22, 2009: Longtime Murtha friend Bill Kuchera's
defense contracting business, private home and LBK Game Ranch were
raided by the FBI and IRS.
Feb.
9, 2009: FBI raided the offices of
PMA Group, a defense lobbying firm with close ties to Democratic
Rep. John Murtha (Penn.), run by former Murtha aide, Paul Magliochetti.
Presidio Partners,
Hunters Point Redevelopment,
and
Murtha's corrupt ties to Nancy Pelosi
NANCY
PELOSI IS BLOCKING CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION
OF JOHN MURTHA
DigiJournal,
April 10, 2009:
Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi continues to resist an investigation of her controversial
colleague despite a growing number of defections within the
Democratic Party and an advancing investigation from outside the halls
of Congress that she controls...
According to
the San Francisco Chronicle, Pelosi called in Rep. John
Murtha to lean on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the
Hunters Point Shipyard to the City of San Francisco -- a company called Lennar Inc. had
right to the land, and Laurence Pelosi, nephew to House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was an executive with the firm at
that time.
"PAID" -
nonprofit group started by
Murtha
Murtha set up
'PAID' (Pennsylvania Association for
Individuals with Disabilities) -- a move reminiscent of Jack
Abramoff’s non-profit rip-off scheme. This has been a great way
for Murtha to skim money from taxpayers as the
Washington Post reported. Of course, Murtha did this
long in advance of Abramoff.
KSA lobbying firm run by Murtha's brother, Kit
Murtha's providing earmark legislation that resulted in Murtha’s brother,
Robert "Kit" Murtha, being hired by the lobbying group KSA
Consulting in 2002. Two years later, at least 10 KSA clients
profited from a $417 billion defense appropriations bill,
including seven companies that received $20.8 million in federal
earmarks. (LA
Times article)
Murtha's long association with Paul Magliocchetti and Murtha’s providing
defense contracts to Magliocchetti’s lobbying firm, PMA. In the
2006 election year 11 of Magliocchetti’s clients gave the
congressman $274,649 in contributions. In the 2004 and 2002
election cycles, PMA and its clients gave Murtha a total of more
than $515,000.
full 54-minute
Murtha/ABSCAM FBI surveillance tape:
"As ranking Democrat on the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee, the big-spending Murtha represents the
conscience
of the armed forces about as much as a sausage salesman can
be called the conscience of pigs."
-- Investors
Business Daily, 10/3/2006
WRITE or CALL MURTHA:
Rep. John Murtha
2423 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2065
(202) 225-5709 fax
Rep. John Murtha
P.O. Box 780
Johnstown, PA 15907
(814) 535-2642
(814) 539-6229 fax
12th District Toll-free:
(800) 289-2642
... The PMA
Group, the lobbying titan that closed its doors in March after an
FBI raid, has filed more than a dozen lawsuits against former
clients for failure to pay outstanding debts. Now, one company has
responded with a $3 million countersuit that alleges PMA cheated
it out of an earmark it was expecting to receive...
...Badenoch,
a Michigan-based defense engineering company with its sights set
on developing an alternative to the military’s Humvee, received a
$3 million earmark in last year’s budget for the advancement of
its research....
... Rep. John Murtha steered millions
of dollars in defense work to a campaign donor and the Pentagon
went along with it, even though two convicted drug dealers had
been deeply involved with the company.
Records filed in U.S. District Court
in Pittsburgh starting in 2005 raise questions about whether the
government ever checked into the background of William Kuchera of
Windber, Pa., a constituent who has been doing government work for
over 20 years...
... According to the court records,
William Kuchera was convicted of marijuana distribution in 1982 in
Wisconsin.
In addition, a man who describes
himself as an early partner in Kuchera's business in the 1980s is
a convicted cocaine dealer who has served two terms in prison,
according to records.
The man, Peter Whorley, sued the
Kuchera companies and William Kuchera for a share of the money the
companies have collected in federal contracts...
... In April, the Navy suspended
Kuchera Defense Systems, William Kuchera and his brother for
"alleged fraud," including "multiple incidents" of incorrect
charges, along with allegations of defective pricing and ethical
violations...
... While investigators look into
Reps. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) and Peter Visclosky’s (D-Ind.) ties to
the firm, voters in their respective districts will ultimately get
the chance to weigh in on whether they want to send their
Representatives back to Washington for another term.
Republicans are optimistic that the
ongoing investigation and negative publicity will help make both
Members targets for defeat in 2010. Still, short of either man
facing federal indictment, the GOP faces many hurdles in its
attempts to defeat the veteran lawmakers.
“The bottom line is obviously
Republicans have a much better shot if these guys are taken away
in handcuffs,” a national Republican operative said....
