Mike Fitzpatrick is Still in Hock to Big Pigment

Like every American, Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick shares our deeply-held belief that we should lower taxes on companies that ship in Isoviolanthrone Crude Dry Presscake and 4-Sulfo-1,8-naphthalic anhydride potassium salt.

I imagine that not a day goes by where hard-working Americans don’t use these products in their kitchen, bathroom, and meth lab.

As you may remember, back in the spring Keystone Politics pointed out via Roll Call that Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick is hock to big pigment.  Roll Call has just released a follow-up showing that for a scant $15,000 in campaign donations to Congressman Fitzpatrick, a French company called Arkema will benefit by $3.8 million in reduced taxes over five years.

Fitzpatrick is literally creating new loopholes. You know, the loopholes he always rails against, which are also kind of like “picking winners and losers” in business, which Fitzpatrick strongly opposes.

Pennsylvania Workers’ Voice, the political arm of the AFL-CIO, has released a clever mock-up of the check from Big Pigment.

Here are the relevant excerpts from Roll Call’s story:

In May, Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick(R-Pa.), along with scores of other lawmakers engaged in similar activity, submitted 12 bills to suspend importation duties on chemicals such as Isoviolanthrone Crude Dry Presscake and 4-Sulfo-1,8-naphthalic anhydride potassium salt. The proposals would reduce taxes companies pay when they import chemicals from overseas to produce products here in the United States.

Now the International Trade Commission has estimated how much those proposals would cost taxpayers in lost revenue, which is also the monetary amount they would benefit the companies that are requesting them.

Eleven of Fitzpatrick’s 12 proposals would benefit two companies — both significant campaign donors — to the tune of $5.2 million, the ITC documents show.

The ITC analysis connected three of the proposals to Arkema Inc., the U.S. division of Arkema, France’s largest chemical company. Documents submitted by Fitzpatrick in May did not list the company’s name in connection with the proposals.

Those three bills would benefit Arkema by $3.8 million in reduced taxes over five years.

Arkema’s political action committee and people connected to the company have donated at least $15,870 to Fitzpatrick since 2010, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission by Fitzpatrick’s campaign.

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Eight of Fitzpatrick’s other proposals would benefit United Color Manufacturing, a Newtown, Pa., company and Fitzpatrick campaign donor.

Those proposals would reduce United Color Manufacturing’s taxes by $1.2 million over five years, the ITC said.

In May, Thomas Nowakowski, the president of the company, said the duty suspensions are critical for his company to stay competitive with rivals in India, China and Mexico.

Nowakowski estimated the monetary value of the bills as a “low six figure” sum, considerably smaller than what the ITC actually estimated it as.

Nowakowski and his family have also been generous campaign donors to Fitzpatrick and the Republican Party, giving the Pennsylvania Republican more than $26,000 since 2002 and contributing more than $150,000 to Republican candidates and party organizations during that time.

On March 30, about one month before Fitzpatrick introduced the eight bills, Nowakowski, his wife, Carmella, and his son Thomas Jr. donated $5,500 to Fitzpatrick.

Despite the timing, the campaign donations are not evidence of impropriety or quid pro quo. Fitzpatrick’s office and Nowakowski said the donations were not related to Fitzpatrick’s introduction of the eight bills.

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