John "Abscam" Murtha is a crooked Politician

[JaJae]

First we had the Abscam scandal that was so pathetically defended by many. It will be interesting to see the responses to this.

For the past year and a half the mainstream media has been sitting on this story.
Nonprofit Connects Murtha, Lobbyists - washingtonpost.com

Nonprofit Connects Murtha, Lobbyists
Ties to Pa. Group Mutually Beneficial

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 25, 2006; A01

For a quarter of a century, Carmen Scialabba labored for Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), helping parcel out the billions of dollars that came through the House Appropriations Committee, so when the disabled aide needed a favor, Murtha was there.

In 2001, Murtha announced the creation of Scialabba's nonprofit agency for the disabled in Johnstown, Pa. The next year, with Scialabba still on his staff, Murtha secured a half-million dollars for the group, the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities (PAID), and put another $150,000 in the pipeline for 2003, according to appropriations committee records and former committee aides. Since then, the group has helped hundreds of disabled people find work.

But the group serves another function as well. PAID has become a gathering point for defense contractors and lobbyists with business before Murtha's defense appropriations subcommittee, and for Pennsylvania businesses and universities that have thrived on federal money obtained by Murtha.

Lobbyists and corporate officials serve as directors on the nonprofit group's board, where they help raise money and find jobs for Johnstown's disabled workers. Some of those lobbyists have served as intermediaries between the defense contractors and businessmen on the board, and Murtha and his aides.

That arrangement over the years has yielded millions of dollars in federal support for the contractors, businesses and universities, and hundreds of thousands in consulting and lobbying fees to Murtha's favored lobbying shops, according to Federal Election Commission records and lobbying disclosure forms. In turn, many of PAID's directors have kept Murtha's campaigns flush with cash.

When the Democrats take control of Congress on Jan. 4, ethics and budget restructuring will be the first orders of business. Among the provisions in the Democrats' ethics package are demands for more transparency in the doling out of federal funds to home-district projects and a required pledge that no earmarks benefit a member of Congress personally. That could put an uncomfortable spotlight on lawmakers such as Murtha.

"It's a real tangled web between the congressman, the nonprofit, the defense contractors and the lobbyists," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group. "It's hard to say where one stops and the others start."

Murtha declined to respond to numerous phone calls and e-mails from The Washington Post requesting comment.

Scialabba, a former Marine whose young boxing career was cut short by polio and who relies on a wheelchair, said PAID's efforts to put a chronically underemployed population to work have rendered it above reproach. The group has provided information, training and resources to encourage businesses to hire disabled workers.

"Everyone's trying to make this a political thing, and it makes me very mad," Scialabba said last week in a brief interview, defending the collaborations. "Would you rather have tax dollars spent on some [disabled] guy sitting at home? We're not looking for handouts, damn it."

But to some watchdogs, including Taxpayers for Common Sense, Democracy 21 and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, PAID looks a lot like the cozy nexus between lawmakers, lobbyists and business interests that Democrats railed against in the midterm campaigns.

Its board of directors includes Scialabba and five government contractors who have received millions of federal dollars through appropriations measures obtained by Murtha. Its advisory council includes three lobbyists from KSA Consulting, which employs Scialabba and employed Murtha's brother, Kit. Its honorary board members include still more defense contractors.

In turn, the lobbyists and businesses associated with PAID have become supporters of Murtha's campaigns, contributing a total of nearly $125,000 in the past three election cycles, when Murtha raised a total of $7.2 million, according to campaign records. And those same players have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at three lobbying shops with close Murtha ties: the PMA Group, Scialabba's KSA Consulting and Ervin Technical Associates.

In the past year, Murtha, a Marine combat veteran and defense hawk, has gained national prominence as the leader of the Democratic charge to pull U.S. troops from Iraq. After the Democrats won control of Congress in November, he made an unsuccessful bid to become House majority leader, with strong backing from House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) The main source of his power is his perch as the top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, which controls nearly a half-trillion federal dollars a year. His largess to his friends and hardscrabble district is legendary. But now that he is assuming the chairmanship of the defense subcommittee, his actions are coming under new scrutiny.

Under Murtha's watch, for instance, Windber Medical Center has been transformed from a struggling hospital outside of Johnstown into a burgeoning cancer research center, thriving on Defense Department funding. Hospital officials have paid the PMA Group some $380,000 in lobbying fees since signing on in 2001. And hospital employees have financed Murtha's political campaigns to the tune of nearly $25,000.

"It sounds like DeLay Inc.," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Democratic-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, referring to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who set up his own charities that became the focus of attention by businesses and lobbyists seeking to curry favor with him.

But Murtha has his defenders. "Jack Murtha is supportive of everything you can think of around here, from roads and sewers to defense contractors," said Bill Kuchera, chief executive of Kuchera Industries of Windber, Pa., and a PAID director. "But without Jack Murtha, there'd still be a Kuchera. We don't lean on Jack Murtha at all."

