From the front page of yesterday’s USA Today:
Sen. Arlen Specter helped direct almost $50 million in Pentagon spending during the past four years to clients of the husband of one of his top aides, records show.
Specter, R-Pa., used a process called “earmarking” 13 times to set aside $48.7 million for six clients represented by lobbyist Michael Herson and the firm he co-founded, American Defense International. The clients paid Herson’s firm nearly $1.5 million in fees since 2002, federal lobbying records show.
Today’s follow-up story reports that although Specter denies any wrongdoing, he wants the Senate ethics committee to investigate his staff’s behavior.