Among the booths at Murtha's Showcase for
Commerce was one from Kuchera Industries, a company with
longstanding ties to Murtha. FBI agents raided the company's
Johnstown offices in January, reportedly on suspicion that it had
misused government money for some events it held.
The company also has suspended from doing
business with the Navy for alleged fraud, including what a Navy
spokesman described as "defective pricing."
Asked to comment at the trade show, a top
company official wouldn't speak with CNN...
The U.S. House approved
by a wide margin an effort to force the ethics committee to report
within 45 days on what actions, if any, it has taken to examine an
escalating federal investigation involving at least one senior
House Democrat and a defunct defense lobbying firm.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of
Maryland offered the resolution Wednesday on behalf of Democratic
leadership. It passed 270-134, but it was largely a symbolic move.
The vote referred the resolution to the ethics committee, which
must independently approve it before it takes effect...
... The resolution could provide
political cover for House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy
Pelosi...
In
early 2005, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) apparently added language to
a tsunami relief bill shifting $8.2 million from a former client
of his brother’s lobbying firm to a new client of the same firm.
That earmark is now tangled up in a federal
indictment alleging that some of the money was skimmed by
contractors and a Defense Department employee for their personal
use.
Murtha’s spokesman said that no one in his
office has any recollection of the transaction...
... But sources familiar with the
appropriations process agreed it was impossible that a provision
removing earmarks from one company in Murtha’s district and
transferring the money to another company in his district could
have been added to the bill without Murtha’s involvement, since he
was at the time the ranking member on the subcommittee with
jurisdiction over the language...
...CBS
News has learned the FBI is investigating a little-known
not-for-profit organization called Commonwealth Research
Institute. It's located, like a lot of Rep. John Murtha's, D-Pa.,
pet projects, in his hometown, Johnstown, Pa.
Commonwealth gets the same benefits as the Salvation Army or any
other charity: It doesn't have to pay taxes. But its line of work
may be surprising. It's a defense contractor...
... Documents show when Commonwealth was formed, company officials
touted their connections to "the local Congressman" Murtha...
... Commonwealth Research gets all of its funding from government
contracts. As for what taxpayers get in return, that’s hard to
say. Commonwealth doesn’t have a website and wouldn’t tell CBS
News how many employees work there or how they have spent millions
of tax dollars....
Tax records show that Commonwealth’s top five most highly paid
employees make six figure salaries and live all over the country.
None were made available to speak with us when we visited
Commonwealth’s headquarters.
For the biggest hint as to what Commonwealth is all about, it may
help to know something about its parent company, Concurrent
Technologies. Concurrent is another defense contractor in
Johnstown, also registered as a charity at the same address. And,
with the help of Murtha and The PMA Group, a lobby firm that's
also under FBI investigation, Concurrent has gotten a billion
dollars-plus in defense contracts and earmarks.
Concurrent employees have also given Murtha’s campaign over
$95,000 in donations since 2002.
This isn't the first time Commonwealth has been involved in
controversy. Back in 2007, the charity mysteriously paid $26,000
to a Pentagon official who was in between positions at the
Pentagon and waiting to be confirmed for a top Air Force
procurement position. The official admitted to a Washington Post
reporter that he hadn’t done any work to earn the Commonwealth
payment. Less than three weeks after The Post published an article
on the controversy, the official committed suicide...
So far,
Democrats close both of them say, the cascade of headlines about
Murtha’s network and the federal probes of contractors, lobbyists
and at least one lawmaker in his orbit have had no effect on their
relationship.
... But for Democrats, the problem
appears to be getting worse. On Friday, Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.),
a close Murtha ally, announced his Congressional and campaign
offices and some staffers had been subpoenaed by a federal grand
jury as part of a probe of the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying
shop with strong ties to Murtha. The development for the first
time tied the investigation of the firm to a Member of Congress.
Last month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Kuchera
Defense Systems, a Windber, Pa., outfit that Murtha showered with
earmarks and that has contributed heavily to his campaigns, had
been barred from future Navy contracts amid fraud allegations...
... “There are very few people who
have assisted her advance more than Murtha,” said Marc Sandalow, a
former San Francisco Chronicle reporter who penned the Pelosi
biography “Madam Speaker.” ...
Fanning
the anti-earmark fires are scandals involving Rep. John
Murtha, D-Pa. The chairman of the House Appropriations
Defense Subcommittee, Murtha is now associated with so many
pay-to-play allegations that it's getting hard to keep up...
...Four watchdog groups have asked the
House ethics committee to investigate whether any lawmakers were
improperly influenced by campaign contributions from the PMA
Group. Those calling for the probe -- Democracy 21, Common Cause,
Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG -- questioned the firm's dealings
with not just Murtha but with Reps. Peter Visclosky,
D-Ind., and Jim Moran, D-Va. Visclosky
acknowledged last week that he and members of his staff have
received federal grand jury subpoenas in the PMA probe.
Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.,
the House's leading earmarks foe, has introduced eight privileged
resolutions this year calling for the ethics committee to
investigate earmarks abuses by PMA and in general. Flake's first
such resolution, in February, drew only 17 Democrats, but his most
recent one -- introduced on May 12 -- won 29 Democratic votes...
You
Don’t Know Jack is an interactive graphic illustrating the
intricate web of special interests Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) has
spun around him.
For many years, Rep. Murtha has been
treating our tax dollars like his own personal piggy bank, doling
out funds to donors, friends, and family members who ingratiate
themselves, currying his favor. In exchange, Rep. Murtha greedily
demands and receives tribute in the form of generous campaign
donations, employment for relatives, and charitable contributions.
Move your cursor over the text on the
graphic to learn how these individuals and businesses are
connected to the congressman and how much that connection costs
them — and us.
...Over the past five years, a local defense
contractor with close ties to Rep. John Murtha ...has selected
several small police departments in the region to receive $10
million in Justice Department grants.
The company, Mountaintop Technologies, was
selected by the lawmaker in a series of earmarks to hand out and
monitor the grants. As it distributed the money to the
departments, the firm would explain each time that it was arriving
through the largess of Murtha -- often just before fall elections.
...The tale of how a defense company
ended up getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to
distribute federal police grants is a chapter in a larger story of
Mountaintop Technologies, its far-flung operations and its
dependence on Murtha. The Johnstown firm has received at least $36
million in the past eight years in earmarks and military
contracts, without competition and with the backing of Murtha, the
powerful chairman of the House Appropriations defense
subcommittee. It also hired the lobbying firm where Murtha's
brother worked...
...
The nephew insists “good work,” not
Uncle John, is the key to his success. But e-mails obtained by The
Washington Post show the nephew touting family clout. One message
advises a partner that a condition for “keeping funds flowing”
mandates that part of the contract money, approved through
Representative Murtha’s powerful defense appropriations
subcommittee, be channeled to companies in Johnstown, Pa., his
uncle’s home district. “This has been a requirement for what I do
to get dollars through,” Robert Murtha declared.
Such alarming candor should spark an
immediate ethics inquiry into possible violations of House
quid-pro-quo strictures. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is resistant...
.
John Murtha of Johnstown is the canary
in the mine shaft. In politics, the canaries don't die. They adapt
and learn to live with the toxic fumes of public spending on
scales beyond morality or understanding. We are just about
there...
...
Congressman John Murtha & friends have been supporting a
controversial biodefense facility that would develop and
manufacture “vaccines and other medical countermeasures.”
... The spokesman there also said the
program was only in its earliest stages, and said no decision had
been made about where the facility would be built. I had been told
by sources that it would be located in Murtha’s district.
... it turns out the facility is further
along than any of these people cared to admit. And now another
key player has been identified, new Democratic Senator Arlen
Specter:
UPMC wants to build a $830 million vaccine
manufacturing facility, of which about $580 million would come
from the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of
Defense, which Specter said April 16 that he would help try to
secure.
Not only is there a budget for the project, which
was also denied by the people I spoke with, but there’s a proposed
location as well. The story says the facility would be built in
western Pennsylvania, a stretch of territory that includes
Murtha’s district...
...
As the House prepared to vote this week on Republican Rep. Jeff
Flake’s push for an ethics investigation involving Rep. John
Murtha and other senior appropriators, Democratic leaders sent an
unmistakable message to their members:
“Don’t be a Flake.”
That was the subject line
of an e-mail that staffers for first- and second-term
Democrats
received Tuesday from Rep. Chris Van Hollen, assistant to Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. The message said that Democrats would once again be
“voting to table another Flake resolution” — and it made clear
that leadership would have its eyes on any Democrats even thinking
about defecting.
...
When the House took up Flake’s resolution Tuesday
night, Democrats once again voted overwhelmingly to table it. But
the 29
Democratic
votes the measure got
this week was the highest tally yet — and further evidence of a
generational divide that’s pitting newer House members who want to
“drain the swamp” against veteran members who don’t want to see
their colleagues investigated.
So far, the younger members are getting trounced — but the
momentum is in their favor.
Despite the directives from Van Hollen
and Clyburn, two more Democrats voted for Flake’s resolution
Tuesday, and they are the two newest Democrats in the House: Rep.
Scott Murphy of New York and Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois...
...The
Republican who challenged Rep. John Murtha in 2008 says a top aide
to the embattled Pennsylvania Democrat threatened to have him
recalled to active duty in the U.S. Army so he could be
court-martialed for engaging in politics while serving in the
armed forces.
