Boeing Co is seen benefiting from its long-standing ties to Norm Dicks, the Washington state Democrat who is poised to become chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee after the death of Representative John Murtha on Monday.
Dicks, a strong Boeing supporter who has served on the defense appropriations subcommittee for 31 years, is likely to succeed Murtha, who died following complications from gall bladder surgery.
The House Appropriations Committee is expected to vote on Murtha's successor later this month, given snow-related closures this week and a scheduled recess next week, said Dicks' spokesman George Behan.
If Dicks gets the job, as is widely expected, that would be good news for Boeing and some of its biggest weapons programs, including the C-17 transport plane targeted for cancellation by the Pentagon, analysts said.
Donors linked to Boeing, which has major aircraft plants in his state, gave Dicks $10,500 in the 2009-2010 campaign cycle, the top contribution to his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Behan said Dicks has opposed some Boeing programs and "hasn't been just a rubber stamp" for the company.
Dicks does support continued funding for the C-17, despite the Pentagon's efforts to stop production of the large transport planes, as well as the Boeing F-18 fighter.
He also backs Boeing's bid to build 179 new refueling planes for the Air Force. Murtha had urged the Pentagon to buy planes from both Boeing and Northrop Grumman Corp, which is teamed with Airbus' European parent EADS.
"I think he will support Boeing wherever he can in a fashion that is beyond reproach when it comes to the ethics of what he's doing," said Paul Nisbet, with JSA Research. "If I were Boeing, I'd be happy to have Dicks in that job."
Virginia-based defense consultant Jim McAleese said Dicks was seen as being more "Boeing-centric" than Murtha, who had a track record for supporting a broad array of defense programs and was not seen as closely affiliated with any one company.
McAleese said Dicks' leadership of the 2011 budget process would be "the true litmus test of how his future legacy will be evaluated, relative to the bigger-than-life stature that Chairman Murtha had so richly earned."
Nick Schwellenbach, with the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, said Murtha was often in the limelight for steering weapons contracts to companies in his home district, but they were generally "small fish" compared to Boeing programs.
"If Dicks indeed is beholden to Boeing, and one hopes he is not, he has the potential to swing a lot of major acquisition programs to the company," Schwellenbach said.
He said there were no specific laws banning lawmakers from backing programs for companies that helped them raise money.
"As far as congressional ethics rules are concerned, receiving campaign contributions from a company that is favored is not considered a quid pro quo or violation of ethics rules," Schwellenbach said.
In December, the Office of Congressional Ethics closed an investigation into Dicks, Murtha and Representative Jim Moran and their ties to the lobbying firm PMA Group, and advised against a formal House ethics investigation.
Dicks has clearly been a strong supporter of Boeing, but his spokesman said he opposed an anti-satellite weapon in the mid-1980s, some missile defense programs, and the sale of Boeing-made AWACS aircraft to Saudi Arabia. "He hasn't always supported everything that Boeing has been interested in," Behan said.
Loren Thompson, defense analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said he had known Dicks for two decades, and considered him a thoughtful and reasonable person.
"I don't think that he reflexively sides with Boeing, but if Boeing wants to do something that he thinks has merit, and there are positive consequences for the people in his district, then he will definitely listen more closely," Thompson said.
Richard Aboulafia, analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group, said Dicks was one of Boeing's "closest friends" in Congress and the change in the subcommittee's leadership could be "the tipping point that drives Northrop not to bid" in the next Air Force tanker competition.
The other lawmaker besides Murtha who backed a dual tanker buy, Representative Neil Abercrombie, is leaving Congress this month to focus on his campaign to become governor of Hawaii.
From Boeing's point of view, Dicks' likely move into the chairman role was "the best news they've gotten in a long time," said Aboulafia, noting the fiscal 2010 budget had cut a number of big Boeing programs, including missile defense and Army modernization.
Boeing officials were not immediately available to comment on the company's relationship with Dicks, but the company's stock closed 3.2 percent higher at $59.74 on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
