It has been awhile since I've covered any news on Jack Murtha's moonbattery. So let's kick this off with what is going on over at the Irey campaign. First is from Irey's website with details about the probe that Diana Irey has asked the Department of Justice to launch on Rep. Jack Murtha for trading earmarks for campaign contributions.
By John Bresnahan
September 27, 2006
A
Republican challenger to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has asked the Justice
Department to investigate whether Murtha traded appropriations earmarks
for hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the
clients of lobbying firms with close ties to the veteran lawmaker,
including one where his brother works.
On Tuesday, Washington
County Commissioner Diana Irey, Murtha's GOP opponent, delivered a
letter to Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney for the Western
District of Pennsylvania, requesting that Justice begin a probe of
Murtha immediately.
"This is a troubling development - an
elected official should never undertake any activity that calls into
question his motives," Irey said in a statement. "Nor should he
undertake any activity that raises the possibility that he is trading
his office for campaign cash."
A Murtha spokesman denied Irey's accusations, calling it a political stunt by a long-shot challenger.
"This
is coming from a very desperate political candidate who is hanging on
by her fingernails to try to stay in this race," said Ed Mitchell,
Murtha's spokesman.
The allegations about Murtha's relationship
with the PMA Group and KSA Consulting - a lobbying firm that employs
Murtha's brother, Kit Murtha, as well as a former aide - were first
reported by the Los Angeles Times in June 2005.
Since then,
some House Republicans have called publicly for an ethics probe of
Murtha, although no GOP lawmakers have stepped forward to officially
file a complaint against him. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington recently included Murtha on a list of the most corrupt
Members of Congress.
Taxpayers for Common Sense, another
government watchdog group, analyzed the 2006 Defense spending bill and
found at least 60 earmarks for PMA clients worth more than $95 million.
Murtha is the ranking member of the House Appropriations subcommittee
on Defense.
"Over the last six years, officials and clients of
the PMA Group have contributed roughly $800,000 to Congressman Murtha's
campaign fund," Irey said. "In return, they have received at least $95
million in federal contracts, loans, and grants. That's a better than
100-to-1 return on investment."
Mitchell said it was not
surprising that defense companies, which make up the bulk of PMA's
clients, would give to Murtha due to his position on the Defense
subcommittee and his reputation as a strong supporter of national
security, despite his more recent turn against the Iraq War.
Rep.
Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), a Murtha ally, became the subject of a federal
investigation after a conservative organization wrote the Justice
Department seeking a probe of his personal financial holdings. Mollohan
was later forced to step down as ranking member of the House ethics
committee, but he has kept his seat on the powerful Appropriations
Committee.
But Murtha's problems don't stop there. Remember the old ABSCAM bribery scandal? What you may not remember is that Jack Murtha was up to his eyeballs in the ABSCAM mess, in fact, he is one of the unindicted coconspirators. Well, up to now there has only been a few second snippet of the bribery tape available, but now the American Spectator has located a copy of the full tape.
The American Spectator:
"For more than 26 years, Congressman John P. 'Jack' Murtha (D-Penn.)
has not been truthful about his involvement in Abscam, court records
and the complete video of his meeting with the FBI show.
In
recent years, only a 13-second video of Murtha's videotaped meeting
with the FBI agents was publicly available. TAS has obtained a copy of
the full, original video from a source close to the Abscam
investigation on the condition of anonymity. The court transcript is
publicly available at the National Archives. (To see the full 54 minute video, click here. For a transcript of the meeting, click here.)
"Murtha
has repeatedly maintained his innocence in the Abscam sting operation,
even as recently as this year. However, his November 20, 1980 testimony
in the trial of Congressmen Frank Thompson (D-N.J.) and John Murphy
(D-N.Y.) and the FBI's complete undercover video of his January 7, 1980
meeting with its agent and informant reveal a man showcasing his
political influence and apparently tempted to take a $50,000 bribe.
On
the tape, Murtha appears eager to arrange his own, long-term deal with
the supposed representatives of Arab sheiks, and to cut out Thompson
and Murphy. His testimony reveals that after his January 7 meeting, he
looked into helping the sheiks enter the country, rather than
contacting the FBI or the Ethics Committee, of which he was a member.
Through the years, Murtha has maintained that he only met with the FBI
agents to discuss investments in his district. His testimony, the
video, and the cases of other congressmen snared in Abscam suggest that
"investments in the district" was a common Abscam defense for those
accused of bribery. full story
Wasting no time, Diana Irey called a full press conference where she released the following statement, which details graphically what the video depicts. It isn't pretty.
