Shelby Steers $50 Million to Projects, Aiding Donor

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Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama has steered at least $50 million over the past decade, including $10 million approved by the Senate yesterday, to military projects benefiting a company owned by one of his largest campaign contributors.

Shelby, a senior Republican on the Appropriations Committee, has inserted the funds into legislation at the request of Huntsville-based COLSA Corp., a privately held space-and missile- defense company. Its owner, Francisco J. Collazo, has known Shelby for 20 years and has contributed more than $400,000 to his campaigns and committees since hiring a former Shelby aide as a lobbyist in 1996.

The $468 billion defense-appropriations measure the Senate approved yesterday included a Shelby-sponsored $10 million addition for a computer missile-simulation center that was requested by COLSA.

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The process, while legal, has become controversial because it allows funding for projects to be approved without debate or individual votes. ``Campaign contributors making millions off the fine print of this bill is business as usual,'' said Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonprofit group in Washington that tracks budget issues.

``Few people know what's in this bill, and the rest of us are flying blind,'' he said of the defense measure.

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