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Article: Firms that donate to Inouye receive his earmarks
- Article from:
- AP Online
- Article date:
- November 2, 2009
- Author:
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A team led by a small Hawaii company was competing to design a new generation of military transport ships when Navy officials dropped it from contention in late 2007. The reason: the team's entry didn't meet the Navy's criteria.
Not all was lost for Navatek Ltd., however. The Honolulu firm had a powerful ally in Washington D.C. _ U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.
Since 1997, executives of Navatek and its parent firm, the privately owned Pacific Marine, have contributed more than $29,000 to Inouye's campaign coffers, most of it since 2003.
And now, the eight-term Hawaii Democrat is trying to direct $2.2 million in taxpayer money to the company to finance a model of an amphibious ...