Time to re-examine Jack Murtha
Betsy's Page
Congressman Jack Murtha has rocketed to national fame by criticizing the U.S. efforts in Iraq, calling for redeployment to Kuwait or Okinawa, and accusing the Marines of a coverup of whatever happened at Haditha. Yesterday, we got the news that there had been no "knowing cover-up" at Haditha, contrary to Murtha's assertion. While we're re-examining Murtha's military pronouncements, it might be a good time to take another look at what else Murtha has done in his career as a congressman. He has gotten a clean pass from the media for the rest of his record, but the Washington Times looks at some of the dealings Murtha has had in Congress.
<<< 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. >>>
Just think of how the media would be yelping if a Republican congressman who was a fervent supporter of the administration's efforts in Iraq had these questions raised about steering earmarks to relatives of Democratic congressmen. You just know that, in those multitudinous appearances all over the media that Jack Murtha has been making, reporters would be asking him about these stories from the L.A. Times and Roll Call (no conservative lapdogs) if Murtha were a Republican. Instead, these questions never seem to arise. It is time for the media to stop giving Murtha a pass.
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