Mike Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard: [1]
The Wall Street Journal reports [2] on the stunning success of Representative John Murtha in channeling taxpayer dollars to pork-barrel projects in his district, including awards for companies under FBI investigation and others which show no results, as well as many for projects the Pentagon did not request.
[3]Johnstown’s good fortune has come at the expense of taxpayers everywhere else. Defense contractors have found that if they open an office here and hire the right lobbyist, they can get lucrative, no-bid contracts. Over the past decade, Concurrent Technologies Corp., a defense-research firm that employs 800 here, got hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to Rep. Murtha despite poor reviews by Pentagon auditors. The National Drug Intelligence Center, with 300 workers, got $509 million, though the White House has tried for years to shut it down as wasteful and unnecessary. Another beneficiary: MTS Technologies, run by a man who got his start some 40 years ago shining shoes at Mr. Murtha’s Johnstown Minute Car Wash.
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 Some were inefficient or mismanaged, according to interviews, public records and previously unpublished Pentagon audits.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.
Is any of this a surprise? It is entirely consistent with Murtha’s whole career.
We’ve covered the fact that Murtha has received donations from every interest to which he granted an earmark [4]–many in the last few days before he introduced the earmarks in legislation. He’s funneled money to a group headed by a former staffer which supposedly helps wounded veterans find jobs–but there’s no evidence that they’ve helped anyone [5]. He falsely claimed [6] that the Department of Energy supported one of his earmarks. He falsely claimed Department of Justice support [7] for another. He’s threatened [8] his colleagues. He’s broken [9] House rules to get earmarks.
And all that is merely this year! We have not yet touched upon Haditha [10], or ‘slow-bleed,’ [11]the draft [12], or AbScam [13].
[14]Says Goldfarb:
Hasn’t Pennsylvania Had Enough?
Well, yeah, you’d think they’d have had enough by now. Then again, people with any sense at all would have dumped Murtha a long time ago. But you know, the tide appears to be turning. When even the leftist mecca of CBS news notices [15] the WSJ article, you know the tide has begun turning.
It’s time for Jack Murtha to leave office… now.
See also Mutha must go [16], Boot Murtha [17]and Captain Ed [18]