Matt Margolis has a tremendous piece on Rep. John Murtha and the fact that he may face an ethics probe all the while riding out the media frenzy after calling for the immediate withdrawl of our troops from Iraq.
Republican lawmakers say that ties between Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and his brother’s lobbying firm, KSA Consulting, may warrant investigation by the House ethics committee.
The calls come as Murtha, a former Marine and pro-military Democrat, has made headlines this week by coming out in support of a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.According to a June 13 article in The Los Angeles Times, the fiscal 2005 defense appropriations bill included more than $20 million in funding for at least 10 companies for whom KSA lobbied. Carmen Scialabba, a longtime Murtha aide, works at KSA as well.
KSA directly lobbied Murtha’s office on behalf of seven companies, and a Murtha aide told a defense contractor that it should retain KSA to represent it, according to the LA Times.
In early 2004, Murtha reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A company called Lennar Inc. had right to the land, and Laurence Pelosi, nephew to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was an executive with the firm at that time.
Murtha also inserted earmarks in defense bills that steered millions of dollars in federal research funds toward companies owned by children of fellow Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D).
This should be an interesting story that will unfold, but I can gaurantee you that the ethics part of the equation will be lost in the dialogue. Based on what is available on public record, do you think he should be investigated?
Hat tip to PCD
The Democrats say, “Ethics? Ethics? We don’t need no stinking ethics!”
The Democrat party is corrupt from top to bottom.
While their at it, why don’t they check into Harry Reid’s connections to lobbyists as reported by of all things, the LA Times. It turns out all of his sons and a son in law all work for lobbyists who supported bills that would benefit them and lo and behold, Senate Minority leader Reid, D-Nevada, was one of the main proponents of all of these bills.
Of course Murtha may be like Wesley Clark who, despite being a West Point Grad, over 30 years active duty and the rank of four star general, made the statement that he wasn’t now nor had he ever been a soldier. Sounds like the Marine Lt Colonel was basically telling Murtha that he sure didn’t sound like a Marine when he made his comment about immediately withdrawing the troops. Nowadays neither would get a hell of a lot of respect from their subordinates. And when a Vietnam combat vet told me that if we went to combat, “(I) was not to attend battalion staff call because it was too easy to throw a grenade in with the “Assholes” (his words not mine) who are the commanders and staff in this battalion and that I didn’t need to be there when it happened.” I took it as three things.
1: A compliment that I wasn’t one of the “Asshole” officers,
2: a warning that if we went to combat with the current cadre, we were in risk of multiple fragging incidents,
3: confirmation that my opinion of many of my superiors wasn’t far off base.
It wasn’t long after that that I got in the long line of Lts who were resigning their commissions from the artillery in that division and leaving the service. When the Division Artillery commander ( a full Colonel) wants to know why he’s losing so many junior officers and after being told, apologizes to the Lt and wishes him luck, you know things must be pretty bad. You might have bad Lt Colonels, but I haven’t met a bad full Colonel yet.
The demacratic party is full of crinmals just look at bill clinton,al gore and ted kennedy:roll:
As a poor ass that was a low life PFC Back in a long dead war this guy( murtha, low life ) to me is a real rat, Read Frnrartyoffcr he is right about the so called officers and about this pointless government that appears to be on the side of our enemies who want us dead, by the way this bull sh$t government of rats Read Red Rats ) just let GM Close down with the loss of the last 30,000 jobs in the USA And that pig and many other are happy for the coming third world hell you will be living in, why not take up arms and free yourself, i will tell you why you can’t see this coming hell, you want it and that makes you the enemy of freedom just like Bin Laden or Hitler but after all a people who hate freedom and duty have it coming and welcome to the third world little rats.
Sometimes, your party makes me sick.
A man speaks his mind, and you people attack him for it.
Attack the messenger, not the message itself (which, ironically, a majority of Americans agree with Murtha on).
“The Democratic party is full of criminals just look at bill clinton,al gore and ted kennedy”
yeah, OK. Ummm…NIXON, Delay, Cunningham, Ambramoff, Sen. Strom Thurmond had sex (and then a child) with a 15 year old black girl, “scooter” Libby, Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway, etc..etc…
Matthew 7:3 – “And why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye, and not notice the beam which is in your own eye?”
