Politics Can Be A Good Thing

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Trial starts for contractor with ties to Murtha


PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Directors of a Panhandle Air Force research lab and special operations command center got around rules prohibiting the military from lobbying Congress by encouraging defense contractors to seek the money from political leaders for their pet projects, an attorney for a contractor said Monday at the start of a criminal trial.

Contractor Richard Schaller is accused of destroying records and lying to a grand jury. Schaller is also accused of aiding and abetting a research lab employee in a scheme to hide the worker's connection to Schaller's company. The lab worker would then steer contracts to Schaller's company.

Schaller is among those accused by federal prosecutors who are looking into alleged wrongdoing by defense contractors with ties to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Murtha has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

Schaller and other contractors were doing what Air Force leaders wanted in the aftermath of 9/11 - ensuring funding for special research projects that would save lives on the battlefield, Schaller's attorney Albert Oram said.

"The vice commander of the Air Force Special Operations Command signed a directorate that they try to leverage Congressional funding," Oram said. "It violated Air Force policy, there is a chain of command and they are not supposed to lobby Congress."

Air Force leaders ignored the lobbying by defense contractors before widespread publicity surrounding Murtha and defense earmarks, he said.

"Then they got cold feet and decided that they really had a problem because the earmarks have become a political hot potato, but the lab wanted this done and the special operations command wanted this done," he said.

Among those expected to testify is Richard Ianieri, the former chief executive of a defense contractor with ties to Murtha. Ianieri pleaded guilty in federal court July 20 to a kickback scheme and defrauding the Air Force.

Federal prosecutors said Ianieri solicited kickbacks from a subcontractor while he headed Coherent Systems International Corp.

Prosecutors said Monday that Schaller had ties with Coherent and with Kuchera Defense Systems.

Murtha has directed hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts over the years to Coherent and other defense contractors through a process called earmarking.

Executives at Coherent and two other companies named in court papers in Ianieri's Florida case have donated over $95,000 to Murtha's re-election campaigns and his political action committee since 2002, according to Federal Election Commission records.

One of the companies is Kuchera of Windber, Pa., about 10 miles from Murtha's political home base of Johnstown.

In 2006, Murtha said Coherent and Kuchera Defense Systems were working "virtually as one company" on 14 contracts worth $30 million to develop high-tech military gear. Kuchera built high-tech components that Coherent designed.

The Florida charges against Ianieri concerned a Coherent contract given through the Air Force Research Laboratory to deliver four Ground Mobile Gateway Systems, which are designed to help soldiers and pilots trace U.S. units and cut down on friendly fire.

The United States paid Coherent $5.9 million to build the systems. According to court documents, Coherent subsequently paid about $1.8 million to subcontractors for the delivery of software and materials that were not part of the contract.

Prosecutor Stephen Preisser said Schaller was among those paid for work he did not do.

"Coherent lobbied Congress for $8.2 million for the Ground Mobile Gateway System," he told jurors. He said Schaller received payments from this money, at least $60,000 for work he did not perform.
The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1160041.html