What other word would you apply to a congressman who pressured government officials to award contracts to clients of a family memberÂ’s lobbying firm when there were other competitors better for the job, and pushed deals that would be financially beneficial to family members of his political allies?

Last June, the Los Angeles Times reported how the ranking member on the defense appropriations subcommittee has a brother, Robert Murtha, whose lobbying firm represents 10 companies that received more than $20 million from last year's defense spending bill. "Clients of the lobbying firm KSA Consulting -- whose top officials also include former congressional aide Carmen V. Scialabba, who worked for Rep. Murtha as a congressional aide for 27 years -- received a total of $20.8 million from the bill," the L.A. Times reported.

In early 2004, according to Roll Call, Mr. Murtha "reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco." Laurence Pelosi, nephew of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, at the time was an executive of the company which owned the rights to the land. The same article also reported how Mr. Murtha has been behind millions of dollars worth of earmarks in defense appropriations bills that went to companies owned by the children of fellow Pennsylvania Democrat, Rep. Paul Kanjorski. Meanwhile, the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdog group, lists Mr. Murtha as the top recipient of defense industry dollars in the current 2006 election cycle.

As Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, has said, "If there is a potential pattern where Congressman Murtha has helped other Democrats secure appropriations that also benefited relatives of those members, I believe this would be something that merits further review by the ethics committee."

Remember, this is the same Jack Murtha who was up to his ears in the Abscam scandal but managed to skate after being named an unindicted co-conspirator by the Carter Justice Department. So questions about Jack Murtha being dirty are not new – they are long-standing and substantive. Heck, if he had an (R) after his name, he would be a daily target for Democrats – consider what was done to my former congressman (Tom DeLay) with substantially less evidence of wrong-doing.

Posted by: Greg at 08:56 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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