Lee Withdraws $3 Million Earmark Request

By BRIAN TUMULTY
Gannett Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Freshman Republican Rep. Chris Lee of Clarence said Wednesday that he is withdrawing his request for $3 million in defense funding for a Rochester-based division of the conglomerate that purchased his family's business in 2007.

The request, first reported in the Wednesday edition of The Buffalo News, would have paid for integrating battlefield surveillance images from sensors manufactured by ITT Industries Space Systems.

Lee's family sold International Motion Control of Buffalo to ITT in the summer of 2007. Lee owned less than 5 percent of the family's company. The business is now part of an industrial division of ITT that operates separately from the space division located in Rochester. The request did not violate congressional ethics rules regarding conflicts of interest because Lee and his family no longer have a financial interest in the company.

"Despite the fact that there is no conflict, out of an abundance of caution, I am withdrawing the request to put any questions to rest and continue with my work to help grow and strengthen Western New York," Lee said in a statement.

Under new House rules that took effect this month, lawmakers are required for the first time to post their special funding requests - or earmarks - on their official Web sites. Lee had described the request for ITT as "a good use of taxpayer resources because it provides a Web-based software solution for a major technology gap."

All told, Lee listed 21 requests for the upcoming 2010 defense budget. Defense contractors that would benefit from Lee's requests include Northrop Grumman Amherst Systems of Buffalo, AndroBioSys of Buffalo, Carleton Technologies of Orchard Park, Hydroacoustics of Henrietta, Lithos Robotics Corp. of Amherst, Pictometry of Rochester and Vuzix Corp. of Rochester.