Original Copy of Jack Anderson Murtha Article August 6, 1980

"I want to deal with you guys awhile before I make any transactions at all, period," he told them, "After we've done some business, well, then I might change my mind."

Still, he wanted them to understand that he was the best man in Congress the sheik could acquire "I'm going to tell you this, if anybody can do it, I'm not BS-ing you fellows, I can get it done my way," he boasted "There's no question about it."

"All at once," he said, "some dumb (expletive deleted) would go start talking eight years from now about the whole thing and say (expletive deleted), this happened. Then in order to get immunity so he doesn't go to jail, he starts talking and fingering people. So the (SOB) falls apart."

"You give us the banks where you want the money deposited," offered one of the bagmen.

"Well, let me find out what is a reasonable figure that will get their attention," said Murtha, "because there are a couple of banks that have really done me some favors in the past, and I'd like to put some money in."

Later Murtha asked again how much the sheik might be willing to deposit in a bank the congressman would designate. "Oh," said Amoroso, "I think a million dollars." The figure aroused new enthusiasm in Murtha.

Murtha emphasized again how influential he was "I'll be quite honest with you," he confided "I've got as much influence in that (expletive deleted) Congress with the leadership and the White House as anybody in Congress. I went to the ball game with the President. There were three of us me, Tip (Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill) and that was it. So I've got as much influence, and I know as much about the (expletive deleted) workings--you're not going to have any trouble."

Federal prosecutors designated him an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam investigation 26 years ago.

I was reminded of it after Murtha became a candidate for majority leader, not by a Republican hit man but a Democratic former colleague in the House.

In a long political career, Murtha has made bitter enemies inside his party who are alarmed by his new stature.

In 1980, the FBI named him as one of eight members of Congress videotaped being offered bribes by a phony Arab sheik.

The other seven targets took cash and were convicted in federal court.

The videotape showed Murtha declining to take cash but expressing interest in further negotiations, while bragging about his political influence.

Murtha testified against the popular Rep. Frank Thompson, which created lifelong enemies in the Democratic cloakroom.

The House Ethics Committee exonerated Murtha of misconduct charges by a largely party-line vote, after which the committee's special counsel resigned in protest."

http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak22.html

Syracuse Herald-Journal, Thursday, Feb. 7, 1980-OP-ED

Dem Watergate unfolding

By MARY McGRORY

WASHINGTON — Embarrassment hangs over Congress like a heavy smog. Once again, the public is asking if there is any end to the greed and stupidity on Capitol Hill. Nobody has been charged with anything yet. But from what has been leaked, so far, it would seem at a minimum that eight members could be accused of being "born yesterday," taken in by cock-and-bull stories, lured to odd places at odd hours by fake Arab sheiks with millions of dollars under their robes. What made it worse was the Congress was stung by its favorite agency, the FBI.

For Democrats, the political fallout could be cosmic. This is an election year, and the worst time for public confidence in an institution that many voters feel is for sale anyway. The circumstances that led the FBI to set up its "sting" operation are mysterious. How it got from tracing stolen art goods to calling up congressmen to offer filthy riches from generous Arab friends" is one of the many aspects of the case that requires fuller explanation. But the members are so depressed and defensive that none has dared raise the bitter question of "entrapment," which, along with the leaks, could compromise prosecution.

At his daily briefing, the voice of Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill was scarcely audible. Over the crowd of reporters gathered around his desk, fragments of his answers floated out:

"the strictest code of ethics" ... "worried about political consequences."

The press pack then trooped over to the Rayburn Building, where the only Republican struggling in the dragnet, Richard Kelly of Florida, held a news conference of truly epic witlessness. Kelly, a large, fair-complexioned man, kept saying he had covered everything in his written statement, a four-line affair that simply concluded that he had "not been involved in any criminal activity-" He was there, he said, "to answer any questions the press might have" But he answered all of them with a blush. What would he think of a colleague who had been seen stuffing his pockets with money? Kelly said. "It would depend on the circumstances." He repeatedly was invited to say out loud that he was not a crook. He declined.

The next stop was the House Ethics Committee, meeting in emergency session. There the ghost of Watergate walked. At the end of the table at the Republican side, with his arms folded and a quizzical expression on his face, sat Rep. Richard Cheney of Wyoming. He said nothing. He knows what scandal, even in its last stages, can do. He was the White House chief of staff for Gerald Ford, whose pardon of Richard Nixon may have cost him the presidency.

A Democrat, Rep. John Slack of West Virginia, moved at once to close the hearings. There was a notable bristling among the Republicans and a cry for "openness." Beside Slack, there was an empty chair. It belongs to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., understandably absent, since he is one of the eight alleged miscreants. To compound the irony, Murtha was elected in 1974, and was one of the first beneficiaries of Watergate. His victory in a Republican district was an early signal that the voters no longer believed Richard Nixon. Chairman Charles V. Bennett of Florida, looking melancholy, spoke of the availability of the videotapes, which allegedly show some of his colleagues pocketing cash. The discussion followed eerily the lines of the Watergate committee in its formative stages. Now — as then — it was a question of public hearings that might jeopardize court proceedings. It is a race for the evidence between a grand jury and a congressional committee.