Murtha repeatedly intervened on behalf of PAID to help Kuchera expand.

After PAID's founding, Scialabba approached Kuchera to get involved. Kuchera jumped, not only joining the group's board but ramping up hiring of disabled workers, who now compose a third of the 200 employees in his company's defense business. The federal government picked up Kuchera's $7 million training bill. This year, Murtha earmarked $1.3 million for Kuchera's chemical and biological weapons detection research.

Kuchera employees donated more than $31,000 to Murtha in the past three election campaigns, according to federal election records. Between 1990 and 2000, contributions totaled $1,000. And congressional lobbying disclosure forms tally $140,000 in payments since 2001 from Kuchera to Ervin Technical Associates, whose chairman is former representative Joseph M. McDade (R-Pa.), a close Murtha ally.

The Kuchera experience is not unique. Ed Washington, another PAID director, hails from MTS Technologies, an Arlington defense contractor that recently secured $8.9 million in federal funds to expand its Johnstown facility. MTS's lobbyist, the PMA Group, has disclosed some $300,000 in fees from the company since 1998. And PMA has returned the favor: Since 1989, the firm's employees have given Murtha $107,500.

Daniel DeVos, an honorary PAID board member, represents Concurrent Technologies, whose employees have lavished Murtha with more than $53,000 in campaign contributions and PMA with $820,000 in fees. That may sound steep, but the rewards have been substantial: a $150 million contract to operate the Navy Metalworking Center; a $4 million contract from the Army to evaluate fuel-cell systems; and $1.7 million for a weapons of mass destruction response laboratory, among others.

Another PAID director, Jim Estep, is a central figure in an investigation of Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.), a Murtha ally and fellow member of the Appropriations Committee. Estep heads the West Virginia High-Technology Consortium Foundation and the Institute for Scientific Research, two nonprofit organizations that Mollohan helped set up and has plied with federal funds.

Keep in mind Tom DeLay was indicted and booted out. What will become of Murtha?

[Pro Street]

Delay wasn't booted out, he stepped down and continued to serve.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by Pro Street

Delay wasn't booted out, he stepped down and continued to serve.

He indicted and resigned. Technically he wasn't forced out... but he was slandered until his career was gone and so he stepped down.

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by JaJae

First we had the Abscam scandal that was so pathetically defended by many. It will be interesting to see the responses to this.

For the past year and a half the mainstream media has been sitting on this story.

What will become of Murtha?

Probably nothing? The left-media fallback for Demcorats is always "nothing illegal" no matter how unethical. I have watched the Abscam tape. Just because he beat that rap dosn't mean this guy has respectful and ethical conduct. But I am used to the total hypocracy at this point. Republicans must simply learn that they require even higher standards of behavior.

As for the media notice how the Post dropped this right at Christmas when all of Washington will be out of town for another week or more and most people are not paying much attention to the News.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by JaJae

He indicted and resigned. Technically he wasn't forced out... but he was slandered until his career was gone and so he stepped down.

So slandered that he won his primary, and when it became apparent that only he could win the district (a write in -candidate?) he still stayed out, why? Because he focused on not going to jail over anything else

No one is talking about Murtha going to jail, even if the worst of it is true, it looks like a Congressman using all his congressional power to get money to try and kickstart his extremely poor district

It's pretty easy to represent a district in Northern Virginia that is flush with cash and the only thing they care about is that their member votes for the next tax cut, than representing a people that have up to 60% unemployment and getting a trailer is considered to be a huge success

Show me a congressman representing an extremely poor district and him refusing earmarks and firmly against pork

I think you miss the point that, even if this story is true, its exactly what the voters wanted him to do

Before you start about the "culture of corruption" campaign, I think you should note Democrats said they'd try to make it better, not cure every problems related to being a Rep. and money

With Democrats, they've been ear-marking for decades...but everyone knew about it...with the Republicans you had them acting as virtous crusaders for a balanced budget and an end to pork, when they were setting up bribery schemes so complicated its taking years of federal investigations to unravel, and K Street projects to abuse their lobbying capacities to strangle any part of America that was solidly Democrat

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

As for the media notice how the Post dropped this right at Christmas when all of Washington will be out of town for another week or more and most people are not paying much attention to the News.

Yea I noticed that too, they've been sitting on this for a year and a half and dropped it on the slowest news day they could. Unlike the Republican scandals which they waited to release for when they would do the most damage to the midterm elections.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Probably nothing? The left-media fallback for Demcorats is always "nothing illegal" no matter how unethical. I have watched the Abscam tape. Just because he beat that rap dosn't mean this guy has respectful and ethical conduct. But I am used to the total hypocracy at this point. Republicans must simply learn that they require even higher standards of behavior.