Bill Russell — who challenged Murtha
in 2008 and intends to do so again in 2010 — said Murtha chief of
staff John Hugya made the threat during a National Rifle
Association event in mid-March.
Ret. Col. Gregory Ritch, a former Army
Reserve officer who served as Russell’s commanding officer, said
he heard Hugya make a similar threat in January.
“[Hugya] said, ‘When the [new]
secretary of the Army comes in, we’re going to call his ass back
to active duty and we’re going to prosecute him under the [Uniform
Code of Military Justice],’” Ritch said Hugya told him during
their January conversation...
... John Hugya, Pennsylvania
Representative Jack Murtha’s chief of staff, used Murtha campaign
funds to buy a rifle and some knives and other gun-nut baubles at
an auction held by the Friends of the National Rifle Association.
And then Hugya counted the $2151 he spent as a gift from the
Murtha campaign, even though the Murtha folks said the money was a
payment to Friends of the NRA for “advertising.” Talk about a
scandal!
... Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a member
of the Appropriations Committee, plans to offer an amendment that
would freeze millions of dollars directed to PMA clients as
earmarks in the 2009 omnibus spending bill. The money would be on
hold until the FBI investigation into the lobbying firm is
concluded and Congress and the public can determine whether any
wrongdoing occurred, the lawmaker confirmed late last week...
...The Federal Aviation Administration, after reviewing concerns
about a project at a regional airport named after, Rep. John P.
Murtha (D-Pa), has decided to go forward with plans to use
$800,000 in stimulus funds to repave the airport's alternate
runway.
Late this afternoon, a spokesperson for the Department of
Transportation confirmed that the department had completed its
review and would be releasing the funds for the Johnstown, Pa.,
airport project.
DOT spokesperson Jill Zuckman said the review was undertaken after
a "senior policy" official at DOT decided he wanted to reconsider
the project...
... The
Washington Post reported last month on more than $150 million
in federal funds that Murtha directed to the airport, which has
six arriving and departing flights per day. Among the
improvements, Murtha directed the Pentagon to give the airport a
new, $8 million, state-of-the-art radar tower that has not been
used since it was built in 2004, and $30 million for a new runway
and tarmac so the airport could handle large military planes and
become an emergency military base in case of crisis...
...
In
e-mails obtained by The Post, Robert Murtha told a business partner in
2001 that there were conditions for "keeping funds flowing." Part of
the federal work, he said, must be channeled to Johnstown, Pa., his
uncle's [John P. Murtha] home town.
"This has
been a requirement for what I do to get dollars through," Robert
Murtha wrote in an e-mail to a senior official with NMS Imaging of
Silver Spring, the lead contractor on a project to produce biological
test kits.
Robert
Murtha, 49, recently told The Post that it is "unfortunate" that some
will assume his family ties led to government contracts...
...Murtech
received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without
competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering
services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and
an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its
owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of
Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who
has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as
chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
... Murtha's power has had beneficial effects within his family.
His brother, Robert C. "Kit" Murtha, built a longtime lobbying
practice around clients seeking defense funds through the
Appropriations Committee and became one of the top members of KSA,
a lobbying firm whose contractor clients often received
multimillion-dollar earmarks directed through the committee
chairman.
Robert C. Murtha Jr. of Murtech is Kit Murtha's son...
...the Pentagon has spent about $30 million equipping the little-used
airport named for him so it can handle behemoth military aircraft and
store combat equipment for rapid deployment to foreign battlefields.
Most of the improvements, funded through appropriations approved by
Murtha's panel, have not been used for their intended purpose...
... Some locals call the Johnstown airport "Fort Murtha" because of
the stream of wartime projects at the facility. Although its runway is
capable of servicing the largest airplanes in North America, the
airport now is used only by small commuter planes that make six trips
a day back and forth to Washington Dulles International Airport.
Many of the commercial flights, which are subsidized by federal
transportation dollars, carry only a handful of passengers. On a
recent visit, all of the departing flights were less than half full,
and one had only four passengers -- screened by seven federal airport
personnel.
..."Murtha wanted an airport, and he knew he could get one. It's like
he's a billionaire, except it's not his money."
...the $8.6 million radar tower has not been used since it was
completed in 2004...
...The Guard has been paying roughly $1,500 a month to keep the
unmanned radar spinning...
...The
race for Rep. Jack Murtha's seat just got a little more crowded,
thanks to Republican Tim Burns, who announced his intention to take on
the Johnstown congressman in the 2010 mid-term elections.
...
Burns grew up in Johnstown, graduated from Indiana University of
Pennsylvania and now makes his home in Eighty-Four with his wife
and two children.
