Posted on 11/19/2005 7:57:47 AM PST by Checkers
Does anyone know?
I read last night on the live thread that Murtha was involved.
There were links to that, I think.
Yes. Freeper Sam Hill posted the information and links.
"In the probe of what became known as the Abscam bribery scandal, Murtha was the only congressman involved in the complex case to emerge without facing criminal charges. He declared he was innocent, saying he had "met with two men who I believed had a substantial line of credit that could provide up to 1,000 jobs for the district. I broke no law. I took no money." A grand jury and the House ethics panel cleared Murtha of any wrongdoing."
Source: http://asp.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/CandidateProfile.aspx?ci=462&oi=H
#5297 in the live thread from last night from Sam Hill
He was the only implicated Congressman not to be indicted. He was named in the grand jury report as an unindicted coconspirator.
Conspiring against our troops, conspiring against America.
I believe Larry Pressler, then congressman from South Dakota and later US Senator from South Dakota was also "implicated" but he directly told the "stingers" that he wanted no part of it.
Hey, go easy on Murtha. He does have that "D" after his name, purportedly for "Democrat". While I am a Goldwater Republican and can barely tolerate what has happened over the last 5 years, I'm beginning to think that "D" stands for something like; Dolt, Dunce, Dupe, Dishonest or my favorite...Dumba%%.
Thank you, I tried to post the USATODAY article, but Free Republic blocks all USATODAY posts due to copyright issues.
Suffice to say, Saint Murtha was up to his bushy eyebrows in ABSCAMery!
Maybe McCain could team up with Murtha and run as independents. These two crooks have managed to slip and slide their way out of scandals that others took the fall for. And both are "military experts!"
McCain on the war -
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1525150/posts
Even a stopped clock is right twice/day and McCain certainly has a record far less than that. I'm sure he and Murtha could reach an agreement somewhere between leave Iraq now and finish the job that would undercut the military and have the approval of both.
Along with possible other problems, desperate rats when cornered, do desperate things.
http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/101805/spending.html
"For the past three years, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, has been the No. 1 beneficiary of defense campaign donations in the House and has not fallen below No. 3 for Congress as a whole."
That's a very positive spin on Murtha's behalf.
IIRC, the FBI videotaped all of their meetings and transactions with the Senators, Representatives and others. (They had not started out to net Congressmen, but businessmen.)
They set up shop in a townhouse rented from a Washington Post reporter. There were more people caught than the one Senator and six Representative (all Democrats) usually mentioned. There was tape on all of them.
Murtha was spare almost certainly because of his high position. He was the chair of the appropiations committee (and perhaps because of his war record).
IIRC, a lot of strings were pulled by Tip O'Neill and others to get Murtha cleared. But it is pretty hard to argue with videotape. (Except for powerful and well-connected Congressmen.)
The FBI would have gotten plenty more Congressmen taking bribes, but the noble Washington Post reporter whose house they were using didn't like the idea of Democrats getting in trouble and he ratted them out.
GOP Lawmakers Float Ethics Probe of Murtha
Friday, Nov. 18
By John Bresnahan,
Roll Call StaffRepublican 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).
Murtha and KSA have denied engaging in any improper or unethical behavior. Murtha’s offices in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., could not be reached for comment at press time.
But with GOP leaders infuriated by Murtha’s declaration this week that the United States should pull all its military forces out of Iraq in six months, renewed attention is being focused on Murtha’s dealings with KSA.
“I have read the articles about these appropriations projects that benefited his brother’s lobbying firm,” said Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.). “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.
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 strikes at the heart of his credibility on [military] issues,” said the GOP lawmaker. “He’s put himself on the frontline.”
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/11329-1.html?type=pf
Everybody has tried to forget ABSCAM. Like it never even happened. The media never even once mentioned it after September 11th, and the killers were identifed as Arabs.
"Everybody has tried to forget ABSCAM. Like it never even happened. The media never even once mentioned it after September 11th, and the killers were identifed as Arabs."
It's because everybody involved was a Democrat.
Just as a matter of academic inquiry, on what basis do you claim that Sam Johnson is a ''true'' war hero of greater status than both John McCain or John Murtha? McCain and Johnson were both shot from the sky over North Vietnam and Murtha was a USMC sgt wounded in ground combat and retired as a USMCR colonel? In the category of ''war hero,'' what differentiates one from the other two? If it is their votes and comments as a member of Congress or the Senate, then your distinction is both meaningless and disingenuious. Perhaps you alone may be aware of some aspect of their active service or conduct in combat operations or as a POW. Please let us in on your storehouse of knowledge.
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