by Matt Pearce | inewsource
WASHINGTON — Earlier today, inewsource published an investigation that examined industry ties among San Diego Republican Congressman Darrell Issa’s oversight committee staffers. Among them was Republican staff counsel Jonathan Skladany, whose father, Barney Skladany Jr., has lobbied Congress on behalf of dozens of corporations for lobbying giant Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
We’ve got another wrinkle to add.
Tomorrow morning, Akin Gump’s political action committee is scheduled to co-host a fundraiser breakfast for Issa, according to an invitation posted by the Sunlight Foundation’s “Party Time,” a Wikileaks-style document dump for fundraiser invitations.
According to the invite, the breakfast is to be held at 8 a.m. at the Fluor Townhouse at 403 E. Capitol St. SE in Washington, which sits along a pretty stretch of townhouses with a clear view of the Capitol. The townhouse is owned by the breakfast’s other co-host, the Fluor Corporation, a publicly traded company that provides engineering services for the energy industry, among other things. The donation “requests” are listed as “$2,500/Host; $1,000/PAC; $500/Individual.”
Barney Skladany Jr., Jonathan Skladany and a spokesman for Issa did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the event. A spokeswoman for Akin Gump confirmed the company’s PAC is hosting the fundraiser.
About a year after his son began working for the oversight committee, Barney Skladany Jr. gave Issa’s campaign $250 on March 18, 2010. Skladany Jr. gave freely in 2009 and 2010, doling out at least $32,500 to dozens of other candidates — almost exclusively to Republicans.
Akin Gump’s PAC gave Issa at least $2,250 for the 2010 election cycle. Fluor Corporation, which occasionally uses Akin Gump to supplement its own lobbying, has given Issa’s campaigns more than $14,000 since 2000.