After Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) rejected Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ultimatum to offer a mea culpa on the floor of the House for his outburst during President Barack Obama’s address on Wednesday evening or face a formal admonishment, Democratic leaders are now moving to introduce a resolution to censure Wilson.

But Republican responses to the pending censure might explain why some prescient Democrats, perhaps guilty of similar actions under the last administration, were uneasy with assuming the role of disciplinarian: several key Democrats are weathering their own controversies, including Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means committee, Jack Murtha (D-PA), and Pete Visclosky (D-IN).

“Call it the Glass House of Representatives effect,” writes Politico’s Glenn Thrush.

The censure is “another stunning example of hypocrisy,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele in a statement. “Congressional Democrats are wasting taxpayers’ time and resources on a legislative measure to censure Congressman Joe Wilson so they don’t have to talk about their exceedingly unpopular health care plan.”

While the proposed censure has galvanized Republican legislative opposition to the President and Speaker Pelosi, it represented low-hanging fruit for many Capitol Hill communicators – an opportunity to revive fading Democratic controversies.

“If we are going to march Members down to the well of the House to apologize, Joe Wilson is going to have to get in line behind Nancy Pelosi, who attacked the intelligence community who protects us, Charlie Rangel who cheated on his taxes, Jack Murtha – a walking scandal, and we all know how the Democratic leadership tried to protect William Jefferson” said Steele.

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It’s a lovely morning today.  The sun is shining down from a brilliantly-azure sky.  The birds are singing counterpoint to the steady rumble of people getting up, going to work and living their lives.  Somewhere, a child laughs with innocent delight as a sudden breeze stirs the grass, and sends dandelion seeds dancing through the air.  And Air Force investigators are charging that various-and-sundry companies linked to Rep. Jack Murtha (and his lobbyist brother Kit Murtha) improperly received and used earmarks funneled to them by him.

When an Air Force command in north Florida sought new battlefield technologies, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) steered millions in federal dollars its way to hire defense contractors.

The research effort at the Pensacola Air Force base fell apart, however, when investigators found evidence that it was used to improperly pay a series of companies linked to Murtha. A handful of defense firms were paid for work that was never done or not called for in the contracts. Some of the companies involved, based in Wyoming, Florida and Murtha’s district in Pennsylvania, had hidden owners, prosecutors allege; one was secretly owned by the Air Force official who helped approve the payments.

As prosecutors reveal new details of their criminal probe into the $8 million earmark that Murtha arranged for the Air Force project, one familiar player is never mentioned by authorities. Several of the companies had hired the lobbying firm of the lawmaker’s brother, Robert C. “Kit” Murtha.

They’ve already flipped one of the defendants: Richard Ianieri (formerly of Coherent Systems International, one of the companies involved) will be cooperating with the authorities on this and a probably-related kickback case. In other words, this is the point in the ongoing investigation timeline where the investigators have finally taken hold of the loose thread and are prepared to give it a good, hard yank - just to see what happens. This is also the point where people start mumbling things like ‘no wrongdoing has been proven on the part of my client’ rather than confidently shouting it: it’s not yet the point where sitting politicians start discovering a burning need to spend more time with their families, but there’s time for that.

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(Via The American Thinker, via Instapundit) The bolded part is the part that you want your eyes to linger over.

Ex-contractor with Murtha ties charged over kickbacks

Federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh have charged a former executive for a defense contractor with ties to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) with taking nearly $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor.

Richard Ianieri, former president and CEO of Coherent Systems International Corp., is accused of accepting the kickbacks from a subcontractor identified only as “K” in court documents filed Monday. The charges came in the form of a criminal information, an indication that Ianieri is working with prosecutors and plans to plead guilty.

As you might remember from the Rezko trial - and that saga isn’t over yet; it’s just still in its Blagojevich phase - these kind of cases take time to build up and play out; so now is the time that you’d be wanting to see the first corruption cases go down.  Is Murtha involved?  That’s an interesting question… and, given that this is the first election cycle since 2002 where the man has had a primary challenger, the answer to that is probably of interest to more people than myself, or even the rest of the Republican party.

