Zack Space breaks campaign pledge. Again.

U.S. Representative Zack Space, D-OH, who “pledged to not accept contributions from lobbyists,” has taken at least $4250 from Washington, DC, lobbyists and lobby firms, according to his most recent financial disclosure filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), and a review by the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com).

Space’s quarterly campaign statement, made public by the FEC on July 15, reports he received $1,000 each from the Political Action Committees (PAC) of Patton Boggs and Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal, and $500 from Van Ness Feldman. Space also reported receiving $1750 in contributions from four attorneys with Squires Sanders & Dempsey.

All four firms boast of substantial lobbying before the United States Congress on issues ranging from energy and telecommunications to Indian gaming and pharmaceutical interests.

Space also received $1,000 from the Democratic Freshman PAC, the controversial political action committee headed by a longtime Washington, DC, rainmaker. Another lobbyist associated with that PAC was recently forced out, after majorityap.com noted he had been accused of using his prowess as a campaign fundraiser to gain access to members of Congress.

Worse, the Ohio Democrat reports receiving more than $382,420 in donations from political action committees since the beginning of the year, representing a host of special interests. The majority of those special interests have full-time lobbyists who, as a rule, personally present checks from those PACs at events attended by members of Congress, such as Space.

In 2006, Space made ethics and lobbying reform a centerpiece of his campaign platform. He signed a pledged that year, vowing if elected he will accept “no gifts from lobbyists, no trips from lobbyists,” and “no meals from lobbyists.”

In addition to his own pledge, Space called for an all-out “ban (on) contributions from lobbyists.”

But Space has had repeated trouble keeping that pledge.

In April, 2006, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Space “accepted a $2,000 campaign contribution from John J. Cafaro of Youngstown, who pleaded guilty to illegally giving cash and gifts to former congressman Jim Traficant and was fined $150,000.” Traficant, D-OH, is currently serving an eight year prison sentence after being convicted in 2002 on ten counts of racketeering, bribery and fraud.

Following the public controversy, Space was forced to return Cafaro’s donation.

Space returned another contribution earlier this year, according to his July 15 report. Vic Fazio, a former member of Congress and a lobbyist with the Washington, DC, firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, gave Space $500 on March 27, 2007. Space returned the contribution to Fazio on April 13.

Space is the second freshman Democrat this week FEC disclosures revealed to be breaking a public pledge.

On Monday, Majorityap.com reported that Pennsylvania Democrat Chris Carney, who said he would “not accept money from energy companies or big oil,” took money from at least two large energy companies – Exelon, the largest nuclear energy producer in the United States, and FirstEnergy, the nation's fifth largest investor-owned electric system.

Carney returned another check, a $2,000 contribution from Sunoco Oil, following an earlier majorityap.com report.