Many painful questions must be faced by the shamed Congress. Should the members who have been leaked upon be allowed to keep their seats, allowed to vote, allowed, in the case of Reps. Frank Thompson, D-NJ., and John Murphy, D.N.Y., to preside over committees? One thing is perfectly clear: Rep. Richardson Preyer, D.N.C., spoke gravely of the need for a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. the hero of Watergate, has just accepted appointment as chairman of Common Cause. He may have to leave that plow and bring his unquestioned integrity to the Democratic Watergate that is just beginning to unfold.

SBD

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.

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060620-083859-8753r.htm

Chillicothe (Missouri) Constitution-Tribune, Wednesday, August 6, 1980

Jack Anderson

Washington - Rep John Murtha, D-Pa, came out of the Korean and Vietnam Wars a Marine Corps hero, with the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He was the first Vietnam veteran elected to Congress, a symbol of the voters' ire over the Watergate scandal, back in 1974.

Perhaps the saddest scene on the secret ABSCAM videotapes is the spectacle of Murth, with hair untamed and assertive manner, dickering for financial favors with the supposed bagman for a fictitious Arab sheik.

The bagmen, who were really undercover agents engaged in the FBI's most celebrated "sting" operation, had $50,000 stacked in five neat piles in a desk drawer ready to hand over to Murtha. He refused to take the money, but his reason was hardly noble.

"I want to deal with you guys a while before I make any transactions at all, period," he told them. "After we've done some business, well, then I might change my mind."

Still he wanted them to understand that he was the best man in Congress the sheik could acquire. "I'm going to tell you this. If anybody can do it, I'm not B S-ing you fellows, I can get it done my way," he boasted. "There's no question about it."

But the FBI's undercover con men were eager to complete the payoff. "I've never backed down on a deal," press hawk nosed Anthony Amoroso, who identified himself as Tony De Vito. "That's why I said to you a little while ago, I said to you that when I knew you were coming over, I assumed that I was going to give you the money."

But the reluctant Murtha would touch the $50,000. Here on secret videotape was this all-American hero, tall and dignified in a disheveled way, explaing why he wasn't quite ready to accept the cash.

"All at once," he said, "some dome (expletive deleted) would to start talking eight years from now about the whole thing and say (expletive deleted), this happened. Then in order to get immunity so he doesn't go to jail, he starts talking and fingering peopls. So the (S O B) falls apart."

Murtha suggested that the sheik start by investing in his district. "I'm talking about having a business connection" the congressman explained, "a business commitment that makes it imperative for me to help him."

"You give us the banks where you want the money deposited," offered one of the bagmen.

"All right," aggreed Murtha. "How much money we talking about?"

"Well, you tell me."

"Well, let me find out what is a reasonable figure that will get their attention," said Murtha, "because there are a couple of banks that have really dome me some favors in the past, and I'd like to put some money in."

The dialogue continued as follows:

AMOROSO: Let me ask you now that we're together. I was under the impression, OK, and I told Howard (middleman Howard Criden) that we were willing to pay, and I went out, I got the $50,000 OK. So what you're telling me, OK, you're tellimg me that that's not what you know.

MURTHA: I'm not interested.

AMOROSO: OK.

MURTHA: At this point, you know, we do business together for a while. Maybe I'll be interested and maybe I won't. Rightnow, I'm not interested in those other things. Now, I won't say that some day, you know, I, if you made an offer, it may be I would change my mind some day."

Later Murtha asked again how much the sheik might be willing to deposit in a bank the congressman would designate.

"Oh," said Amoroso, "I think a million dollars."

The figure aroused new enthusiasm in Murtha. He told the bagman about a bank president who was a friend of his. "This guy, over the years I've been in business myself, he's loaned me a lot of money and boy. They've been good to me, I mean good to me."

"And you think, I mean, this guy has really a little bank, any (expletive deleted) Congress with the leadership and the White House as anybody in Congress. I went to the ball game with the president. There were three of us, me, Tip (House Speaker Thomas P O'Neill) and that was it. So I've got as much influence, and I know as much about the (expletive deleted) working - you're not going to have any trouble."

Footnote: The Murtha episode was just a small, sad segment in the hours of ABSCAM videotapes, which my associate Gary Cohn has reviewed. The secret videotapes show that middleman Howard Criden later told undercover operatives that "Murtha's ready to go." This meant, according to government sources, that hea had agreed to accept a cash payoff. But just hours later, the ABSCAM story broke wide open - including mention that Murtha had been caught in the net. He responded with righteous indignation that the undercover agents "didn't offer me any money and I didn't take any." He has not been indicted but has been named a co-conspirator in the ABSCAM case.

OFF LIMITS: The CIA has warned members of Congress that visition the Israeli-occupied West Bank could be dangerous to their health. "The situation in the West Bank is volatile from a personal safety point of view," a secret cable from the CIA station chief warned.

The warning was seconded by similar reports from diplomatic sources in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

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