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Murtha Rival Says Congressman's Top Aide Threatened him with court martialed
Fox News ^ | Wednesday May 13, 2009 | By Judson Berger

Posted on 05/13/2009 11:44:15 PM PDT by topher

Murtha Rival Says Congressman's Top Aide Threatened to Have Him Court-Martialed

Bill Russell, an Iraq war veteran who served with the Army, says Rep. John Murtha's chief of staff threatened to have him court-martialed when he ran against the Democratic congressman in 2008.

By Judson Berger

FOXNews.com

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Talk about hardball politics.

Rep. John Murtha's opponent in the 2008 election claims the Pennsylvania congressman's chief of staff has threatened to have him recalled to active duty and court-martialed for campaigning while in the military, which is in violation of military code.

Bill Russell, an Iraq war veteran who served with the Army, told FOXNews.com that Murtha's chief of staff, John Hugya, made the threat on two occasions -- first to his former commanding officer and then to his face in March.

"It's a terrible, terrible threat to make," said Russell, a Republican who lost to the Democratic powerhouse in November but plans to challenge him again in 2010. Asked if Murtha is trying to bully him out of a rematch, Russell said: "It was a direct intent to intimidate."

...

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: billrussell; hugya; murtha; oifveterans; ritch; russell
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1 posted on 05/13/2009 11:44:16 PM PDT by topher
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To: topher

I hope he has it on tape.....


2 posted on 05/13/2009 11:48:37 PM PDT by ScreamingFist
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To: topher

Murtha’s political days are numbered. His arrogance is slowly but surely becoming his undoing.


3 posted on 05/13/2009 11:50:50 PM PDT by Maelstorm (Men from which property can be extracted without uncoerced consent. can not be called free.)
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To: topher

guess that figures


4 posted on 05/13/2009 11:51:44 PM PDT by screaming eagle2
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To: ScreamingFist
You wrote:

I hope he has it on tape.....

From the article:

While Hugya did not explicitly threaten to bring Russell up on charges during the March conversation, he apparently did in a conversation in January with Ret. Col. Gregory Ritch, who served as Russell's commanding officer.

It is verified by Bill Russell's former commanding officer...

5 posted on 05/13/2009 11:55:13 PM PDT by topher (Let us return to old-fashioned morality - morality that has stood the test of time...)
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To: topher

Col. Lindsey Graham (Sen. S.C.) should look into this as a U.S. Senator.


6 posted on 05/13/2009 11:59:49 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
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To: topher

Murtha
61%

Irey
39%

John Murtha
155,268 57.9%

RUSSELL, WILLIAM (REP)
113,120 42.2%

Murtha’s support is slowly but surely eroding. This next election he will be even more venerable. There will not be a Presidential race and Bill Russell already has $403,000 raised already. He is going to be better prepared than any other candidate to run against Murtha in 2010.


7 posted on 05/14/2009 12:05:41 AM PDT by Maelstorm (Men from which property can be extracted without uncoerced consent. can not be called free.)
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To: Maelstorm
I hope you are right, however this is Pennsylvania. There are parts of this state I swear would vote for the Democrat even if you had a video tape of them murdering someone with a dozen witnesses. It is just the way it is.
8 posted on 05/14/2009 12:10:49 AM PDT by Plumres
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To: Maelstorm

Murtha is running into trouble with the media (Fox News). There was another article about Murtha and two other members of Congress getting kickbacks from PMA for military contracts...


9 posted on 05/14/2009 12:18:28 AM PDT by topher (Let us return to old-fashioned morality - morality that has stood the test of time...)
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To: Maelstorm

Time to pony up some dough for Russell...


10 posted on 05/14/2009 12:23:39 AM PDT by ForeignDude
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To: Maelstorm
For Freeper article about Murtha and PMA:

Democrats stop GOP effort to start ethics inquiry (The 8th such stoppage by the Dems since March)

From the AP article, here is the paragraph about the kickbacks to Murtha and two other Congressmen:

At the same time, the three lawmakers received huge amounts of political donations from PMA lobbyists and their clients. Murtha has collected $2.37 million from PMA's lobbyists and the companies it has represented since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political money. Visclosky has collected $1.36 million; Moran, $997,348.

11 posted on 05/14/2009 12:25:21 AM PDT by topher (Let us return to old-fashioned morality - morality that has stood the test of time...)
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: topher

The Johnstown Jackarse stikes again!


13 posted on 05/14/2009 12:45:30 AM PDT by MilesVeritatis ("War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things...." - John Stuart Mill)
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To: Maelstorm
Murtha’s political days are numbered. His arrogance is slowly but surely becoming his undoing.

Murtha district is completely dependant upon the pork he stuffs in the budget. The guy called everyone in his district bigots and still won.

14 posted on 05/14/2009 12:56:59 AM PDT by Always Right (Obama: more arrogant than Bill Clinton, more naive than Jimmy Carter, and more liberal than LBJ.)
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To: Maelstorm
Murtha called is constituents nasty names and still won. I still think it will be tough to beat him. Of course I will be blasted as I have been during the Irey disaster and Russel who was a better candidate but could not get enough of the vote. We will see what happens.
15 posted on 05/14/2009 2:36:36 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: napscoordinator

I don’t think people have any idea how much money Murtha brings into Johnstown. I would not doubt if Murtha doesn’t bring in about $100K of tax dollars for every family in that town. The town would dissolve overnight if Murtha stopped feeding it. It is a depressed little town with nothing but government contractors in it.


16 posted on 05/14/2009 3:40:47 AM PDT by Always Right (Obama: more arrogant than Bill Clinton, more naive than Jimmy Carter, and more liberal than LBJ.)
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To: Maelstorm
He should have been executed after abscam... he is untouchable.

LLS

17 posted on 05/14/2009 3:41:08 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer (hussein will NEVER be my President... NEVER!!!)
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To: Always Right
I don’t think people have any idea how much money Murtha brings into Johnstown. I would not doubt if Murtha doesn’t bring in about $100K of tax dollars for every family in that town. The town would dissolve overnight if Murtha stopped feeding it. It is a depressed little town with nothing but government contractors in it.

Funny how that works out. Whether it's Mutha's Johnstown or Byrd's W. Virginia, the more Federal pork project money poured in, the poorer the region becomes.

18 posted on 05/14/2009 3:56:06 AM PDT by 6SJ7 (atlasShruggedInd: ON)
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To: Maelstorm
This next election he will be even more venerable.

Man, let's hope not. 'Vulnerable' would be better.

19 posted on 05/14/2009 5:03:39 AM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (To the left the truth looks Right-Wing.)
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To: topher; jazusamo; smoothsailing; RedRover; Lancey Howard; xzins; bigheadfred; lilycicero

Seems Murtha is quite comfortable in using his connections to threaten court martials. Hmmmmmm.


20 posted on 05/14/2009 5:24:25 AM PDT by Girlene
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