As for the media notice how the Post dropped this right at Christmas when all of Washington will be out of town for another week or more and most people are not paying much attention to the News.

Total hypocracy? Not found

As for the media, why doesn't Fox News pick it up on TV, the Washington Times put out its reporters for Print, and radio is baasically all conservative all the time, have them do it, and use conservative websites to and bloggers to investigate

There's an almost endless list of media outlets conservatives can use to push this story, realize there are many times even conservatives don't care

As a reverse example, when I hear about the GOP putting forth some bill to strip away our constitutional right to privacy, I don't fly into anger everytime...its expected

So, when conservatives hear "democrat who has been funneling money into his poor district for decades may have used questionable methods" I don't expect them to swerve off the road and start marching on DC...

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

With Democrats, they've been ear-marking for decades...but everyone knew about it...with the Republicans you had them acting as virtous crusaders for a balanced budget and an end to pork, when they were setting up bribery schemes so complicated its taking years of federal investigations to unravel, and K Street projects to abuse their lobbying capacities to strangle any part of America that was solidly Democrat

The argument of "Democrats are known to be crooks and corrupt so they can get away with whatever they want" argument is getting very old.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Yea I noticed that too, they've been sitting on this for a year and a half and dropped it on the slowest news day they could. Unlike the Republican scandals which they waited to release for when they would do the most damage to the midterm elections.

Meanwhile, Florida newspapers — who were leaked copies of the e-mail with the Louisiana boy last year — defended their decision not to run stories. Both The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald were given copies of the e-mail, as were other news organizations, including Fox News

Leader of U.S. House defends handling of scandal involving congressman, young former page - iht,america,US Congressman Resigns - Americas - International Herald Tribune

Liberal media hiding Mark Foley's scandals until eletion time?

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by JaJae

The argument of "Democrats are known to be crooks and corrupt so they can get away with whatever they want" argument is getting very old.

No, they don't, thats why people went to jail for Abscam

There is the line the GOP drew in 1994, that they never followed
There is the line you are drawing, that almost no one follows
There is the line that Democratic voters expect of their representatives, which many republicans and democrats follow

There is a reason why many people like thomez and the state of WV consider Sen. Byrd to be almost a saint, and many others (I'll say probably you too) think he is totally unethical for using every power he had to divert every dime he could find to West Virginia

The Republican Revolution leaders, like DeLay, came in promising to end many pork related problems, which they labeled as "corruption" they ended up doing it themselves

One man a hero, the other a crook, its all about where you draw the lines...Byrd did it the old fasioned way, DeLay used new schemes that turned out to be so borderline illegal that he got himself indicted

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Yea I noticed that too, they've been sitting on this for a year and a half and dropped it on the slowest news day they could. Unlike the Republican scandals which they waited to release for when they would do the most damage to the midterm elections.

It certainly would have been more relevant and newsworthy before the election!

[RMNIXON]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

Meanwhile, Florida newspapers — who were leaked copies of the e-mail with the Louisiana boy last year — defended their decision not to run stories. Both The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald were given copies of the e-mail, as were other news organizations, including Fox News

Leader of U.S. House defends handling of scandal involving congressman, young former page - iht,america,US Congressman Resigns - Americas - International Herald Tribune

Liberal media hiding Mark Foley's scandals until eletion time?

The E-Mails were not the scandal, just suggestive. The IM's were the story. You seemed to have lost track of the spin on this one?

Beside the very liberal St. Petersburg times are very big on the defense of Child Molesters and people who help them, so why would they be hypocrites on Foley and Republicans?

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

The E-Mails were not the scandal, just suggestive. The IM's were the story. You seemed to have lost track of the spin on this one?

Ok so the MSM got the sexually graphic IMs a year in advance and fox news didnt? I'm going to need a link to that story

[motivez]

If he's done anything illegal he should be indicted, just like DeLay and the plethora of other Republicans caught breaking the law, but while this certainly sounds unethical and I'd encourage Democratic leaders to put an end to it and be different than Republicans, is there anything illegal about what he's doing?

I really don't like lobbying and I think 100% transparency is something we should require from our government. They work for us, and allowing them to keep secrets on back room deals is bullshit and as a nation we should not tolerate it.

The question that enters my mind is how we can prevent it legally?

[motivez]

Lets try to keep this on topic, we can make a new thread about Foley if one is needed

[RMNIXON]

Indeed!

[kinggovernor]

maybe that is why he wasn't selected for majority leader

[motivez]

Could be, but I suspect it has more to do with his past than this thing.

Democrats want to put forth an ethical face as much as possible, and while I still greatly respect Murtha for being one of the first people unafraid to speak the truth about the situation in Iraq, his history compromised their vision for the new Congress.