Rep. John Murtha
2423 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2065
(202) 225-5709 fax
Rep. John Murtha
P.O. Box 780
Johnstown, PA 15907
(814) 535-2642
(814) 539-6229 fax
12th District Toll-free:
(800) 289-2642
"As ranking Democrat on the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee, the big-spending Murtha represents the
conscience
of the armed forces about as much as a sausage salesman can
be called the conscience of pigs."
-- Investors
Business Daily, 10/3/2006
Our political
artist is Linda Eddy.
Her original artwork is available
on t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers mugs, caps and more at:
[EXCERPTS]... the recent criticism of Murtha masks a larger, more
intense phenomenon. The congressman, a Vietnam veteran who famously
turned against the Iraq War in 2005, has been the focus of an
obsessive campaign against him by right-wing activists, many of them
also veterans, for more than two years. They thought their campaign
had faltered, but Murtha's recent gaffe may give them the victory
they've long been seeking...
... Over the course of several months in the summer and fall of 2006,
Bailey made repeated trips to Johnstown. In August, he held a press
conference, where he declared, "I will do my best to Swift Boat John
Murtha." He bought up roadside advertising, with money from [Roger]
Hughes, depicting a cartoon boot kicking a caricature of Murtha, drawn
by Hughes's wife, Linda Eddy. And he organized an anti-Murtha rally,
which drew a thousand attendees from across the country, with speakers
including World Trade Center survivor Earl Johnson and David Beamer,
father of Flight 93 hero Todd Beamer.
The
big score for Operation Boot Murtha came in the early fall, when
Bailey and Hughes unearthed a videotape of a twenty-six year old FBI
sting in which Murtha could be seen apparently considering a bribe in
a public corruption scandal that would become known as ABSCAM.
... the Boot Murtha website continues to be updated, as do the
local anti-Murtha blogs. And Murtha's opponent, Bill Russell, has not
hesitated to use the groundwork from 2006 to bolster his campaign. He
has repeatedly called for Murtha to apologize for the Haditha comments
and, over the summer, produced a video advertisement featuring the
father of one of those marines. This week, the National Republican
Congressional Committee, thrilled at the chance to pick up a
Democratic seat, is
airing an ad quoting Murtha's Haditha statement along with his
more recent gaffes. In a recent e-mail
plea, Murtha begged contributors for $1 million in donations,
blaming "Swift Boaters" for the "brutal reelection campaign."
Meanwhile, Larry Bailey is contentedly watching Murtha struggle from
his home in Chocowinity. "I'm feeling really good about it," he says.
Roger Hughes and his wife, out in Iowa, are in talks to produce an
anti-Murtha book, in case Murtha goes on to win. And though they wish
the congressman no luck on November 4th, a defeat at the polls may not
fully satisfy them. "Being voted out of office wouldn't be enough,"
Hughes said. "This guy really deserves to go to jail."
Oct. 28, 2008
Murtha: "No godddamned way" will a Virginia carpetbagger
represent my district
A
Pennsylvania source has just leaked me brand spanking new poll data
showing GOP upstart Bill Russell leading John Murtha among over 800
probable voters by 48-35.
This comes on top of the Susquehanna poll showing
Murtha ahead of Russell by
4 points, within the margin of error.
The new poll is from Dane and Associates, which
surveyed over 800 probable voters, randomly selected to reflect the
district makeup, on Wednesday night.
Past remarks labeling PA as 'racist' and 'redneck'
may be his undoing...
Democratic Rep. John Murtha leads
retired Army Lt. Col. William Russell by a little more than 4
percentage points, within the Susquehanna Poll's 4.9-point
margin of error. The poll of 400 likely voters was conducted
for the Tribune-Review on Tuesday, amid uproar over Murtha's
statement that some of his constituents are racist.
Stanley Shemanski, 67, a retired meat
cutter who lives in Apollo, said he's undecided about the
congressional race. He doesn't know much about Russell, but he's upset
with Murtha's comment that racism in the district could hurt Democrat
Barack Obama's chances...
A local Marine cleared in the
deaths of civilians in Iraq says Congressman John Murtha made
public comments that were unproven, untrue and unfair.
