McCarthy and the lobbyist

McCarthy Axtive,

Republicans are taking aim at Rep. Carolyn McCarthy over donations she received from a lobbyist who next week is pleading guilty on charges related to hundreds of thousands in illegal contributions to pols, as his firm's clients received millions in federal grants and contracts.

McCarthy has sent $4.3 million to two clients of PMA Group, a now-dead lobbying firm where Paul Magliocchetti and his son Mark had worked, according to a recent Daily News report. The pair were both recently indicted, and Mark pleaded guilty to making about $200,000 in illegal donations between 2002 and 2008.

The idea was he gave money on behalf of others to skirt campaign disclosure laws.

McCarthy got several thousand dollars from him between 2006 and 2008, the paper said. She also got about $50,000 from the firm's employees. She insisted to the DN that she had no idea what the Magliocchetti father and son were up to, saying, "All of us that had gotten fund-raising from them were found innocent, that we knew nothing about what was going on in the background."

Paul Magliocchetti is now expected to enter a guilty plea this week, POLITICO's John Bresnahan recently reported.

Tory Mazzola, a spokesman for the NRCC, said, “If Carolyn McCarthy really didn’t know, then she failed New Yorkers by not doing her homework before handing out millions in taxpayer dollars. Her embarrassing and possibly unethical conduct is yet another reason for voters to fire her in November.”

McCarthy's camp didn't respond to repeated requests for comment made over several days.

McCarthy, a Democrat who represents NY-4 in Long Island, is facing Republican rival Fran Becker, a little-known Nassau County legislator who had the backing of the local GOP establishment and fended off a better-funded primary challenger.

(source:politico.com)