John Murtha The PorkMeister With The Abscam Past
It seems John Murtha is the PorkMeister!
For more than a decade, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania has operated a political trading post in a back corner of the House of Representatives.
A gang of about two dozen Democrats mill around his seat. A procession of others walk back to request pet spending projects, known as earmarks. And Republicans come by, asking him to enlist some of those Democrats to join them on close votes. “Whether they get what they want in the bill or they get the votes they are looking for, nobody ever leaves completely disappointed,” said Representative Paul E. Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat often found in what is known as the Murtha corner.
Outside Washington, Mr. Murtha, a Vietnam veteran and longtime hawk, may be best known for his break with the president over the Iraq war last fall. But inside the Capitol, he is best known for turning earmarks into power. As the top Democrat on the House military spending subcommittee, he often delivers Democratic votes to Republican leaders in a tacit exchange for earmarks for himself and his allies. . . .
Earmarks ” often buried deep in complex bills by unidentified lawmakers ” have come under new scrutiny since the conviction last fall of Representative Randy Cunningham, a California Republican on the defense-spending panel who accepted more than $2.4 million in bribes from contractors. The cost of earmarks has tripled in the last decade to about $64 billion a year, according to the Congressional Research Service. Mr. Murtha and other lawmakers say many earmarks are worthwhile, but critics charge that they waste taxpayers’ money, encourage cronyism and foster self-dealing.
Some members of Congress complain that earmarks corrupt lawmaking in other ways. “They are used as internal bribery in order to get members to vote for a piece of legislation they wouldn’t ordinarily give two minutes to,” said Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
No one is more adept at such trading than Mr. Murtha, say current and former members, Congressional aides and outside observers.
Lest we forget, this is the same man seen on tape here, that was involved in the Abscam scandal! Transcript of what is said on the tape is available here.
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October 3, 2006 - 04:21 PM on October 3rd, 2006
ABSCAM! YTHAT”S IT!!!!
October 3, 2006 - 04:23 PM on October 3rd, 2006
You didn’t think I would let that little scandal go did you? He basically said on tape, what transpires around his seat!:wink:
October 3, 2006 - 04:49 PM on October 3rd, 2006
No, on another board I stated that most politicians are crooked and have ultior motives in a thread about Murtha when the thread starter claimed Murtha was not. I could not remember the name of the scandel he was in and could not find it.
I just went and stomped the point in his verbose pie hole so hard his colon has my shoe print in it.
“Size 10, New Balance”.
I love doing that to progressive whack jobs.
October 3, 2006 - 04:56 PM on October 3rd, 2006
Doesn’t that feel good:lol:
October 3, 2006 - 06:40 PM on October 3rd, 2006
Yes, it does.
November 11, 2006 - 08:49 AM on November 11th, 2006
[...] Two days ago, America woke up to the news that the Democrats had won control of the Congress and we were hours away from learning that they had also won the Senate. What a difference 2 days makes in politics. George McGovern is being reintroduced to the Democratic party. Next week, he is planning to meet with 60 members of Congress to discuss strategy to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by June. Murtha has plans of becoming the next Majority Leader. I suppose he feels that it is payment for all those deals he brokers at his desk: “Listen, this is not a dictatorship. The President can say all he wants to. The President has, has no power. The President is a, a perception of power. And he’s lost that power in this election.” And then we have Lincoln Chafee who is a disgruntled loser. Two days after losing a bid for a second term, Sen. Lincoln Chafee said he was unsure whether he would remain a Republican. Chafee lost to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in a race seen as a referendum on President Bush and the GOP. On Thursday, he was asked whether he would stick with the Republican Party or become an independent or Democrat. [...]
November 15, 2006 - 09:56 AM on November 15th, 2006
[...] Boo freaking hoo John! Murtha decries ’swift boat-style’ attacks on ethics. A refresher course on John: Abscam & Porkmeister all rolled into one! In routing the GOP in the November 7 elections, Democrats attacked what they called a Republican “culture of corruption.” [...]