Capitol Assets: Family ties

A Washington Post investigation uncovered cases where lawmakers directed money to institutions with connections to their relatives.

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In 2008, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), then a House appropriations subcommittee chairman, secured a $1.82 million earmark for a Washington state environmental agency where his son, David Dicks, worked as executive director, according to White House records and the Environmental Protection Agency. Over the next three years, the congressman also sent more than $14 million to the EPA, which gave the funds to his son's agency, the Puget Sound Partnership. There were no competitors for the funds. "I don’t think there was a conflict. We are all trying our best to restore Puget Sound," Dicks said. He is pictured with Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire during a 2010 tour of a Taylor Shellfish oyster nursery in Shelton, Wash. Gregoire appointed David Dicks to his post at the partnership.

Elaine Thompson / Associated Press

An aerial view of the Puget Sound near downtown Seattle. In May 2010, auditors found the Puget Sound Partnership, then led by David Dicks, "circumvented state contracting laws, exceeded its purchasing authority and made unallowable purchases with public funds," incurring "costs without clear public benefit." Rep. Norm Dicks lost his appropriations subcommittee chairmanship after Republicans took control of the House in November 2010. His son, David Dicks, resigned from the partnership one week after the 2010 midterm election.

Ben de la Cruz / The Washington Post

Over a decade, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), center, helped secure $73 million for companies that employed his sons, according to the St. Petersburg Times. One worked as a security administrator in the St. Petersburg office of Science Applications International Corp., a defense contractor; the other as an outreach specialist for the National Forensic Science Technology Center. Young's spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.Young told the Times in a 2008 story that the earmarks were based on merit, not because the programs employed his sons.

Chris O'Meara / Associated Press

In 2008, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), along with seven other senators, added $4 million to a Pentagon program for math and science education called Starbase. Johnson's wife worked as a contract employee evaluating the program between 2005 and 2011. "Senator Johnson's support of increased funding for STARBASE was not an earmark under the definition of a congressionally directed spending item as defined by the Senate Rules," a spokesman for the senator said.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

From 2007 to 2009, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), right, requested $1.5 million in earmarks for Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, where his son, Shule, began working as a state government lobbyist in 2010. The congressman said he asked for the earmarks before his son was hired and they posed no conflict. A university official said the school ensures he does not work on federal matters to avoid any conflicts.

Harry Hamburg / Associated Press

Between 2005 and 2010, Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), center, helped secure $21.9 million for six clients of a lobbying firm where her daughter works. The clients paid the firm more than $1 million to represent them before Congress. Brown was the sole sponsor of $1.79 million in earmarks sent to a seventh client, the Community Rehabilitation Center, while her daughter worked as a lobbyist on behalf of the center, the Florida Times-Union reported in 2010. The congresswoman declined requests for an interview. Her daughter did not respond to requests for comment.

Susan Walsh / Associated Press

Rep. Robert E. Latta (R-Ohio), right, co-sponsored $2.8 million in earmarks in 2009 and 2010 for water and wind research at Bowling Green State University at the time that his wife was a university vice president. Latta said he sought an ethics opinion. "I didn’t want to hurt the university because of my wife's employment," he said, adding that the ethics committee concluded there was no conflict. "She was a fundraiser raising private dollars. That's completely different than water quality or wind research."

Alex Brandon / Associated Press

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) helped secure $5.25 million to the University of Houston in 2009 and 2010 while her husband Elwyn C. Lee, also pictured, was vice president of student affairs and vice chancellor of student affairs for the university system. Jackson Lee's staff did not respond to requests for comment. "None of the Congressional earmarks secured by UH was directed to the areas under my supervision," Elwyn C. Lee said in a statement. "To reiterate, it is not my responsibility, and it has never been my responsibility, to secure Congressional earmarks. Therefore, there has been no conflict to manage."

Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Tex.) has helped obtain $51.9 million over the past decade toward a project to make over downtown Fort Worth and reroute the Trinity River. Until 2010, Granger co-owned a condominium building with her son about a half-mile south of the project. Her son is director of the group in charge of the project. "The congresswoman has always given her support to qualified programs in full compliance with the House Ethics Committee and the rules of the House of Representatives," her spokesman said.

Paul Moseley / Associated Press

Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) co-sponsored $2.5 million in earmarks in 2008 and 2009 for rail projects overseen by the Chicago Transit Authority. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the CTA is a lobbying client of his father, William Lipinski, a former congressman. The CTA has paid William Lipinski $766,330.20 in lobbying fees since 2007. "His father does not lobby him on behalf of his clients on transportation or any other issues," a Lipinski spokesman said. "In these, as in other areas, Congressman Lipinski is focused on doing what is best for his constituents."

Alex Wong / Getty Images

As a congressman and then a senator, Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has helped secure more than $45 million for the University of Mississippi since 2008. His wife has been employed there since 2006 as coordinator of student services at the Tupelo campus. Wicker said in a statement: "I have supported funding for sensible studies at each of Mississippi's four research institutions, Ole Miss, Mississippi State University, Southern Miss, and Jackson State. These projects have led to improvements in health care, education, and other critical areas."

Harry Hamburg / Associated Press

Between 2005 and 2010, Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), left, earmarked about $4 million from an Energy Department agency tasked with securing the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile to a program for at-risk teenagers at Maricopa Community Colleges. His daughter runs the program. "The perception is that you helped your daughter, but if you evaluate the kids who benefited from this, it was worth doing," the congressman said.

Charlie Leight / Associated Press

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