GREED: Visclosky asks for $145M in federal earmarks.

U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Merrillville, submitted about $145.6 million in earmarks for the 2010 fiscal year appropriations process.

It’s an increase of $32.6 million on the $113 million in earmarks he sought last year. The deadline for requests was Friday, as Congress is considering President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget. . . . The FBI is investigating The PMA Group, one of Visclosky’s largest campaign donors, for relationships between PMA campaign donations and earmarks secured for its clients by members of Congress.

The Post-Tribune examined Visclosky’s 2008 earmarks, which showed he secured more than $20 million in contracts for PMA clients and represented a quarter of the solo earmarks he obtained.

Read the whole thing. Plus, from the New York Times, background: “Federal law enforcement officials who raided the lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti’s PMA Group appear to be examining the firm’s relationship with Representative Peter J. Visclosky, a low-profile lawmaker with big influence over federal spending, people familiar with the matter said this week. . . . Mr. Visclosky, 59, was one of the lawmakers with the closest ties to PMA until its recent collapse. He relied heavily on the firm for campaign fund-raising, earmarked millions of dollars each year to its clients and maintained a close bond with a former aide who worked as a PMA lobbyist. . . . He has received more campaign contributions than any other lawmaker from PMA employees since 1989. . . . Meanwhile, over the last two years, Mr. Visclosky personally directed more than $33 million in taxpayer money — nearly a quarter of the earmarked money he obtained — to clients of the lobbying firm.”