...
Bill
Russell, last year's Republican challenger to Murtha, notes on his Web
site that he is planning to run in 2010 as well....
...a string of federal criminal
investigations of contractors or lobbyists close to Mr. Murtha, the
top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, are
threatening to undermine his backroom clout.
...This week, Fred Wertheimer, a
veteran advocate for stricter ethics rules, and others are expected to
formally ask the ethics committee to investigate Mr. Murtha, a handful
of other lawmakers close to him, and the possibility that they traded
earmarks for contributions and other benefits from the PMA Group...
...Democratic
leaders have told their members they should let the ethics panel do
its work and stop
supporting
a measure sponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) that would force the
ethics panel to investigate PMA's earmarks and report back to Congress
within two months...
...The
contractor was set to receive $1 million tax dollars. He said the
military told him the money would come through a company called
Commonwealth Research Institute, whose parent company, Concurrent
Technologies, ranked among the largest earmark recipients. Both were
set up with Murtha's help in his own hometown. The defense contractor
said Commonwealth officials told him to get the money, he should
"consider opening an office" in Johnstown, Murtha's hometown, and
chided his company for not giving "enough campaign contributions to
Murtha," and not making "a showing at Murtha's annual defense
contractor fair."
The
contractor told CBS News: "I
wouldn't do it. We're just not going to play." He didn't get the
funds.
State-of-the-art Pennsylvania facility sees few
travelers but lots of funding...
... Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) is
credited with securing at least $150 million for the airport. It
was among the first in the country to win funding from this year's
stimulus package: $800,000 to repave a backup runway....
... The facility, newly renamed the
John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport, is a testament to
Murtha's ability to tap streams of federal money for pricey,
state-of-the-art projects that are rare among regional airports of
comparable size.
Murtha, dubbed the King of Pork by
critics, consistently directs more federal money to his district
than any other congressman -- $192 million in the 2008 budget.
His pattern of steering millions in
earmarks to defense contractors who give to his campaign and hire
his allies as lobbyists is being scrutinized by the FBI as part of
an investigation of a lobbying firm led by one of Murtha's closest
friends.
The lawmaker, who uses the airport
frequently during his campaigns, has steadily steered millions of
taxpayer dollars to it to build a new terminal with a restaurant;
a long, concrete runway sturdy enough to handle large jets; and a
high-tech radar system usually reserved for international
airports.
The airport's passenger count has
fallen by more than half in the past 10 years...
...Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) is immune
from a defamation suit filed against him by a U.S. Marine, a
federal appeals court
ruled on Tuesday.
Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich filed suit
against Murtha, claiming that the veteran lawmaker damaged his
reputation when he told the press that Wuterich's squad in 2005
killed civilians in cold blood in Haditha, Iraq.
... Murtha, a former Marine, used his
congressional immunity as his defense, arguing that he made those
statements to the press in his official capacity as a member of
Congress...
... Despite the ruling, Murtha has
infuriated Marines across the country with his accusations.
Thousands of people have signed a petition to strip Murtha of a
recent Navy award for distinguished public service that the
lawmaker received in early March. Those who signed the online
petition are calling on Murtha to apologize for his comments or
for the Navy to take away the award.
...According to a report by Merv Benson in
prairiepundit.com, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) got 17 Democratic
votes after introducing a resolution in February that called for
an ethics investigation into “the relationship between earmark
requests already made by members and the source and timing of past
campaign contributions.” Since then, a steady “trickle “of
Democrats have crossed the aisle putting increasing pressure on
Pelosi to act.
Murtha has been the subject of ethics
investigations since at least 1980 when he was snared in a sting
operation by undercover
FBI agents posing as Middle Eastern Sheiks. Five other
senators were indicted but Murtha was named as an unindicted
co-conspirator because he refused to reach in a drawer to remove
$50,000, insisting instead that he would feel more comfortable if
a middleman could take possession of the money. The FBI agent
refused and Murtha set up a second meeting. Ultimately Murphy
testified against his congressional colleagues and all charges
against him were dropped.
Pelosi continues to resist an investigation of
her controversial colleague despite a growing number of defections
within the Democratic Party and an advancing investigation from
outside the halls of Congress that she controls...
...Murtha has been supporting a highly questionable project that has
benefited an interlocking network of his political funders and
friends in private industry...
...A flurry of federal investigations and news articles about
Congressman John Murtha’s funding requests and campaign
contributions has not stopped him from asking for $134 million in
earmarks for his district this year, including $75 million for
defense spending.
... Four of the earmark requests from Murtha’s office are for
current or former clients of a lobbying firm, the PMA Group, that
is currently under federal investigation for connection to
possible "straw" donations to Murtha and other Democratic members
of the House...