Now, Lance Corporal Justin
Sharratt is planning to file suit in federal court against
Murtha on Thursday morning.
The suit accuses the congressman
of slander and violating the Marine's right to a fair trial
and due process.
Sharratt was one of eight Marines
charged after 24 Iraqi civilians were killed in Haditha. He
was charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder.
It's alleged in the lawsuit that
before the outcome of the case, Congressman Murtha made
slanderous comments.
Three years after the deaths,
seven of eight Marines have been cleared, including Sharratt.
There's now a website, JustinSharratt.com, to let the world
know that he has been cleared.
The eighth Marine is still waiting
for his day in court.
KDKA contacted Murtha's office for
comment on this suit but there's no word back from them yet.
With
most of the eight
Marines charged in
the Haditha, Iraq, incident now exonerated, the
highest-ranking officer among the accused is considering a
lawsuit against Democratic Rep.
John Murtha, who fueled the case by declaring the men
cold-blooded killers.
In
an interview with nationally syndicated radio talk host Michael
Savage, the lead
attorney for Lt. Col.
Jeffrey Chessani said he and his client will look into suing Murtha
and the Time magazine reporter, Tim McGuirk, who first published the
accusations by Iraqi insurgents...
The Time magazine story, according to
Rooney, was planted by an insurgent propaganda agent. Publishing of the story was
soon followed by a May 17, 2006, news conference by Murtha. The
congressman announced he had been told by the highest levels of the
Marine Corps there was no firefight and Marines "killed innocent
civilians in cold blood."
"All the information I get, it comes from
the commanders, it comes from people who know what they're talking
about," Murtha told reporters at the time.
Murtha's assertions, however, conflicted
with results from the military's own investigations. An initial probe
by
Army Col. G.A. Watt found
no indications coalition forces "intentionally targeted, engaged and
killed noncombatants." Later, Army Maj. Gen. Aldon Bargewell found no
cover-up.
Nevertheless, the Marine Corps eventually
brought charges against Chessani and seven other Marines.
But now the cases against Lance Cpls.
Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt, Capts. Randy Stone and Lucas
McConnell and Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz have been dropped. First Lt.
Andrew Grayson has been acquitted, leaving only the case of Staff Sgt.
Frank Wuterich untested in court and Chessani prosecutors facing the
hurdles of the appeal process.
WND previously reported a military jury of
seven officers acquitted Grayson of all charges.
The ruling by Col. Folsom yesterday
followed a previous decision in which he confirmed evidence of
unlawful command influence.
The evidence indicated two generals who
controlled Chessani's case were influenced by Marine
lawyer Col. John Ewers, who
was allowed to attend at least 25 closed-session
meetings in which the case
was discussed...
Rooney was asked by Savage why he thought
Murtha, a former Marine himself, accused the officers and enlisted
men.
"In my opinion, it's clear it was done
during the election cycle, it was done to bolster himself in the
party," the attorney said. "He was vying for a leadership position,
and if he had to throw some Marines under the bus to do so, that was
the cost of power for him."
Military Judge Col. Steven Folsom dropped
all charges against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, who was accused of
violating a lawful order and
dereliction of duty, at a hearing at the
Camp Pendleton Marine base in Southern California.
Folsom's decision means that, out of eight
Marines originally charged in December 2006, six have won dismissals
of their charges and one has been cleared at court martial.
The accused ringleader, Staff Sgt. Frank
Wuterich, still faces court martial. The proceedings against him,
however, have been put on hold pending the appeal of a pretrial
ruling.
Folsom threw out the charges against
Chessani, a 44-year-old Colorado native, after finding that a
four-star general who oversaw the case could have been influenced by
an investigator who later became his adviser.
A court martial on Wednesday
acquitted a US Marine for his role in the deaths of 24
civilians in Haditha in Iraq in 2005, the sixth man to be
exonerated in the affair, a military official said...
Lieutenant Andrew Grayson, 27, was declared
"not guilty on all charges" by a jury, said a spokesman for
the Camp Pendleton military base in southern California where
the hearing started on May 28.
