(The Politico) [1] Former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) is joining the board of a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities, a group with links to Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) that has drawn scrutiny for its ties to defense contractors and lobbyists.
Cleland, a Vietnam veteran who lost three limbs in the war, will serve on the board of the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals With Disabilities, a nonprofit agency in Murtha’s hometown of Johnstown that helps with job assistance and training. The group was founded in 2001 by Carmen Scialabba, who served for many years on Murtha’s congressional staff.
Birds of feather crap together….
The reason someone like Chambliss, whom this writer has never been more than lukewarm over, was able to make Cleland is a former senator, is that the latter spent too much time waving the “I served in Vietnam” flag and too little actually performing the will of the people. The people finding out that Cleland’s wounds were not suffered in combat… which is why he was never awarded a purple heart, after so many years of his waving that “served in Vietnam” flag, while using those wounds as a bully pulpit to slander the Georgia National Guard, and the President of the United States , didn’t much help his credibility, either. To say the circumstances surrounding his injury were “ginned up” a bit would be to say that William Shatner had a tendency to over dramatize, a little. Indeed, in that respect, at least, their talents appear to be similar. Of course, drama sells. Which, let’s face it, is the only reason that Cleland got into office at all.
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So now that he’s out, we find him involved with John Murtha. Gee, big shock, given that the credibility of Mr. Murtha isn’t exactly unimpeachable either. Particularly when he still has not withdrawn, and apologized for, his slanderous comments against our troops in Iraq. These points seemed particularly weighty, considering the long time that questions have existed regarding the legit a messy of the metals he claims to have been awarded. Questions, we presume, will remain, until such time as Mr. Murtha decides to release his military record to the public. The obvious suspicion is Mr. Martha is hiding something in that record, that he’d rather the voters not know about. (Rather like John Kerry, in that respect. ) What we do know about the incidents surrounding those awards, is suspicious at best. The Pittsburgh Post- Gazette reported a while ago that casualty records conflict with Murtha’s accounting for those medals. As I investigate this aspect one name that keeps popping up is Harry M. Fox, who worked for representative John Saylor. In 1968. Fox claims that Martha asked Saylor for assistance in obtaining the purple hearts, but that Saylor office turned him down for lack of sufficient evidence of his ever being wounded. (Here’s a start on your own search of these matters) [2]
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For all of his playing the game within the military, though, Murtha certainly has figured out a way to game the system from his current position… And is, according to Wired on August the 3rd… [3]
…the biggest pig at the Defense Department trough. According to a new database [4], pulled together by Taxpayers for Common Sense [5], Murtha has gobbled up more money in pet projects [6] than any other Congress-critter in the 2008 military spending bill.
Murtha’s $150 million includes $15 million for the “Military Molecular Medicine Initiative,” $6 million for the “Center of Excellence for Remote & Medically Under-Served Areas [7],” and $2.5 million for Navy lasers.
Despite Murtha’s hogging, Congressional appropriators appear to be “keeping with the House commitment to reduce earmarks by 50 percent,” Keith Ashdown of TCS tells The Hill.
Which, if you think about it, makes Murtha’s moves even worse.
Indeed it does. Run that situation up against the political opportunism that Martha has been engaging at the expense of our military, and his abuses rise to the level of the obscene. I am hardly alone in noting this. Even MSNBC, hardly a bastion of Conservatve thought, reported last November [8]:
“Rep. Murtha has basically been on the wrong side of public integrity issues during his career,” says Fred Wertheimer, president of watchdog group Democracy 21.
Critics claim Murtha has amassed power in part by handing out taxpayer money to special interests, including to clients of defense lobbyists who give him big campaign contributions.
Then, there is video from an FBI sting in 1980, known as Abscam. Murtha was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal bribery scandal, which led to the conviction of one U.S. senator and six members of Congress.
“Each packet contains $10,000 in $1,000 bills,” says an undercover FBI agent on the tape as he offers a bribe to Murtha. “I went out, I got the $50,000,” continues the agent as he opens a drawer and shows the money . “From what you’re telling me, you’re telling me that’s not what, you know, that that’s not what you…”“I’m not interested,” interrupts Murtha.
“OK.”
“At this point,” clarifies Murtha.
“OK.”
“You know, we do business for a while, maybe I’ll be interested, maybe I won’t, you know,” says Murtha.
Murtha refuses the cash and talks about his need to be cautious because of his ambitions.
“I expect to be in the (expletive) leadership of the House,” he says on the tape. “And you have anything said about you, then you’ve got a problem.”
A couple examples from The Conservative Voice [9] who says:
This year, Murtha inserted several “earmarks” (specifically designated appropriations) into various defence bills giving millions of federal research dollars to companies owned by the children of Democrat Congressman Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania’s 11th district adjoining Murtha’s 12th.
Last year, Murtha strongarmed the Navy into transferring the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco, which had a contract with a company called Lennar, Inc. to “redevelop” the 500-acre site bringing millions in profits to Lennar. The Senior Vice-President of Lennar is Laurence Pelosi, Democrat House Leader Nancy Pelosi’s stepson.
Could this move be why Murtha has the secondary leadership position he holds in the House, a position he was appointed to by Pelosi?
No surprise, then, that he didn’t support even the watered down version of the recent ethics bill [10]. The man obviously wants nothing between him and tax money.
Where is this heroic marine that Murtha keeps trying to position himself as? Instead of doing what he can to make sure we have a victory in Iraq, and being a leader, he’s too busy with one hand trying to arrange for our surrender in Iraq, and with the other stuffing his pockets [11], and the pockets of his friends [12], with OUR money. This, apparently, is what passes for leadership within the Democratic party today. That he still has an office in government is a slap in the face to all Americans. Particularly, those in uniform.
Lets see here. A coward, a crook, and a “war hero” of rather questionable legitimacy. That’s John Murtha. I sometimes wonder if the Democrats understand how tall a cliff it is that Murtha is leading them over.