Nov. 16, 2006
 
COMMENTARY: Will Murtha Become House Majority Leader for Party of Ethics?
 
By Jim Kouri
Special to HNN
 
(With Rep. John Murtha seemingly destined to become the majority leader in the House of Representatives, I thought it appropriate to dig up an article I wrote on December 3, 2005. I added a couple of updates to the article.)
 
One of the mysteries these days is the about-face of a supposed Democrat war hawk, Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania. Considered a supporter of the Iraq conflict, the decorated former Marine suddenly came out with statements calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and that the war is not winnable.
 
After the liberal media feasted on his sudden burst on the national scene, Murtha became the new lightning rod for the antiwar, anti-American movement. Recently, he said that the US military was worn out and unable to protect Americans should a security crisis emerge. And the media again jumped all over the Murtha comments. John Murtha replaced Wesley K. Clark and John Kerry as the left's favorite veteran since they only love warriors opposed to war. Murtha is someone few Americans knew let alone cared about until he became the next big thing in the media's relentless goal of undermining "Bush's war."
 
Meanwhile, another Democrat, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, a respected member of the US Senate and a former vice presidential candidate, returned from a fact-finding mission in Iraq. He told of the progress he had seen and wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal about his positive view of US operations in Iraq. Other than some radio talk shows, Senator Lieberman was all but ignored by the mainstream news media, preferring to run Murtha quotes or air Murtha soundbites.
 
Why did Murtha suddenly change his mind? Was this a calculated effort to win the news media over? Is this something he hopes will insulate him from something that is brewing within the Beltway?
 
Well, according to investigative journalist Sher Zieve, the House Ethics committee is considering investigating Rep. John Murtha for House multiple ethics violations. The investigation would center on Rep. Murtha’s involvement with his brother’s firm, KSA Consulting.
 
The story, which originally ran in the Los Angeles Times on 13 June 2005, surrounds the 2005 appropriations bill that funded $20M to companies for which KSA Consulting lobbied. Murtha is a leader on the House Defense Appropriations Committee. An aide to Murtha, Carmen Scialabba, also works for KSA.
 
Further reported by the LA Times is that KSA directly lobbied Murtha’s office for funding on behalf of 7 of its clients and that a Murtha aide advised a defense contractor that it needed to retain the services of KSA Consulting.
 
Zieve also dug up a recent editorial appearing in Investor’s Business Daily that stated: “The newspaper Roll Call reported that there might be a House ethics committee investigation of Murtha's apparent improprieties. But, is that possible now that Murtha has become the media's ‘hawk with a conscience?’ Come to think of it, could Murtha have been thinking about a possible ethics investigation when he decided to throw himself into the public limelight last week?”
 
My own BS meter is showing that Murtha conducted a calculated and probably successful operation to neutralize Republicans if they should make an issue of his ethics deficiencies. The LA Times article in June was written while Murtha was considered a war hawk. Now that he's become an "enlightened" anti-war spokesperson don't expect to see follow-up articles about any ethics violations or criminal acts by Rep. John Murtha.
 
Why do you think Senator Jon Corzine went on the attack about Bush and Iraq? He gave a $600,000 gift to his ex-girlfriend who just happened to be the president of one of the largest government employee unions in New Jersey. The union endorsed him and worked for him during the NJ governor’s race. He also voted on a piece of legislation that benefited only him and a few of his business buddies. So what happened to Senator Corzine? He got elected governor of arguably the most corrupt state in the Union.
 
Americans will only hear about Murtha's lapses of integrity in the alternative media. As long as he calls for troop withdrawals and makes ridiculous statements about the US military, he's insured himself against the mainstream news media reporting on his ethics problems. Besides, the media only cover Republican politicians accused of misconduct. John Murtha is just another sleazy politician. Nothing more. Nothing less.