Grayson had been charged with making false
statements and attempting to fraudulently separate from the
Marine Corps. He was also charged with obstruction of justice,
but the military judge dismissed this charge Tuesday...
... Six have now had charges against them
dropped, while charges of murder against squad leader Frank
Wuterich were changed to the lesser offense of manslaughter.
Wuterich faces trial later this year, along with
Colonel Jeffrey Chessani, the highest ranking officer accused over the
incident who has been charged with dereliction of duty and violation
of a lawful order.
Three watchdog groups are planning to protest Rep. John Murtha’s
(D-Pa.) fundraising event Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in
Arlington, Va.
Every year, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Defense
panel holds two fundraisers for his campaign: a dinner in February and
a breakfast in the fall. Both events garner a wide range of
participation from defense industry officials.
This year, however, Americans for Prosperity, Citizens Against
Government Waste (CAGW) and the National Taxpayers Union are holding a
rally in front of the hotel where the fundraiser is being held to
“display their displeasure with Rep. Murtha ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz,’ ”
according to a press release.
The groups called Wednesday’s event “a swanky fundraising dinner with
pork-barrel-seeking defense lobbyists.”
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) was named
"Porker of the Year" for 2007 on Wednesday by the taxpayer
watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW).
The organization, which promotes
fiscal responsibility and federal earmarks reform, conducted an
online poll of 3,400 people about members of Congress. The often
controversial Murtha, chairman of the House subcommittee on
defense appropriations, won with 63.4 percent of the votes cast,
according to CAGW.
In FY 2008, which began last October,
Murtha secured 72 earmarks worth $149.2 million for his district,
according to CAGW.
"For flouting the rules and playing
games with reform, while filing spending bills with pork and
arrogantly threatening anyone that challenges his authority, Rep.
Jack Murtha is the 2007 Porker of the Year," the CAGW announcement
said.
A spokesman from Murtha's press office
could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
No other lawmaker came close to
Murtha's vote tally.
PBS's "Frontline" will air an in-depth program tonight at 9 about
the 2005 killings in Haditha, Iraq.
The piece, titled "Rules of Engagement," hopes to provide an
evenhanded look at the incident, which involved a squad of Marines
under Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, a former Meriden resident.
The Marines allegedly killed 24 Iraqis, some of whom may have been
insurgents, during the Nov. 19, 2005 incident. Wuterich has said
he and his men followed standard combat procedure.
The idea that the Haditha killings were a straightforward
massacre of innocents is incorrect, according to Arun Rath,
the producer, writer and director of "Rules of Engagement."
The initial media coverage - following an announcement by U.S.
Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania that the Marines had killed
"innocent civilians in cold blood" - focused on the evidence
against the men, Rath told the Record-Journal Monday.
As evidence in the Marines' favor came out, however, there was
little additional coverage, he added. Wuterich is suing Murtha
for defamation.
The Frontline piece was originally going to focus on civilian
casualties in Iraq and only use Haditha as an example, Rath
said, but his investigation led him to believe there was more
to the killings than met the eye.
"The biggest dramatic detail compared to the initial version
was just how intense a day of fighting it was in Haditha,"
Rath said. "We do have a number of witnesses saying that (the
Marines) were coming under fire, including Iraqi witnesses. It
appears that this was an all-out insurgent push to retake the
town."
The program includes footage from an aerial drone that circled
the area during the incident and an interview with an
intelligence officer who explains the fight going on in
Haditha at the same time.
Some of the loyalists who orbit John P. Murtha , D-Pa., in the
back corner of the Democratic side of the House chamber are
holding off until their political godfather taps Obama or
Clinton...
... Murtha said he and fellow Pennsylvanians
Mike Doyle and Robert Brady will vote as a bloc.
“That’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
Brady backed him up and suggested there could
be more in that camp.
“Mr. Murtha speaks for a lot of us, including
myself,” he said. “If that’s what Mr. Murtha says, then I’m with
him.”
Kaptur, who serves on the Defense
Appropriations subcommittee with Murtha, said Clinton and Obama
should court Murtha personally.
“If I were the candidates, I would be asking
him,” she said. “I wouldn’t send emissaries.”