...many
on Capitol Hill, recalling the scandal that mushroomed around the
lobbyist
Jack
Abramoff, are wondering who else will be
ensnared in the investigation as prosecutors pore over the
financial records and computer files of one of K Street’s most
influential lobbyists, known both for the billions of dollars in
earmarks he obtained for his clients and for his open hand toward
those he sought to influence.
... Mr. Magliocchetti helped pioneer the lucrative specialty of
helping contractors lobby for military earmarks, the several
billion dollars in pet spending items that members of the panel
insert in annual spending bills, often with little oversight.
... when [Magliocchetti] left to start his lobbying firm in 1989,
he helped Mr. Murtha recruit major military contractors to attend
a new annual trade fair in Johnstown that became the cornerstone
of the lawmaker’s effort to steer business to the area.
Since 1998, for example, employees of the firm and its clients
have contributed more than $40 million to lawmakers, including
more than $7.8 million to members on the House defense spending
panel and $2.4 million to Mr. Murtha, its chairman. The same
lawmakers, meanwhile, have helped finance hundreds of pet projects
sought by PMA clients, including earmarks for more than $300
million in the military spending bill passed last year alone. And
PMA, still owned by Mr. Magliocchetti until its collapse, grew
into a K Street powerhouse with more than $15 million a year in
lobbying fees...
...A Pennsylvania defense research center
regularly consulted with two "handlers" close to Rep.
John P. Murtha (D-Pa) as it collected nearly $250
million in federal funding through the lawmaker, according to
documents obtained by The Washington Post and sources familiar
with the funding requests. The center then channeled a significant
portion of the funding to companies that were among Murtha's
campaign supporters.
The two advisers included a lobbyist for PMA Group, a firm with
close ties to Murtha that is the subject of a federal
investigation into whether it made illegal contributions by
reimbursing donors to the Pennsylvania lawmaker and other members
of Congress. The Electro-Optics Center also relied on advice from
a longtime Murtha friend who now works on the congressman's
appropriations staff...
...In
one of his last moves before leaving office March 13, then-Navy
Secretary Donald Winter quietly awarded 19-term Democratic congressman
John Murtha (Pa.) with the service's highest civilian honor.
...The
award generated little publicity when it was given to Murtha in early
March, but as news of the honor trickled out, some veterans groups
ignited a firestorm of protest. [see "Don't
Honor John Murtha - Petition"]
The primary
reason for their ire stems from the congressman's statements in May,
2006, that a squad of Marines who responded to an IED ambush and short
firefight in Haditha, Iraq, rampaged through the village, murdering
civilians "in cold blood."
Murtha made
those comments in the heat of the 2006 congressional mid-term election
campaign, in a move some political analysts saw as an attempt to stoke
the anti-war vote for a Democratic takeover of the House. The former
Marine and distinguished Vietnam veteran continued his accusations in
follow-up media appearances before an official Pentagon and Naval
Criminal Investigative Service investigation had been completed.
When the
dust settled more than two years later, six of the eight Marines and
Sailors accused of crimes in the Haditha incident had their cases
dismissed, one was found not guilty and the last has been continued
indefinitely.
The Navy
did not respond to a request for comment on the award or the backlash
from veterans groups by post time.
Murtha has
refused to recant his accusations or apologize to the Marines he
accused of war crimes. When asked by Military.com in late 2007 whether
he regretted his initial statements and owed the exonerated Marines
and Sailor an apology, Murtha refused to comment, saying the cases
were still being adjudicated...
...A
Pennsylvania defense research center regularly consulted with two
"handlers" close to
Rep. John P.
Murtha (D-Pa.) as it collected nearly $250
million in federal funding through the lawmaker, according to
documents obtained by The Washington Post and sources familiar with
the funding requests. The center then channeled a significant portion
of the funding to companies that were among Murtha's campaign
supporters...
...Not since
the FBI caught
him on videotape in the Abscam corruption probe nearly
three decades ago
has Murtha faced so many questions about his ethics.
In that
1980 sting operation, agents captured Murtha on videotape turning down
a $50,000 bribe offer, while holding out the possibility that he might
take money in the future. "We do business for awhile, maybe I'll be
interested and maybe I won't," Murtha said on the tape.
Six
congressmen and one senator were convicted in the case. Murtha wasn't
charged, but the government named him an unindicted co-conspirator,
and he testified against two other congressmen....
...Under
fire for his earmarking practices, Murtha wouldn't grant
CBS News an interview today. But
he did turn and address our camera while passing by in a hallway.
"That's the
Constitution of the United States," he said, holding up a pocket-sized
copy. "What it says is the Congress of the United States appropriates
the money. Got that?"