As to opponents in the general: it’s been reported (and assumed) that Bill Russell’s planning on another shot at this seat; and there’s also Tim Burns.  Local businessman, looks decent on the issues, not notably involved in blatant acts of federal money patronage and unashamed pork-barrel appropriations; all in all it would make for a refreshing change.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

[UPDATE] See also Hot Air. And may I say that there’s a part of me that hopes that Pelosi tries to quash this? It’s a lovely time of year for a gutter war.

I was tempted to go with the headline “FEDS RAID VISCLOSKY!” solely to give some of our lurkers acute acid reflux, but really: this is quite good on its own:

Feds subpoena Rep. Visclosky’s offices

Federal law enforcement officials have subpoenaed the congressional and campaign offices of Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) to get information about a former defense lobby firm raided by the FBI, according to Visclosky.

Certain Visclosky employees have also been sent grand jury subpoenas requesting documents related to the PMA Group, a lobby shop with strong ties to the Indiana lawmaker. Visclosky’s former chief of staff, Rich Kaelin, was a high-profile lobbyist at the firm that closed its doors at the end of March.

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Politico reports: John Hugya, Chief of staff for Representative John Murtha (D, PA), threatened his Congressman’s last (and future) electoral opponent on at least two occasions.

John Murtha opponent says aide threatened him

The Republican who challenged Rep. John Murtha in 2008 says a top aide to the embattled Pennsylvania Democrat threatened to have him recalled to active duty in the U.S. Army so he could be court-martialed for engaging in politics while serving in the armed forces.

Bill Russell — who challenged Murtha in 2008 and intends to do so again in 2010 — said Murtha chief of staff John Hugya made the threat during a National Rifle Association event in mid-March.

Ret. Col. Gregory Ritch, a former Army Reserve officer
who served as Russell’s commanding officer, said he heard Hugya make a similar threat in January.

Hugya, who has a bit of a nasty mouth to him - not surprising, given that he works for a politician who likes to call Marines ‘murderers‘ - is probably safe enough from actually being fired and/or censured. This is partially because the comments themselves are the sort of thing that you can get away with saying once, and often twice: as they say, politics ain’t beanbag. More importantly, Murtha is an integral part of Speaker Pelosi’s House machine. She’ll do nothing about this, of course.

You can, though.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

When a newspaper is associating pictures like this:

…to stories about said politician’s nephew: well, articles like this are almost redundant.

Nephew Mentioned Rep. Murtha in Dealings as Contractor

Robert C. Murtha Jr. has made a sizable living for years working with companies that rely on Pentagon contracts over which his uncle, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), holds considerable sway.

He has maintained that his uncle played no role in his defense-related work, much of it secured without competition. Newly obtained documents, however, show Robert Murtha mentioning his influential family connection as leverage in his business dealings and holding unusual power with the military. The documents add to mounting questions about Rep. Murtha, whose use of federal earmarks to help favored defense companies and his relationship with a former lobbying firm are under scrutiny by federal investigators.

The visual cue is fairly obvious, after all.

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This will do. For a start. Via Geraghty:

Watchdog Groups Join Calls for PMA Probe

House Democratic leaders face new pressure from four watchdog groups usually allied with them to open an investigation into the ties between three powerful Democrats and the now-defunct lobbying firm The PMA Group.

Democracy 21, Common Cause, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG on Thursday called on the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to probe the relationship PMA had with Democratic Reps. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana and James P. Moran of Virginia. The lawmakers secured lucrative earmarks for defense contractors represented by The PMA Group and received political donations from family members of the lobbying firm’s founder.

As the article notes - and has been noted in the past - this issue has been brought up numerous times by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Speaker Pelosi and the rest of her crew keep squashing it. It’s going to be harder to do that going forward, if groups like US PIRG are going to be pushing the issue. Of course, it’s entirely possible that what the normally Democratic-allied groups are doing here is trying to create a firebreak; get a few of the absolute worst cases tossed overboard and claim it’s a housecleaning.

I hope not - I like to think the best of people, for as long as I can - but even if it is a cynical ploy I’d still favor running with it. After all, there’s no guarantee that said cynical ploy would work.