San Fran- Did I hit a nerve? We are exercising our rights…we have them too.
The kool aid runs red here… We ALL have a right to speak our mind. We ALL have a right to say whatever we want. But, when we say things in public we better have facts to back them up. Otherwise we get sued for slander. When we have something to gain by spoting off things that can’t be confirmed, outright lies if you will, because they make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside to try to sway public opinion we get sued. The current state of spew from the neocons pretending to be true republicans is truly revolting. The neocons are all about themselves. They dangle the brass ring in front of us, but never ever deliver. Wake up and smell the taint that is the New Republican Kool Aid. Our elected leaders are riding the coat-tails of the false republicans because it helps THEM stay in office. Stand up my brethren and vote out the taint. Bring honor and respect back to the party! WE are no idiots, contards, or rednecks, WE ARE REPUBLICAN and proud of it. The DEMS are not the enemy. Our forefathers were conservative, but liberal… Look it up, I did. It’s all there. The TV is not a substitute for real book research. Read history books, not pundit drivel dressed up as fact. They’re trying to sell books.
SFL What the heck are you quoting scripture for, seeing as how you’re an atheist? Even that position is relative, eh?
Murtha is a complete pos. Now it’s coming out that he’s another “decorated” Vietnam phony. His purple heart may not be legit. And he’s no combat vet. Funny how these phoneys, like Kerry and Murtha, have rode their Vietnam “decorated” status to fame and power. But they’ve shot their mouths off too many times; that is becoming their downfall. I’ve often wondered how in the world a Vet can backstab his fellow Vets. This offers some insight: real Vets don’t. The phony, lying, cheating, manipulative ones can and do.
Dear Jfrogg, I don’t think you are absorbing what you are reading, and we bloggers have our speech protected, just as the newsprint business does.
We said nothing untrue here, and you won’t find Murtha bringing it up either..all those contracts given to family members doesn’t look too ethical does it?
Not sure what jfrogg is saying. And I’d suggest that most of the posters here are Conservatives, who typically vote Republican, and are not kool-aid drinkers.
btw, the use of the term “kool-aid” for political lemmings describes the Leftist lemmings. The term was coined by and belongs to the Right and has not been authorized for any other use.
Should Murtha face eithics probe? Asolutely! The Democrites have been screeching “Republican Culture of Corruption!” Well, let the chips fall where they may.
Open up the following investigations on Murtha:
1. Ethics and corruption probe.
2. Investigation into his Vietnam service claims and possible undeserved purple heart.
3. Treason probe. If it can be shown that his “In Cold Blood” and other outrageous, slanderous remarks constitute providing aid and comfort to the enemy, then prosecute to the fullest extent.
Better yet, why don’t we open probes and investigate ANYONE who DARES to question the wisdom and political skill of the rulling Republican cabal?
You guys make me laugh.
It’s becoming a bit of a sick joke that your side attacks any Vet who has an opposing opinion from yours on Iraq.
Your side is very predictable. Attack, deny, and distort. Rinse and repeat.
It works well, simple people are easily misled. Why WOULDN’T your team use this “tool” at your disposal?
morals schmorals!
is something wrong with this site today? Posts aren’t making it up…
I want to have some fun regarding the Rush Limbaugh drug confiscation in FL yesterday, but it won’t let me post on the old Rush topics.
what’s up with that?
SF, you whine is duly noted. You, yourself, said you’d commit any slander to bring down this administation. Therefore, anything you say against the adiministrations is duly discarded. NEXT!
Well we could discuss his connection to Abscam
“Murtha got into politics in 1968 as a 36-year-old highly decorated Marine and in 1974 became the first Vietnam War veteran elected to Congress. By 1980, Murtha was a lieutenant of Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill and was moving to the top in the House when the FBI named him as one of eight members of Congress videotaped being offered bribes by a phony Arab sheik.”
PCD…keep attacking the messenger and ignore the message.
It makes it easier for the rest of us to find out who the weak ones are.
Peejz – no dirt there.
Murtha was taped REJECTING THE BRIBE.
thus, no charges were filed.
Is this the best you guys got on him?
I’m disapointed. I was expecting to hear from you how he faked his medals and wounds, and how Murtha never actually served in the military but lied about it – maybe he was never REALLY electerd to congress even. That’s the level of attack I’d expect from your side. Not a look back 25 years ago at an non-event that brought about no charges.
