John Murtha

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John Murtha : biography

17 June 1932 – 08 February 2010

In 2009, Murtha heard details from Fort Benning U.S. Army Soldiers on how their current uniforms and equipment were not providing camouflage in Iraq and Afghanistan during a personal visit. Murtha immediately took action and convinced the Army to fix the camouflage problem resulting in MultiCam being selected by the Secretary of the Army John McHugh for all incoming Soldiers deploying to Afghanistan in 2010, only weeks after Murtha had died.

Abscam investigation

In 1980, during his fourth term as a Congressman, Murtha became embroiled in the Abscam investigation, which targeted dozens of congressmen. The investigation entailed FBI operatives posing as intermediaries for Saudi nationals hoping to bribe their way through the immigration process into the United States. Murtha met with these operatives and was videotaped. He did agree to testify against Frank Thompson (D-NJ) and John Murphy (D-NY), the two Congressmen mentioned as participants in the deal at the same meeting and who were later videotaped placing the cash bribes in their trousers. The FBI videotaped Murtha responding to an offer of $50,000, with Murtha saying, "I’m not interested… at this point. [If] we do business for a while, maybe I’ll be interested, maybe I won’t," right after Murtha had offered to provide names of businesses and banks in his district where money could be invested legally. The U.S. Attorney’s Office reasoned that Murtha’s intent was to obtain investment in his district. Full length viewing of the tape shows Murtha citing prospective investment opportunities that could return "500 or 1000" miners to work.

Doubt regarding war heroism

A recurring accusation against Murtha, which first became a political issue in the 1994 congressional campaign, is that he allegedly did not deserve his war medals. A January 13, 2006, CNS article quoted official records, a June 1, 1967 report in the The Tribune-Democrat, as well as people who were either former political opponents of Murtha or who were dead or incapacitated, casting doubt on the two Purple Hearts Murtha earned while serving in the Vietnam War.Marc Morano and Randy Hall: CNSNews, 13 January 2006. Accessed 9 July 2012. The next day, the Washington Post repeated the article’s allegations.

Cindy Abram, a spokeswoman for Murtha, called the allegations ”an attempt to distract attention from what’s happening in Iraq." Former Democratic Congressman and political rival of Murtha, Donald A. Bailey said Murtha had confessed to him that he had done nothing to deserve his purple hearts and demanded an apology for being called a liar. He added that documents containing the considerations behind the awards should be easy to get, and urged him to release his full military records in order to clear up the controversy. Murtha, however, declined to do that. Dr. William Choby, who ran against Murtha four times, said that it was the credibility of those combat medals which became the basis of Murtha’s entire political career.Don Bailey: 5 May 2002.

Earmarks and campaign contributions

Murtha was targeted by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress.

In September 2006 the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) listed Murtha under Five Members to Watch in its Second Annual Most Corrupt Members of Congress Report. The report cited Murtha’s steering of defense appropriations to clients of KSA Consulting, which employed his brother Robert, and the PMA Group, founded by Paul Magliocchetti, a former senior staffer on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense.

In 2008, Esquire Magazine named him one of the 10 worst members of Congress because of his opposition to ethics reform and the $100 million a year he brought to his district in earmarks."." (October 15, 2008) Esquire. Retrieved February 11, 2010. The Wall Street Journal has called him "one of Congress’s most unapologetic earmarkers."http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970204409904574350801854137702.html According to the Pennsylvania Report, Murtha was one of "Pennsylvania’s most powerful congressmen" and a "master of crossing the aisle and bringing pork into his district."