Moe Lane.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

I have to admit that when it comes to avenging slights made against it this administration has both total recall and infinite patience. What’s below (via Instapundit) is probably the most important part of this New York Times article about Jack Murtha’s travails:

While past presidents often courted Mr. Murtha with phone calls and private meetings, President Obama has extended to him no such courtesies. On a visit to the White House, the lawmaker told senior defense officials that it would be “foolish” and “ridiculous” to cancel all of a $13 billion contract to buy new presidential helicopters, as he later recounted to a defense industry newsletter. But Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has insisted on scrapping the deal as a symbol of waste.

And in a recent meeting with the secretary, Mr. Murtha pushed a plan to divide a $35 billion contract to build a new airborne refueling tanker between two rival contractors — a compromise that pleases both but would cost the government much more. Mr. Gates listened with little response, several people briefed on their conversation said, but he later dismissed it.

You see, restrictions on how, how often, and how much one may trade favors for cash can be finessed. There’s always a loophole or an exception; in fact, often simple indifference on the part of those with oversight can be enough. But Jack Murtha’s power comes from his supposed access. He is not supposed to be one who can be slighted - or worse, ignored.

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Okinawa Jack seems very, very defensive in this article (H/T: Instapundit):

Murtha defends statement

The region’s outspoken congressman is in the national lens again – this time CBS News television cameras – in a report Wednesday that calls him “the king of earmarks who wastes a lot of taxpayer money” and implies that the FBI is investigating.

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, responded by waving the Constitution at the camera, saying: “What it says is the Congress of the United States appropriates the money. Got that?”

The CBS article in question is here, along with video footage that Murtha is going to regret. You can say and do things to, say, a private citizen with a video camera that you can’t do to a national news organization, and he made no friends in CBS with that antic. As can be seen with the next couple of paragraphs:

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“Troubled.”  How droll. It’s Pete Visclosky (D, IN-01), by the way. I repeat it because the AP can’t seem to.

Visclosky’s ties to troubled PMA Group run deep.

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky has promised to return money from donors with ties to a troubled lobbying group, but critics say his ties to PMA Group run deep.

The northwest Indiana congressman’s former chief of staff worked as a lobbyist for the firm, and Federal Election Commission reports show he received at least $100,000 in contributions from donors tied to PMA Group between 2006 and 2008. PMA Group was the top donor to Visclosky’s 2008 re-election campaign.

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So, I crunched the numbers of the PMA defense budget earmarks (raw info found here), and came up with something interesting.  Below are the top twenty current House members who have taken money from PMA and placed earmarks in that bill, sorted by cumulative donations.  A “#” represents being on the Defense Appropriations Committee at the time, and Republicans are bolded:

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While we’re all busy watching the Democrats Keystone Kops their way through their debt bill passage, the next news cycle’s story is busily chugging along:

Firm tied to Murtha closes PAC

PMA Group, the lobbying firm tied to Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) that was raided by federal agents back in November, has closed its political action committee, the latest sign of the company’s implosion.

PMA filed a “termination report” with the Federal Election Commission Thursday, notifying the agency that it would be shutting down its PAC. The PAC refunded its last $29,423 to the contributors, including Mark Magliocchetti, brother of PMA founder Paul Magliocchetti.

[snip]

But PMA has essentially collapsed; most of PMA’s lobbyists have bolted the firm, with one group breaking off to form its own lobbying outfit, while others have sought employment with other lobbying organization.

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[UPDATE] Oh, this just got better.  Via Hot Air:

Lobbyist Inquiry Appears to Be Widening

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors are looking into the possibility that a prominent lobbyist may have funneled bogus campaign contributions to his mentor, Representative John P. Murtha, as well as other lawmakers, two people familiar with the investigator’s questions said Tuesday.

(H/T: Instapundit) But by the time we’re done, the word will be “dwarves*”:

Dems’ ethical troubles reminiscent of GOPers’ headaches as majority

Despite President Obama’s repeated pledge to usher in a new, more ethical climate in Washington, House Democrats’ ethical troubles have begun to resemble those the GOP had when it occupied the majority just three years ago.

In many ways, the developments are more difficult for Democrats because they rose to power, at least in part, by vowing to right the ethical wrongs of the past.

And now Democratic leaders are facing new ethics questions as a senior Democrat is under fire for his ties to two firms under FBI investigation.

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