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) has
received campaign contributions from
each (sub. req.) of the 26 groups for whom he requested
earmarks in the recent defense spending bill. An analysis by
Roll Call shows that since the beginning of 2005,
PACs and employees of those groups have given Murtha $413,250,
of which $100,750 came "in the two weeks leading up to March
16, the original deadline for lawmakers to file their earmark
requests." (Roll Call)
A Team 4 investigation found millions of your
tax dollars going to a local government agency that many in
Washington, including President George W. Bush, believe is a waste.
But a powerful local congressman has kept the money flowing.
In July 1977, a flood devastated Johnstown, killing 80 people and
destroying the downtown. Many businesses never recovered,
including the Penn Traffic department store.
But in the early 1990s, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown,
persuaded Washington to move a new federal agency, the National
Drug Intelligence Center, into the old department store.
Now, more than 300 people work there, and it's one of Johnstown's
biggest employers.
"Our payroll represents several million dollars a year to the
Johnstown economy," said Michael Walther of the NDIC.
That's good for Johnstown, but critics said the NDIC has not been
good for taxpayers...
Representative John P. Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, obtained
$176 million in earmarks — more than any other House member except
Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, who is now a senator.
... More than 80 percent of Mr. Murtha’s earmarks were in the 2008
Defense Department spending bill. He is chairman of the
appropriations subcommittee where the bill originated.
Matt Mazonkey, a spokesman for Mr. Murtha, said he believed that
the $176 million figure was “too high,” but he refused to provide
his own tally.
Mr. Murtha’s re-election campaign is holding a fund-raiser for him
on Feb. 27 at a hotel in Arlington, Va., near the Pentagon. About
300 people, including many military industry lobbyists, plan to
attend. The invitation stipulates a contribution of $1,500 for an
individual and $5,000 for a political action committee.
Lobbyists often say they feel obliged to make campaign
contributions as a way of gaining access to lawmakers to present
their arguments on earmarks and other issues. Asked if there was
any connection between giving money to Mr. Murtha and receiving
earmarks, Mr. Mazonkey said: “Absolutely not. None at all.”
The new earmark disclosure rules put into effect by Congress
confirm the pre-eminence of Representative John Murtha at
procuring eye-popping chunks of pork for contractors he helped
put in business in Johnstown, Pa.
The Pennsylvania Democrat, a power player on defense
appropriations, exudes pride, not embarrassment, for
delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in largesse to
district beneficiaries. They, in turn, requite with hundreds
of thousands of dollars in campaign donations.
Mr. Murtha led all House members this year, securing $162
million in district favors, according to the watchdog group
Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), one of the leading anti-war voices
in the House Democratic Caucus, is back from a trip to Iraq
and he now says the "surge is working." This could be a huge
problem for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other
Democratic leaders, who are blocking approval of the full $200
billion being sought by President Bush for combat operations
in Iraq in 2008.
Murtha's latest comments are also a stark reversal from what
he said earlier in the year. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who
chairs the powerful Defense subcommittee on the House
Appropriations Committee, has previously stated that the
surge "is not working" and the United States faced a military
disaster in Iraq.
Murtha told CNN on July 12, following a Bush speech, that the
president's views on the success of surge in Iraq were
"delusional."
"I think the 'surge' is working," the Democrat said in a
videoconference from his Johnstown office, describing the
president's decision to commit more than 20,000 additional
combat troops this year. But the Iraqis "have got to take care
of themselves."
Concurrent Technologies began two decades ago doing
metalworking research in Pennsylvania's struggling rust belt. In the
years since, the Johnstown, Pa., company has become a federal
contracting chameleon.
It is an intelligence adviser, an environmental
consultant and a software engineering specialist. It has trained
mine-detecting dogs and managed religion-based initiatives. It
oversees construction projects, organizes conferences and studies ways
to use hydrogen for fuel in Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
Missile-defense research is part of its portfolio. So is the
development of special armor for combat vehicles in Iraq and "solid
waste technology" in Florida.
And it is a nonprofit charity.
Behind the rise of Concurrent is Rep. John P.
Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's
defense subcommittee, who helped arrange funding to launch the
organization in 1988. Murtha has since arranged millions of dollars
more in directed congressional appropriations called earmarks. Now
Concurrent has nearly $250 million in annual revenue and 1,500
employees.
Concurrent is a prime example of how to marry
entrepreneurial savvy, influence on Capitol Hill and arcane
procurement rules to create budget magnets in congressional districts.
Unlike many other big contractors, Concurrent pays no income tax on
most of its revenue. Unlike nonprofit, federally funded
research-and-development corporations, it is not chartered by the
federal government.
...
Concurrent's lobbying firm, PMA Group, is run by a former defense
subcommittee aide, Paul Magliocchetti. Since 1997, Concurrent has paid
Magliocchetti and PMA about $3 million for lobbying and consulting
services, according to tax documents filed with the government.
...
In the past four years, Congress has directed at least $226 million to
Concurrent in earmarks, according to records compiled by Taxpayers for
Common Sense. This year, Murtha and four other lawmakers proposed $18
million more in earmarks for the firm.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- If John Murtha were a
businessman, he'd be the biggest employer in this town.
The powerful U.S. congressman has used his clout on
Capitol Hill to create thousands of jobs and steer billions of dollars
in federal spending to help his hometown in western Pennsylvania
recover from devastating floods and the flight of its steelmakers.
More is on the way. In the massive 2008 military-spending bill now
before Congress -- which could go to a House-Senate conference as soon
as Thursday -- Mr. Murtha has steered more taxpayer funds to his
congressional district than any other member. The Democratic
lawmaker is chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Defense, which will oversee more than $459 billion in military
spending this year.
A review by The Wall Street Journal of dozens of such contracts funded
by Mr. Murtha's committee shows that many weren't sought by the
military or federal agencies they were intended to benefit. Some were
inefficient or mismanaged, according to interviews, public records and
previously unpublished Pentagon audits. One Murtha-backed firm,
ProLogic Inc., is under federal investigation for allegedly
diverting public funds to develop commercial software, people close to
the case say. The company denies wrongdoing and is in line to get
millions of dollars more in the pending defense bill.
...
Mr. Murtha has steered at least $600 million in earmarks to his
district in the past four years, according to Taxpayers for Common
Sense, a nonpartisan Washington group. The nonprofit group estimates
he's sent $2 billion or more to the district since joining the
appropriations committee.
...
There's no evidence that Mr. Murtha personally profits from the
hometown spending he rams through Congress. He ranked No. 333 in net
worth among the 435 members of the House in a 2005 analysis by the
nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. But his campaign coffers
have risen since he became chairman of the defense-spending panel. In
the first nine months of this year, Mr. Murtha's campaign committees
have reported contributions of more than $1.05 million.
the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Defense, has dubiously funneled billions of taxpayer
dollars to his hard-luck hometown.
...
Defense contractors have found that if they open an office
there and hire the right lobbyist, they can get lucrative,
no-bid contracts.
After nearly three decades in the military, William T. Russell’s latest mission
has brought him to Johnstown.
The career Army man, just two years short of retirement, has left the service
and moved to the Flood City in order to mount a political campaign against
veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha...
...While Murtha’s encounters with wounded soldiers have
solidified his stance on Iraq, Russell said a similar
encounter left him with the opposite impression: To withdraw
from Iraq, he argues, would render the sacrifices of those
soldiers pointless.
“I think Mr. Murtha is just flat-out wrong,” Russell said.
The Republican also cites, as Irey did, Murtha’s public
accusation that U.S. Marines murdered innocent civilians in
the Iraq town of Haditha in 2005.
The congressman, Russell contends, is “playing right into the
hands of this enemy.”
On his Web site, Russell takes that line of thought a step
further and attempts to raise the stakes for next year’s
election.
“In this war against Islamic radicalism, the political battle
of the 2008 election in the Pennsylvania 12th Congressional
District is a critical turning point,” he said.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — Support for a House
resolution condemning as genocide the mass killings of Armenians in
1915 continued to weaken today as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who only days
ago vowed to bring the measure to the floor of the House, signaled
that she may be changing her mind.