What he
means is Congress gets to decide how tax dollars are spent.
Specifically, Murtha himself often gets to decide. As head of the
Defense Spending Committee he has the power to steer hundreds of
millions of tax dollars in earmarks to companies of his choice.
But now the
FBI is asking whether people who have benefited from Murtha's earmarks
have made improper donations to his political campaigns...
...A defense lobbyist [Paul Magliocchetti] and his family made $1.5 million in
political contributions from 2000 through 2008 as the lobbyist’s now-embattled
firm helped clients win billions of dollars in federal
contracts. A sizable chunk of those campaign dollars went to the House members
who control Pentagon spending.
... The top
beneficiaries were a select group of Democratic members of the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee, other allies of the top Pentagon appropriator in
the House, Rep.
John P. Murtha, D-Pa., and the company’s own political action committee, which in turn
made contributions to many of the same lawmakers...
....sources
familiar with the EOC’s operations say Murtha has used the center
as a “front” for PMA and other lobbyists and contractors with ties
to the Pennsylvania Democrat.
At least 10 PMA lobbying clients have received funding via the EOC,
officials at the center acknowledged. Sources familiar with the
EOC’s operations said the total that went to PMA clients ran into
the “tens of millions of dollars.”
... Sources inside and outside EOC say that Murtha used the center
as a conduit for earmarks directed at Kuchera Industries, a
Pennsylvania-based company that was raided by federal authorities
earlier this year. In an April 28, 2006, e-mail to an EOC
employee, Harris said he had “been told to help Bill Kuchera for
nearly two years,” and that this direction “came directly from Mr.
Murtha.” ...
...More
than 100 House members secured earmarks in a major spending bill for clients
of a single lobbying firm — The PMA Group — known for its close ties to
John P. Murtha
, the congressman in charge of Pentagon appropriations.
... Those
House members, plus a handful of senators, combined to route nearly $300
million in public money to clients of PMA through that one law (PL 110-116).
And when
the lawmakers were in need — as they all are to finance their campaigns —
PMA came through for them.
According
to
CQ MoneyLine,
the same House members who took responsibility for PMA’s earmarks in that
spending bill have, since 2001, accepted a cumulative $1,815,138 in campaign
contributions from PMA’s political action committee and employees of the
firm...
...Three
lawmakers said Tuesday that they were returning campaign contributions from
donors listed as employees of the PMA Group, a Washington lobbying firm
whose founder is under investigation for purportedly funneling money through
bogus donors.
The
decision by the three lawmakers — Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, and
Representatives Zoe Lofgren of California and Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana,
all Democrats — puts new pressure on others who received cash from the PMA
Group and its founder, Paul Magliocchetti.
Other big
beneficiaries include Representative
John P. Murtha,
the Pennsylvania Democrat who is chairman of the House defense
appropriations subcommittee; Representative James P. Moran, a Virginia
Democrat on the panel; and Representative Alan B. Mollohan, the West
Virginia Democrat who is chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that
oversees the
National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, among other things.
Mr. Murtha,
who received the most donations from PMA’s employees and clients, was a
mentor to Mr. Magliocchetti, who was once on the staff of the defense
appropriations subcommittee. Mr. Murtha, Mr. Visclosky, Mr. Moran and Mr.
Mollohan have all earmarked millions of dollars in federal money for the PMA
Group’s clients...
...A man who
gave campaign donations as the employee of a defense-lobbying firm under
federal investigation also gave contributions as a partner for another
company, even though the second firm’s president has no idea who he is.
Jon Walker
is listed as a partner for EVAS Worldwide, a New Jersey-based aircraft
safety company, and gave $19,000 to lawmakers as an EVAS employee, according
to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. That is more than 40 percent
of the political contributions from the company’s employees overall.
Yet Walker
has never worked at the small company, and EVAS’s senior executive does not
know him.
“I have no
idea who Mr. Walker is,” said George Reenstra, president of EVAS Worldwide,
after reviewing the campaign finance records faxed to him by The Hill...
...The PMA Group, the top defense-focused lobbying
firm in Washington, is preparing to end its lobbying operations March 31
following reports of an FBI investigation into its campaign contributions, a
source familiar with the company’s operations said...
...The
FBI raided the offices of a defense lobbying firm with close ties to
Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Penn.), sources tell ABC News.
The
FBI searched the Virginia headquarters of the PMA Group in November,
according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. PMA
was founded by former Murtha aide Paul Magliochetti and specializes in
winning earmarked taxpayer funds for its clients...
...
PMA is the second company with close ties to Murtha to be raided by
federal agents recently. In January, agents from the FBI, the IRS and
the Defense Criminal Investigative Service searched the office of
Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems, as well as the homes
of the firms' founders. The companies reportedly have received over
$100 million in earmarks, thanks to Murtha's efforts...
