Chairing Space Subcommittee attracts campaign cash for Miss. congressman
WASHINGTON — As chairman of a House Science and Technology Committee panel over the last four years, Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi has been a vocal advocate of U.S. space exploration, calling for the resumption of manned flights.
That stand has served his re-election campaign well, too, bringing a pile of cash that helped him stave off a primary challenge last spring.
From Jan. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30 of this year, the chairman of the Space Subcommittee has collected at least $73,000 from political action committees and employees for aerospace contractors. Among them is a PAC for Tesla creator Elon Musk’s SpaceX Corp., founded with the goal of colonizing Mars.
The out-of-state donations are in keeping with Palazzo’s overall fundraising pattern as he closes in on winning a third term in office. More than half of the $882,620 he collected through Sept. 30 came from PACs representing special interests, nearly all of them from outside Mississippi, a computer-assisted McClatchy analysis of his donations found.
McClatchyDC
10/20/14
Magnolia Tribune