“Whether it will come up or not, what the action
will be, remains to be seen,” Ms. Pelosi told reporters on Capitol
Hill today. Her uncertainty stood in sharp contrast to her earlier
pledge to bring the measure to the floor if it emerged from the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, which it did a week ago by 27 to 21.
Worried about antagonizing Turkish leaders, House
members from both parties have been withdrawing their support from the
resolution, which had been backed by the Democratic leadership.
The measure’s prospects were weakened further today
when Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who
heads the Appropriations subcommittee on military matters, spoke out
against it.
“What happened nearly 100 years ago was terrible,”
said Mr. Murtha, who has urged the speaker not to bring up the
resolution for a vote. “I don’t know whether it was a massacre or a
genocide, but that is beside the point.
Murtha renewed his call for a surtax to fund the Iraq War, an idea
Pelosi has shot down, and he cautioned against bringing up legislation
to condemn the Armenian genocide, a measure Pelosi supports.
On Wednesday, Pelosi appeared to acquiesce to one of Murtha's demands,
indicating that the vote on the Armenian bill was now in doubt.
You won’t hear about this from John Murtha, but you’ll read it first
on the Internet. Nathaniel Helms at
Defend our Marines has an exclusive report on the battle in
Haditha that the media ignored...
...Helms’ reporting is a damning indictment of the American media as
propaganda tools and fools.
Read
the whole thing.
Make
sure to fax a copy to John Murtha:
814-539-6229 — District
202-225-5709 — Washington
And,
of course, don’t look for the NYTimes to put this on the front page.
The
report – apparently overlooked by a Washington press corps awash
in leaked Bargewell documents and secret Naval Criminal Investigative
Service reports – shows that Marine Corps intelligence operatives were
advised of the scheme to demonize the Marines by an informant named
Muhannad Hassan Hamadi. The informant was snared by 3/1 Marines on
December 11 2005 and decided to cooperate...
The prosecutors in the case against eight Marines
charged with murder and cover up at Haditha still maintain the
besieged infantrymen acted solely out of malice and poor judgment when
they killed 24 Iraqis there. The prosecution’s investigation was
launched after a story by Time magazine reporter Tim McGirk on March
6, 2006 accused the Marines of cold blooded murder in retaliation for
the death of a brother Marine.
McGirk received his video “evidence” and contacts
from two known Iraqi insurgent operatives already under observation by
Marine Corps counter intelligence teams. One of the Iraqi witnesses
McGirk relied on had just been released from almost six months
captivity for insurgent activities and the other witness was
considered a useful intelligence tool by Marines listening to him talk
on his cell phone. McGirk never interviewed the Marines, who
ironically had prepared a similar intelligence summary in anticipation
of his canceled visit.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - An investigating
officer has recommended that no murder charges be brought against U.S. Marine
Corps Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich in connection with a massacre of civilians in
the Iraqi town of Haditha in 2005, defense attorney Mark Zaid said on Thursday.
Wuterich had been earlier accused of being the ringleader of troops who killed
24 Iraqi civilians in the November, 2005 incident. "The recommendation was for
lesser charges, none of which include murder," Zaid told Reuters in a telephone
interview.
A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a defamation case against
Rep. John P. Murtha and ordered the Pennsylvania Democrat to give a
sworn deposition in the case.
A Marine Corps sergeant is suing the 18-term congressman for alleging
''cold-blooded murder and war crimes'' by unnamed soldiers in
connection with the deaths of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha.
The deaths became prominent in May 2006 when Murtha, who opposes the
Iraq war, said at a Capitol Hill news conference that a Pentagon war
crimes investigation will show Marines killed dozens of innocent Iraqi
civilians in the town in 2005.
...
The Justice Department wanted the case dismissed because Murtha was
acting in his official role as a lawmaker. Assistant U.S. Attorney
John F. Henault said the comments were made as part of the debate over
the war in Iraq.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer said the congressman might be
right, but said she won't know for sure unless Murtha explains
himself. She did not set a date for Murtha's testimony but said she
would also require him to turn over documents related to his comments.
