Oh, so that’s how appropriations bills get written. More info on the Tom Casey allegations against [sw: Jerry Lewis] from the San Diego Union Tribune:

Casey’s firm, Audre Inc., had about 35 employees when it began lobbying for federal contracts in the early 1990s. It was on the verge of bankruptcy, because of a fractious divorce battle in which Casey’s wife tried to gain control of the firm.

In 1992, Casey hired Wilkes to help him find government contracts. Wilkes’ recommendation, according to former Audre employees, was to make campaign contributions to key members of Congress, including Lewis.

Although Casey said he never provided Lewis’ friends with any stock options, he and his associates gave $9,253 in political contributions to Lewis in 1993: $2,253 in early April, as the Appropriations Committee prepared its first draft of the fiscal 1994 budget, and $7,000 in mid-September, as the budget process neared its conclusion.

Casey and his associates made similarly timed contributions of $2,750 to Cunningham, $3,600 to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine – who would become Audre’s chief champion on Capitol Hill – and $5,000 to Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn.

Ten other politicians received smaller amounts totaling $21,100. … According to sources familiar with his story, Casey said that after he made the contributions, he met with Lewis’ chief of staff, Letitia White, in the basement cafeteria of the Rayburn Building. In the cafeteria, Casey and White drafted the language to add a document conversion project to the Pentagon’s budget. White now works for Lowery’s lobbying firm, Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & White.