Bonner earmark #3

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I thought this one would be harder.

Rep. Jo Bonner, the newest member of the Appropriations Committee, secured $245,000 for “Atmore road improvement” in the Transportation and Housing & Urban Development Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008. (Sen. Richard Shelby requested the same in the Senate.)

The City of Atmore spent $80,000 on a pair of lobbying firms in 2007, the Bloom Group Inc. and Bradley, Arant, Rose & White LP. The Bloom Group’s year-end report says, on page 2, that the firm was lobbying on, among other things, “Transportation HUD Appropriations bill, seeking federal funding for city projects.” Hal W. Bloom, the lobbyist who represented the city of Atmore, contributed $2,250 to Bonner between March 25, 2002 and Sept. 12, 2007. Meanwhile, a pair of employees of Bradley, Arant et al, who disclosed lobbying on the Transportation/HUD Appropriations bill, seeking federal funding for city projects” in their year-end report, chipped in $500 to his campaigns between 2006 and 2007.

Again, not a lot of money, but then, I haven’t gone beyond OpenSecrets’ simple Donor Lookup search to look for more…