AP WATCH
I’d like to commend the Associated Press in it’s story on the House leadership election for giving readers a glance at John Murtha’s history of porcine vote trading and his somewhat ambiguous response to an FBI agent’s bribery attempt 26 years ago.
But I’m a little mystified that another more recent matter was (A) buried nine paragraphs down, and (B) written in what is either an astonishing state of cluelessness or — shocking, I know, from the AP — as an exercise in willful distortion:
Murtha, a former Marine who generally has supported U.S. military efforts, has gained considerable attention this year for his criticism of the administration’s Iraq war policies. He steered Pelosi’s winning campaign in 2001 against Hoyer for the No. 2 Democratic leadership post, and his supporters say Pelosi deserves a more loyal wingman.
But Murtha is also a controversial figure. He was investigated in 1980 as part of the Abscam bribery sting, but was the only lawmaker involved who wasn’t charged criminally.
Apparently Murtha’s vitriolic denunciations of U.S. troops and calls for the abandonment of Iraq have been considerably attention gaining … not controversial.
OK!
Here’s more: the ABSCAM details for their entertainment value and a brief treatment of Murtha’s congressional swineherding in case anyone out there is not familiar with this. In fairness, he is not the only other-white-meat enthusiast in Congress and as Instapundit has noted, Pelosi has earned brownie points vs. pork.
FBI agents pretending to represent an Arab sheik wanting to reside in the United States and seeking investment opportunities approached Murtha and several other lawmakers with offers of bribes.
When offered $50,000, Murtha is recorded as saying, “I’m not interested … at this point.” A grand jury declined to prosecute Murtha, and the House ethics committee issued no findings against him. On MSNBC Wednesday, Murtha said, “I told them I wanted investment in my district. They put $50,000 on the table and I said, `I’m not interested.”’
Murtha has a record of not always being a leadership loyalist, frequently supplying votes to GOP leaders who were struggling to pass bills. The none-too-subtle trade-off: Murtha and his allies would do better when home-state projects were doled out by the Republicans.
He has been criticized by ethics watchdogs such as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who have said he exemplifies a “pay-to-play” culture of Washington. The group says Murtha has steered defense projects to clients of KSA Consulting, a lobbying firm that until recently employed his brother Kit. Clients of the firm are generous with campaign contributions.
Topics: Uncategorized
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:30 pm Comments (0) on Wednesday, November 15, 2006
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