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Before joining Blank Rome law firm in 1982, David Girard-di-Carlo was then-Governor Richard Thornburgh’s chair of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Girard-diCarlo is CEO of Blank Rome and specializes in corporate, labor and transportation law. An East Coast political powerbroker, Girard-diCarlo headed Pennsylvania fundraising for both of George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns and co-chaired the 2000 National Republican Convention. Partner Daivd Norcross chairs a committee preparing for the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. Girard-diCarlo is vice chair of the Republican Governors Association’s finance committee. Blank Rome was the largest, non-Texas source of bundled campaign contributions to Bush’s 2000 campaign ($43,500), the Center for Responsive Politics reported in April 1999. The first President Bush appointed Girard-diCarlo to AMTRAK’s board. President-Elect George W. Bush appointed him to his 2000 Transportation Department transition team and later appointed him as a trustee of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Girard-diCarlo was treasurer of Pioneer Tom Ridge’s 1994 gubernatorial campaign, which spent a record $12.7 million. Governor-Elect Ridge then put him in charge of his transition team, which helped pick Blank Rome attorney Paul Tufano as Governor Ridge’s general counsel. Tufano then awarded more than $800,000 in no-bid fees to Blank Rome to serve as counsel on state bond offerings. Girard-diCarlo was a member of the Governor’s Club, a group of elite donors (see Evans Rose) who gave at least $25,000 to Ridge’s campaign. In exchange, members received invitations to exclusive events with Ridge, as well as a pair of blue and gold cufflinks bearing the initial “R.” Blank Rome has since cashed in on Ridge’s new post as Homeland Security Secretary (see Carl Buchholz and Mark Holman). Girard-diCarlo registered in 2003 to lobby for FastShip, Inc. and Ionatron, Inc. Little-known Ionatron is seeking U.S. military funding for something called “laser induced plasma channeling systems.” FastShip has been trying to raise $858 million to build protype hi-tech cargo ships. Its lobbyists got Congress to stick $25 million of funding into the 2002 Defense Appropriation Act. It also has applied to the troubled Federal Maritime Administration (see William Schubert) to guarantee $751 million in loans. Under then-Governor Tom Ridge, federal, state and local government entities (see Manuel Stamatakis) put up $429 million to revive Philadelphia’s mothballed shipyards, eventually luring European shipbuilder Kvaerner ASA. Kvaerner has had periodic negotiations to build vessesls for FastShip if it secures funding.
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Of Special Interest
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| Profile last updated
Jan 12, 2004
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