VideoStalder says his emphasis is less on lobbying and earmarks and more on helping companies develop an infrastructure that will make them capable of bidding on and winning government contracts.
"What I can do is — I know how to get the money, how to position yourself to win a contract. And that is what I do well," Stalder said. "What happens is, you have people who have a good idea, and it's all great and you can get enough contracts to keep a 10-person company going. But if you are ever going to move further, you've got to get official, and that's what I do best.
"We use earmarks, legislative stuff — that's a tool we use to help build business," Stalder said. "But it wouldn't be that's the whole thing."
Dealing mostly with small businesses, KSA's client list has its share of mysteries. Lobbying disclosure forms the firm submitted to Congress in May — several months past the statutory deadline — listed two clients, Summit Technologies and VidiaFusion, that are no longer in business. Gary Carter, who ran Summit, and had a Johnstown office until last year, said KSA never represented his company. Roll Call could not locate VidiaFusion, though there appears to have been a company by that name in Florida at one time. Stalder said he thinks the company was bought and moved to New Hampshire, but acknowledged, "We don't represent VidiaFusion."
KSA also filed a termination form for a company called Lindsey Energy in Norfolk, Va. The address reported by KSA matches the address of Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, but Lindsay told Roll Call he knows of no such firm and there is no Lindsey Energy in the building. Stalder had no recollection of the firm.
Stalder admits that his company has mishandled its disclosure forms — "That's probably because we don't know how to file them" — but denies that his company has profited from its ties to Murtha.
"We're a pretty easy target I guess, because of the Murtha connection," he said, "but no one ever picks up on the Young connection, or Lewis, who I get more support from — I get more support out of other people than I do out of Mr. Murtha." Bill Young (Fla.) and Jerry Lewis (Calif.) are top Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee.
But with Murtha's assistance, some of Stalder's companies have had tremendous success. For instance, former Lockheed employee Dave Herbener founded a company in 2003 called KDH Technologies to sew bulletproof vests. In April 2004, KDH signed a $2 million contract with the Navy to sew the vests — though the company did not yet have a manufacturing facility.
Days before the contract was signed, The Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown reported that KDH was hoping to establish its manufacturing site in Johnstown, and added, "Herbener said he came to Johnstown through the efforts of U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha."
In 2005 the company opened its facility in a former garment factory in Johnstown, and has since opened a second site in Waynesburg, on the western edge of Murtha's district. According to FedSpending, KDH received $2.8 million in contracts in 2004, $9.4 million in 2005 and at least $7.3 million in 2006. Herbener did not respond to several calls requesting comment.
Officials in the district say it is a mistake to look at the region's economic progress simply as a factor of Murtha's efforts, and emphasize the broad, coordinated push by local institutions to boost economic growth.
Indiana County Chamber of Commerce President Dana Henry said, "I don't ever remember getting a phone call from Jack Murtha saying 'I can help you.'" Henry said the county's unemployment rate has dropped from as high at 15 percent seven years ago — "we were desperate for business" — to about 4 percent today because of a broad, coordinated effort to attract business to the area and support start-up companies.
After the mines and mills that were the backbone of the local economy shut down, the region was left with "a lot of guys in their basements doing things that are similar to what Bill Gates was doing in his garage," Henry said, and local officials have cultivated this inventiveness.
The chamber partners with other local institutions — particularly Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a regional economic development group called Johnstown Area Regional Industries, which trains businesses on how to get government contracts.
Rodney Ruddock, chairman of the Indiana County Commission, pointed out that local efforts are geared toward weaning these businesses off defense contracts and getting them to broaden into other work that is more sustainable. "We don't want to put all of our eggs into the defense industry basket," Ruddock said.
Instead, companies are shifting into homeland security work, Ruddock noted, in part with the assistance of the John P. Murtha Institute for Homeland Security at IUP.
The institute itself grew out of Murtha earmarks. The university, in announcing the center in 2003, said that "Congressman Murtha has arranged for more than $20 million in funding to IUP for homeland security initiatives."
Since its launch, the institute has wobbled a bit. Jeffrey Crane, the institute's new executive director, said, "I came in last year; the institute was a little bit dormant ... [it] has been running but it hasn't been at full swing" because its programs are scattered around various academic departments. Crane said his mission is to revitalize the institute, and broaden its mission to focus on emergency preparedness and other elements of the evolving homeland security field. "We are going after more sponsored grants from the Department of Homeland Security, and earmarks and plus-ups" that involve Murtha's assistance, Crane said.
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