Posted on 11/21/2005 8:22:58 AM PST by areafiftyone
While the big story right now is about Rep. John Murtha's call for a pullout from Iraq within 6 months, it appears Murtha is going to have some big problems soon...
Republican lawmakers say that ties between Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and his brother’s lobbying firm, KSA Consulting, may warrant investigation by the House ethics committee.
The calls come as Murtha, a former Marine and pro-military Democrat, has made headlines this week by coming out in support of a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
According to a June 13 article in The Los Angeles Times, the fiscal 2005 defense appropriations bill included more than $20 million in funding for at least 10 companies for whom KSA lobbied. Carmen Scialabba, a longtime Murtha aide, works at KSA as well.
KSA directly lobbied Murtha’s office on behalf of seven companies, and a Murtha aide told a defense contractor that it should retain KSA to represent it, according to the LA Times.
In early 2004, Murtha reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A company called Lennar Inc. had right to the land, and Laurence Pelosi, nephew to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was an executive with the firm at that time.
Murtha also inserted earmarks in defense bills that steered millions of dollars in federal research funds toward companies owned by children of fellow Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D).
House Republican Joe Wilson of South Carolina 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.”
Another GOP lawmaker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Murtha “is playing footsie with his brother’s lobbying firm using taxpayer money.”
This Member said Republicans have considered filing an ethics complaint against Murtha, although the preference among GOP insiders is for the ethics committee to look into this issue on its own authority, as it did in the previous Congress in initiating an investigation into former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas).
Even some Democrats privately acknowledged that a preliminary probe of Murtha by the ethics panel is possible next year, although the chances of a full-blown investigation are still unclear.
Of course, a Pelosi aide was quick to blame this whole thing on Republicans.
Jennifer Crider, a Pelosi aide, dismissed the allegation that the Minority Leader was involved in anything improper as “absolutely ludicrous, and an attempt to divert from the real issue that Mr. Murtha is attempting to engage in debate on a critically important topic — U.S. policy in Iraq. The real story here is the Republican strategy to try to discredit at Congressman Murtha” while he is pushing for a U.S. pullout from Iraq.
Republicans acknowledge that Murtha’s Iraq statement — coming from a Member with strong military credentials — is driving their renewed focus on the ethics questions surrounding the veteran Democratic lawmaker.
It certainly does put his past hawkish stance in perspective...
Could his (Murtha) sudden and untimely attacks on Bush and his Iraq policy be an attempt to make the probe look like a payback. REMEMBER..... Liberals are not all dumb, but almost always wrong.
Well that stupid turkey Murtha just drew more attention to himself by coming out and doing this stupid thing against our troops. Now if there is a probe he's going to be in more hot water than he thinks!
He already failed it my eyes. A treacherous scumbag he is has no ethics.
You've got that right!!!!
At the onset, I got the impression that there may well have been a reason why Murtha turned his back on his own military background - if not his coat to his Country.
I'll bet the Alpha Dems (Hillary, perhaps?) "Have something on him".
They made him an offer, much like the "Godfather", that he "couldn't refuse".
After all; isn't blackmail one of the sociocrat's favorite tools in their old bag of political tricks?
Now, perhaps, we are getting a hint at some of the "goods" hanging over him which made him turn on his fellow Marine Brothers in Arms, many of whom currently serve in harm's way... and have shed their precious life's blood defending that which he now seems so anxious to surrender.
"Goods" which also may have forced him to turn on his Country - which, if I'm not mistaken, he has sworn to uphold and defend on at least two occasions.
Alas for him; his desperate treason may not have saved him from the consequences of his nepharious behavior for very long.
Or so we might hope, that is.
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