Could it be your team is slipping just a bit on the attacks?
15–I don’t remember him saying that. Which post was it on?
Even if he said that, it does not mean anything he says about our administration should be discarded. Rush messed up…again…and he’s going to (hopefully) be punished for it.
(Is this the part where PCD tells me how disappointed he is in me for not going with the masses and defending Rush? How dare I form an opinion for myself!)
Back to Murtha…yeah, it looks very damning that those contracts were given to family members. While I think an ethics probe is deserved, I don’t think it warrants attacks on his military service. Personally, I think it shows a disrespect to our servicemen when we start questioning their service and honors just because we don’t agree with their politics.
19, Murtha is a cut and run coward, period. That is his record. All he supports is cutting and running. That is not his military record, but his Contressional record.
Oh, Alyssa, I know when it comes to Rush or any other Conservative, innocent until proven guilty in a court of LAW is not one of your practiced tennants.
SF, we ignore self admitted slanderers and liars, like yourself.
The other seven congressional 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 in the Abscam case, 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.
That salvaged Murtha’s political career but limited his public exposure. The current Almanac of American Politics says: “He speaks for attribution to few national or local reporters, hardly ever appears on television and rarely speaks in the House chamber.” That reticence has disappeared the last seven months, as he became one of the party’s most visible faces.
What law is it that Rush violated? He has the perscription and this is not a drug on the controlled substance list that he is to stay away from..so what is it that he did wrong? I loved the joke he made about it though..how did Bob Doles luggage get here!
19, Alyssa, here you go. I’ll highlight the salient part of the quote for you. It is from the “IRAQI CHEMICAL MUNITIONS FOUND” thread. It is post 82 right after YOUR post 81.
Alyssa – good luck with the root canal. I had my first one last month, and it obviously isn’t fun. But it does get better. Just takes time.
Others – regarding positive comments about the US, I’m sure if you look you’ll find many.
But here are some more for you; SF Liberal loves his country, SF Liberal respects and honors americas fighting men and women, SF Liberal lost a dear friend in Iraq and would never slander the troops who are only doing what they’re told, but SF Liberal will gladly slander the incompetent civilian military leadership and the Bush Admin and all others involved in sending my buddy to his needless death.
what else:ummmm:.SF liberal loves and values conservative americans just as much as he loves liberal americans. My whole family except me are die-hard conservs and SF Liberal once was as well. Owned the first two Rush books from the early 90′s and loved them:I went to Clintons first inaug. in 1993, and didn’t like the man at all at the time.
We all need to put aside our fears and prejudices from time to time and understand that your fellow americans -with few obvious exceptions – are NOT the enemy, liberals aren’t out to “destroy america”any more than conservatives are.
SF, Murtha initially rejected the bribe, but came back angling for the money later. He wasn’t so clean, then or now. Just like McCain in the Keating scandal. You know the one where 4 Democrats were in on the greed, graft, and abuse of power? One name in particular of the Keating 5 other than McCain, was John Glenn.
22–Peejz, the prescription wasn’t in his name. You’re right, it’s not a controlled substance, but it wasn’t his prescription. That’s the infraction, because under his agreement, he wasn’t to be arrested for anything for 18 months.
LImbaugh’s doctor prescribed it, but he prescribed it in his own name “for privacy reasons.” Sorry, but the doctor should know that’s illegal, and so should Rush.
Oh, Alyssa, I know when it comes to Rush or any other Conservative, innocent until proven guilty in a court of LAW is not one of your practiced tennants.
Um, I’d really like to know how it is you keep forgetting that I vote conservative.
Innocent until proven guilty is something it doesn’t seem you believe in, and you immediately condemn all liberals when charges haven’t even been pressed. Pot, meet kettle.
Once again, SFL, you’re swimming against the tide, pursuing your Quixotic quest to defend Murtha, who is a pos traitor.
And that’s what we already know. Any ethics probe or look into his “highly decorated” military career is extra.
25, In your case, you prove you are not a conservative, and again you shift the argument away from the point because you can’t defend your points like every other liberals who comes here.
As to your post about SF, are you going to admit something or just be a liberal hypocrite?