(JOHNSTOWN, September 30) -- Washington County Commissioner and
Pennsylvania 12th district Republican Congressional nominee Diana Irey
-- responding to the release yesterday of the 26-year-old,
never-before-seen full FBI ABSCAM surveillance video starring
Congressman Jack Murtha -- this morning held a press conference in
Johnstown, where she released the following statement:
"Yesterday
was a disappointing and disturbing day here in the 12th Congressional
District, because yesterday we learned that the overwhelming majority
of Jack Murtha's tenure in Congress has been the result of a fraud he
perpetrated on his constituents more than a quarter century ago.
"For
the first time ever, the public can now see for itself the full,
unedited, 54-minute-long FBI surveillance video of Jack Murtha's
meeting in a Georgetown townhouse with a man he believed to be the
representative of an Arab oil sheik who wanted to trade tens of
thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for help in getting into
America.
"What the FBI undercover surveillance tape makes clear
is two-fold: First, that -- contrary to his assertions at the time, and
ever since -- it is clear that Jack Murtha believed he had made a deal
to accept $50,000 in cash in exchange for helping that Arab oil sheik
get into the country with special, private legislation; and, second,
that his stated defense for the last 26 years -- that he went to the
meeting solely to discuss business investments in the District -- was a
fraud at the time, and has been a fraud ever since.
"First, to
the matter of the deal itself. Early in the meeting, Jack Murtha
designated Howard Criden -- a Philadelphia attorney acting as a
middleman -- as his agent, to accept the $50,000 on his behalf. You can
see that about 16 minutes into the tape, or find it on page 5 of your
transcript, where Mr. Murtha says, 'I'll deal through Howard … eh, uh …
in this thing.'
"Howard Criden had already played the same
role -- bag man -- for Congressman Frank Thompson in an earlier meeting
with the same undercover FBI agent. In that meeting, Criden had
accepted a satchel containing $50,000, saying he was accepting the cash
on Thompson's behalf. At that meeting, Thompson's own promises of aid
for the sheik had already been recorded on videotape, so the idea that
Howard Criden would act as the physical intermediary, responsible for
actually taking the cash out of the room and then handing it to the
Congressmen later, was already well-established with the undercover FBI
agents running the sting operation.
"Back to the meeting with
Jack Murtha. Roughly 48 minutes into the 54-minute-long meeting --
found on page 15 of the transcript before you -- you see a notation in
brackets: 'Criden and Murtha walk in.' That's because a few moments
before, the two men had stepped outside, into the hallway, apparently
to have a private conversation.
"Upon their return, Howard
Criden says to Anthony Amoroso, the undercover FBI agent posing as the
representative of the sheik, 'John says that it is okay for you to give
me what's in that drawer.' [The drawer he was referring to, of course,
is the desk drawer in which agent Amoroso had already placed $50,000 in
cash.] Jack Murtha then immediately follows, explaining to Mr. Amoroso,
'Is that all right, Tony, let me make it very clear. The other two guys
[Congressmen Frank Thompson and John Murphy] do expect to be taken care
of, as Howard. And you're gonna have to deal through Howard. Me, you've
got my deal.' Criden then acknowledges, 'We have a deal.'
"But
Amoroso, the FBI agent, is apparently determined to pressure Criden and
Murtha by feigning that he's been insulted -- and he begins complaining
that he was sent to deal directly with Jack Murtha, not the middleman
Criden. A face-off ensues, neither side getting satisfaction, until
Criden and Amoroso have an exchange regarding their previous experience
with Congressman Thompson. Criden reminds Amoroso that Thompson, too,
was 'gun shy,' to which Amoroso responds by reminding Criden that
nothing happened to Thompson after their earlier deal was done,
implying that nothing would happen to Murtha, either. Criden's
response: 'But wait a minute. You're not trying to tell me that he
doesn't know about the money because you already mentioned it to him
three times. So that if he takes it he knows that I ain't gonna keep it
--.' Amoroso then ends the meeting by telling Criden that he'll be
taken care of on the following Thursday, when he is set to return with
Congressman John Murphy, and reminds Criden that he will be there for a
week.
"Leaving a room where one has just been offered $50,000 in
cash, only to return two minutes later with a bag man saying 'John says
that it is okay for you to give me what's in that drawer,' is not
something done by a man who's not aware he's trying to take a bribe.
