Pelosi Earmarks Pa. House Seat for Murtha Staffer
By Scott Ott on Tim Burns
ScrappleFace
News Fairly Unbalanced. We Report. You Decipher.
(2010-04-29) — A former staffer of the late Rep. John Murtha, D-PA, today announced that despite his neck-and-neck race with Republican Tim Burns, he will win the May 18th special election because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already earmarked the seat for him.
“My experience working with Jack Murtha prepares me not only to serve in his seat,” said Democrat candidate Mark Critz, “but to actually secure it without a literal up-or-down vote, in the same way that Jack and his colleagues channeled millions in federal funding to their districts for decades.”
Mr. Critz emphasized that the earmarking of the House seat was not for his own benefit, but like Mr. Murtha, his mentor, he was “securing it for family, friends and, at least indirectly, for other incidental residents of the 12th district.”
To voters concerned that a former Murtha insider might represent business as usual, the culture of insider dealing, and runaway federal spending, Mr. Critz said, “Nancy Pelosi has assured me she would do all in her magnificent power to keep Congress ethical and fiscally responsible.”
“In any case,” Mr. Critz added, “my Congressional seat is already earmarked, so the people of the 12th district can’t be blamed if things go wrong.”
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