PCD, are you smoking crack? What have I “proved,” besides showing that I can think for myself without just agreeing with people automatically because we share the (mostly) same politics? I love the game you play, how you call me liberal just because of that. It shows your weakness, not mine.
What is it you want me to admit to? That SF said that? I never said he didn’t, I just asked you to refer me to the post. You did, so what do you want me to say? Do you want a freaking cookie?
Well, I’m off to finish my root canal, so I won’t be posting anymore today and possibly tomorrow. Have fun with your ideas, PCD. I know they provided great entertainment for me.
28, nope, I not doing drugs, but are you still?
What I want out of you and SF is a little freaking honesty. I see I’m not going to get it from either of you. That is another liberal trait. You can’t be honest about your true agenda, not criticize a fellow traveller.
Actually Alyssa..it isn’t an infraction of his plea..he can not have perscriptions for or have traces of specific painkillers..that’s it..noting more..this is an issue to embarass him..it didn’t work because he was the one laughing the loudest…
The Left just can’t let this go. They lost big already with the Limbaugh case, but every time they think there’s a glimmer of light for them, they jump like trained monkeys.
Face it: You didn’t get Limbaugh, Lefties. And you aren’t going to this time either. You’re just giving him more publicity and increasing his listener base.
“Actually Alyssa..it isn’t an infraction of his plea..he can not have perscriptions for or have traces of specific painkillers..that’s it..noting more..this is an issue to embarass him..it didn’t work because he was the one laughing the loudest…”
Actually Peejz, it is “possible that he committed a second-degree misdemeanor violation”.
The sheriff’s office plans to file a report with the state attorney’s office and there might be an investigation.
You Apologists are AMAZING. The man gets caught AGAIN with drugs and you STILL can’t accept that he is a hypocrite and not to be trusted or respected.
Deep down, I bet you guys really do think he’s a P.O.S but you just can’t and won’t admit it to yourselves and especially to liberals for fear of having them NAIL YOU ON IT.
LOL…the man is laughing you say? I think we on the left are laughing a little bit harder on this.
you apologists are hypocrites. FYI.
“Face it: You didn’t get Limbaugh, Lefties.”
Robert, we already got him. (!)
He’s been already exposed as a hypocrite, and him getting caught AGAIN just puts the icing on the cake for us.
Pathetic attempts at saving face by you guys. My advice? It’s ok to have your heros fall once in awhile. It doens’t reflect TOO POORLY on you. HAHA…
“They lost big already with the Limbaugh case, but every time they think there’s a glimmer of light for them, they jump like trained monkeys.”
Sounds familier…
They lost big already with the MISSING VAST WMD STOCKPILES, but every time they think there’s a glimmer of light for them, they jump like trained monkeys.
jump monkey, jump! I think I saw a rusty, ineffective, 25 year old shell over there! Go get it boy!
Actually Peejz, it is “possible that he committed a second-degree misdemeanor violationâ€.
The sheriff’s office plans to file a report with the state attorney’s office and there might be an investigation.
You Apologists are AMAZING. The man gets caught AGAIN with drugs and you STILL can’t accept that he is a hypocrite and not to be trusted or respected.
Actually it is not a crime and I believe the officer followed procedure by filing the report..no law broken..the man is allowed Viagra, just as you and any other man is..there is no shame in it and there is no crime for his possession of it.
It is a crime if the man get’s caught with prescriptions in another persons name!!
AND, it’s a possible violation of his plea agreement. He was supposed to stay out of trouble for 18 months…he could even make it three without getting busted again.
The Far-Rights boot-licking and servile attitude towards Rush is unbecoming. It’s only because you are afraid of losing face for supporting him that you won’t admit your error of support.
It is not a crime under Florida statutes as long as the 3rd party is aware of it. Viagra is not a class 2 drug(controlled narcotic such as oxy contin) therefore he did not violate his agreement.
OK, I can accept that explanation for now while we wait and see what the official report will say and what the AG office in FL will do about this.
Or maybe we should just wait until he gets busted again with prescription pills that aren’t prescribed in his name – again.
I don’t think we’ll have to wait long.
He put them in another persons name to prevent this very thing..I think he should now turn around and sign a major advertising deal with the makers and that would be poetic justice! BTW, this is not an uncommon practice among famous people..
You shouldn’t do this.