"These
are the actions, rather, of a man who wanted very much to take the
bribe -- as he said at one point on the tape, 'you know, I need the
[expletive deleted] money like anybody else does' -- but who thought he
was clever enough, and careful enough, to have figured out a way to
take the bribe without actually accepting the money himself.
"Jack
Murtha could have contradicted Howard Criden when Criden said 'John
says that it is okay for you to give me what is in that drawer.' He
could have said, 'Howard, I never said that.'
"But Jack Murtha
did NOT contradict Howard Criden. Instead, he said, 'Is that all right,
Tony,' and went on to remind the FBI agent that two other Congressmen
'do expect to be taken care of,' and then to agree with Criden -- 'And
you're gonna have to deal through Howard.'
"Just what did Howard
Criden and Jack Murtha discuss in the hallway? Did Criden tell Murtha,
'It'll be alright, Jack, I'll take the money, just like I did for Frank
Thompson?' I don't know. But I think any reasonable person watching
that tape would reasonably conclude that some version of that
discussion is EXACTLY what happened in the hallway.
"Jack Murtha believed he had cut a deal. But the deal fell apart -- FOR THE MOMENT -- when he refused to take the money himself.
"Did
Jack Murtha call the FBI to report that, as a sitting Member of the
House of Representatives, he had just been offered a bribe? Did Jack
Murtha call the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or even the
Chairman of the House Ethics Committee -- of which he was a member at
the time -- to report a bribe attempt?
"No, he did not.
Instead, as he testified later in federal court, he called his
'immigration guy,' to determine what could be done on behalf of the
sheik. Why? Because he thought he still had a deal.
"Second, the so-called 'Investments Defense' is now demolished, once and for all time.
"As
the tape makes clear in numerous places, the only reason Jack Murtha
talked about bringing investment into the District was so that it could
act as a cover for this exercise. Consider this excerpt from the tape:
"'And
what I'm sayin' is, a few investments in my district, a few you know,
is big to me, to this guy apparently is not too big, to a couple of
banks which would get their attention. And investment in a business
where you could legitimately say to me -- when I say legitimately, I'm
talking about so these bastards up here can't say to me, well, why, in
eight years from now, that's possible, we'd never hear a thing for
eight years, but all at once, ah, some dumb bastard would go start
talking eight years from now, ah, about the whole thing and say,
'[expletive deleted], ah, this happened,' then he, then he, in order to
get immunity so he doesn't go to jail, he starts talking and fingering
people and then the [expletive deleted] all falls apart.'
"Just a few moments later in the tape, Mr. Murtha continues, discussing what he calls 'a business commitment' in the district:
"'A
business commitment that makes it imperative for me to help him. Just,
let me tell you something. I'm sure if -- and there's a lot of things
I've done up here, with environmental regulations, with all kinds of
waivers of laws and regulations. If it weren't for being in the
district, people would say … "Well that [expletive deleted], I'm gonna
tell you something … This guy is, uh, you know, on the take." Well once
they say that, what happens? Then they start going around looking for
the [expletive deleted] money. So I want to avoid that by having some
tie to the district. That's all. That's the secret to the whole thing.'"
"'That's
the secret to the whole thing.' Investment not for the sake of
investment, but because 'that's the secret' to how you can take a bribe
and get away with it.
"Jack Murtha has not been telling the
truth for 26 years. You can believe what he says, or you can believe
your own eyes. But you cannot believe both.
"Jack Murtha, as we
all know, is a powerful man, and he may never see the inside of a court
room -- not for his role in Abscam, where he became the
second-most-famous unindicted coconspirator in history, nor even for
his more recent actions in apparently trading tens of millions of
dollars worth of earmarked federal appropriations for hundreds of
thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.
"But a court
room is not the only place a public official faces a verdict -- the
voters get to pass judgment, too. And on November 7, I am confident
that the citizens of the 12th Congressional District will cast their
votes to restore honor and integrity to the House of Representatives,
by voting to send Jack Murtha to an early retirement."
To learn more about ABSCAM and Jack Murtha's record, please visit www.youdontknowjack.org.
It is time to vote this dishonest, senile old man out of office.
Join Bootmurtha.com:
Boot Murtha Rally - Sunday, Oct. 1st
Time — 2:00 pm Place: Cambria County War Memorial Arena (Johnstown, PA)
And don't forget to check in regularly with:
Support Diana Irey Visit her website and sign up for her email updates. A contribution
to her campaign, or to Vets4Irey.com, would help her get her word out and defeat Rep. John Murtha.
And Diana Irey is one of the approved candidates on the new Rightroots list, so this is one more way you can donate and help her campaign.
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