by one of his former staffers.

PMA Group was raided in November by the FBI. The Virginia firm was founded by former Murtha aide Paul Magliochetti.

“PMA was one of the best lobbying firms in Washington,” said Murtha, D-Johnstown, who was in town for the Harry E. Mangle Boy Scout fundraising dinner.

Murtha said the loss of PMA Group will make accessing government contracts more of a challenge for smaller companies. Several Johnstown-based companies have employed PMA’s services.

“The smaller organizations do a great job and save the country a lot of money,” Murtha said. “That gets lost in the clutter.”

In the 2007-08 election cycle, Murtha was one of 40 politicians to receive campaign contributions from PMA. Murtha received $26,700, the 13th-largest donation made by the firm.

Some officerholders have said they would return the money.

Murtha said if any wrongdoing is confirmed at the firm he would instead give the money to a charity.

“This just makes things harder for my staff,” Murtha said. “Ours is a small staff for the amount of money we handle.”