Posted on 07/13/2006 10:54:54 AM PDT by SBD1
Jack Anderson Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, Wednesday, August 6, 1980
Excerpts
"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.
"All right," agreed Murtha "How much money are 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 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."
BTTT
I guess Murtha didn't have quite so much pull after his president, Carter, got tossed out. And in 1995, Murtha had even less clout, thank God.
You are right about the people carter picked for his administration. The damage he and clinton did was devastating. That's why it scares me even more to think creeps like Murtha could be back in the majority next January.
Did you change the view to 100% or 150%. It's a PDF, so you can make it as big as you need.
SBD
Irey needs to put this on her website NOW!
Time to give Murtha his Pink Slip. We issued Condit his pink slip in 2002 and now he's selling ice cream in Arizona.
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
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
"That's why it scares me even more to think creeps like Murtha could be back in the majority next January."
That is an absolute nightmare. They would impeach GW and Cheney and we would have President Pelosi.
He was begging for a $1 milion kickback. What a turd.
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.
After reading that article, Murtha might want to hire food tasters and someone to start his car. His fellow rats don't like lightening rods like him that could damage their future elections across the nation.
This is another great find, and it deserves its own thread.
By having its own thread, it can be joined with your other thread this morning and more to come.
That makes it easier for non Freepers to seach and find this dynamite potential re ending Murtha as a viable politician for the rats.
Murtha is playing a very dangerous game.
We caught him.
The FBI 26 years ago caught him.
Murtha has his family and former/current Congressional Staff on the limb with him.
Something will pop and soon.
GREAT find! Thanks so much for this ping! (What a jerk Murtha is--talks like a common thug.)
You sure do good work! Thanks for this post!
What Erik said--plus, someone needs to email some copies to Rush, Brit, etc.
They were notified in post #2. Certain "operatives" are buried within the ping list. ;*)
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