''You're writing a very wide road for members of Congress to go to
their home districts and say anything they choose about private
persons and be able to do so without any liability. Are you sure you
want to do that?'' Collyer said, adding later, ''How far can a
congressman go and still be protected?''
Collyer said she was troubled by the idea the lawmakers are immune
from lawsuits regardless of what they say to advance their political
careers.
Republicans returning to the House floor on Friday morning
Aug. 3 after their walkout the night before were surprised to
find as presiding officer the Democrat they call "King
Corruption": Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, master of
earmarks and backroom deals.
Rep. Ed Pastor, a 64-year-old eight-term Democrat from
Phoenix, Ariz., who is affable and well-liked by Republicans,
had been scheduled to preside. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
fearing parliamentary tricks by Republicans, put her muscleman
Murtha in the chair.
Murtha's performance as non-partisan presiding officer ran
true to form. On a voice vote, Murtha ruled for Democrats when
obviously more Republicans were on the House floor. He
subsequently ordered a roll call vote, though members rising
in support clearly fell short of the 44 required. After that
ruling was challenged, Murtha declared: "The chair's decision
is not subject to question."
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations
defense panel, has secured the most earmarked dollars in the
2008 military spending bill, followed closely by the panel’s
ranking member Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.).
Even though Young secured 52 earmarks, worth $117.2 million —
and co-sponsored at least $27 million worth of others —
Murtha’s 48 earmarks amount to a total of $150.5 million,
according to a database compiled by the watchdog organization
Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS)...
...Murtha, the defense industry’s darling, has been known
throughout his tenure on the defense panel to shell out a
large number of earmarks. His biggest earmark in the bill is
$23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC),
a move that sparked a fierce fight with Rep. Todd Tiahrt
(R-Kan.), who earlier this year voted in a private meeting to
strip Murtha’s earmark.
The Bush administration requested $16 million to shut down the
center, which is in Murtha’s district, because it replicated
the work of a similar center...
...Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) got her share of pork
projects — 11 projects valued at $37.3 million...
Considering the Interior Appropriations bill June
26, the House kept alive 11 egregious earmarks. Rep. John Murtha,
king of Democratic earmarkers, kept $1.2 million for the Southwestern
Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission in Hollidaysburg, Pa.
(by a 343 to 86 vote), and $150,000 for W.A. Young & Sons Foundry in
Greene County, Pa. (328 to 104)...
...Moving on to Financial Services Appropriations
June 28, the House voted 335 to 87 to continue Murtha's raid on the
Treasury: $231,000 for the Grace Johnstown (Pa.) Area Regional
Industries Incubator.
As chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, the
17-term Democrat is one of the most powerful politicians in
Washington, and he uses that power to deliver federal money to his
congressional district as well as to his political allies across the
country...
...In
2005, 190 contractors in Mr. Murtha's district received $228 million
in government projects, placing the district in just 236th place among
all 435 congressional districts.
That's
because large defense companies do the bulk of their business
elsewhere. Northrop, for instance, has its corporate government
relations offices in Arlington, Va., in the district of Rep. James
Moran, a Democrat who also sits on the appropriations committee with
Mr. Murtha. Mr. Moran's district ranked No. 1 on
fedspending.org's 2005 list,
garnering close to $17 billion in contracts.
The parents of a U.S. Marine accused
of killing three Iraqis execution-style in Haditha in
late 2005 said Thursday they would ask Congress to
censure Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) for saying that the
Marines "overreacted" during the incident and killed
civilians "in cold blood."
"It's too late for an apology,"
Darryl Sharratt of Canonsburg, Pa., told Cybercast News
Service after the hearing officer in the case, Lt. Col.
Paul Ware, released an 18-page report recommending that
all charges against Sharratt's son, Lance Cpl. Justin
Sharratt, be dismissed because his actions "were in
accord with the rules of engagement and use of force."
Sharratt said that he, his wife
Theresa and other supporters of their 22-year-old son
were planning to visit Martha's office, and "we're going
to ask for more than an apology."
"I've
served with seven presidents," Murtha told a union audience. "When
they come in, they all make mistakes. They all get older." 