... A
spokesperson for PMA Group, Patrick Dorton, confirmed the raid in a
statement Monday afternoon. "Government representatives did come to
the PMA offices. They requested a number of different kinds of
information," Dorton said. "The firm is cooperating with their
requests."...
...When
John Murtha got in trouble in the 2008 election, he needed cash —
badly. And that’s precisely how he got it, according to a Roll Call
report today. Pork recipients flocked to their meal ticket when it
looked as though accusing his constituents of being racist rednecks
might actually lose Murtha an election, and a lobbying company run by
a former Murtha staffer apparently coordinated the effort:
Facing a surprisingly tough re-election
challenge in the closing days of his 2008 campaign, Rep. John Murtha
(D-Pa.) called on a well-established network of his earmarking
beneficiaries to bail him out. And the defense industry contractors,
several of whom had pulled down millions of dollars in Murtha earmarks
in the 2009 defense spending bill, responded by flooding his coffers
with what amounted to rescue cash.
The Defense appropriations cardinal’s more than $1 million haul in the
last two weeks of the campaign included about $40,000 from employees
of nine contractors that together received $60.6 million in targeted
projects from Murtha last year, according to an analysis of Federal
Election Commission records and House Appropriations Committee
documents.
Four of those companies are clients of the PMA Group Inc., a
lobbying firm founded by a former top Murtha aide that has emerged
in recent years as a leading source of the lawmaker’s campaign funds.
Altogether, PMA employees and their clients contributed more than
$110,000 in the final two weeks of the campaign. And while many of
those outfits have operations in Murtha’s western Pennsylvania
district, nine out of every 10 of their checks dropped in from outside
the state...
The nonpartisan group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington alleges that Murtha helped funnel $100.5 million to PMA
clients in the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill. CREW also
noted that since the second quarter of 2007 PMA and 10 of its
clients kicked in almost $191,000 to Murtha's campaign coffers,
making them among the top 20 donors to the congressman...
Defense contractor Kuchera's office raided by FBI, IRS on Jan. 22, 2009...
WJACTV.com,
1-22-09:
...Employees said Kuchera's chief financial officer, Ron Kuchera, was
present alongside authorities during the raid.
Kuchera does both industrial and defense-related work and employs
nearly 300 local people. Ron Kuchera and his brother Bill run the
business.
Witnesses said Bill Kuchera's private home and game preserve was also
raided by federal agents.
Records indicate he bought the 161-acre property in May 2006 for
$800,000. LBK Game Ranch is listed as a farm, dealing primarily with
livestock and animal specialties. It has two employees and brings in
$150,000 annually.
Posted signs on the property call it a "U.S. government test
facility."
The
Department of Defense Inspector General's criminal division is heading
the investigation. The agency primarily investigates fraud crimes in
which the government was either a part to or a victim of...
...Since 2006, the Kucheras nearly doubled the money they spent on a
Washington-based lobbyist with close connections to Rep. John Murtha.
During the same period of time, they won $27 million in military
contracts and $8 million in federal earmarked from Murtha.
"(Murtha) should be very alarmed they've taken over their book," said
Melanie Sloan, of Citizens For Ethics & Responsibility in Washington.
"They are looking at the campaign contributions. They are looking at
the relationship between that defense contractor and Mr. Murtha, and
if there is anything questionable to be found, the federal
investigators will find it. So I would imagine that Mr. Murtha is
talking to his defense attorney about now."
... 
...CBS
News has learned the FBI is investigating a little-known
not-for-profit organization called Commonwealth Research
Institute. It's located, like a lot of Rep. John Murtha's, D-Pa.,
pet projects, in his hometown, Johnstown, Pa. 
CREW.org: May
29, 2009:
...
As the House prepared to vote this week on Republican Rep. Jeff
Flake’s push for an ethics investigation involving Rep. John
Murtha and other senior appropriators, Democratic leaders sent an
unmistakable message to their members: 
...The
Republican who challenged Rep. John Murtha in 2008 says a top aide
to the embattled Pennsylvania Democrat threatened to have him
recalled to active duty in the U.S. Army so he could be
court-martialed for engaging in politics while serving in the
armed forces. 
...Murtech
received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without
competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering
services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and
an unmanned reception area, Murtech's most striking feature is its
owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of
...The
race for Rep. Jack Murtha's seat just got a little more crowded,
thanks to Republican Tim Burns, who announced his intention to take on
the Johnstown congressman in the 2010 mid-term elections.
The
Hill,
4-14-09:
DigitalJournal,
4-10-09:
CBS
News, 3-17-09:
CQ
Politics, 3-12-09:
