"Murtha pursued millions of dollars worth of legislative earmarks for the company, and Aeptec's federal contracts blossomed after it opened a branch in his district in 2001, rising from about $13 million in 2000 to $45.6 million in 2003 and $33 million in 2004, according to fedspending.org, a database of federal contracts. The company had been represented by two lobbying firms with close ties to Murtha: KSA Consulting and the PMA Group."
If we turn to the big Murtha campaign contributors, sure enough, PMA Group is sitting in the 4th rank with a donation of $31,000 for the ’05-’06 election.
This is by no means the end of the Murtha pork story. Take a look at just some of his recent activity with respect to Defense Appropriations earmarks.
"In early August 2007, it was revealed that Rep. Murtha, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, secured the most earmarked money in the FY2008 Defense Appropriations bill. According to the congressional watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, Murtha garnered 48 earmarks totaling $150.5 million. Coming in second was subcommittee ranking member Bill Young (R-Fla.), with 52 earmarks totaling $117.2 million. The $459.6 billion defense appropriations bill, which included an overall 1,337 earmarks, costing $3.07 billion, was expected to be considered on the House floor on August 3. Despite those earmarks, the measure still included less than half of the earmarks included in the previous year's appropriations bill, in keeping with a House commitment to reduce earmarking by 50 percent. However, the earmark total only consisted of earmarks disclosed by the committee, and many undisclosed earmarks may still be present."
Murtha has also managed to get himself entangled in some very nasty scandals, including the famous Abscam bribery deal with some “Arab Sheiks.”
"Abscam was the FBI's operational name for its 1980 "Arab Scam" sting. The sting was executed using FBI agents posing as two fictitious sheiks seeking to bribe local, state and federal officials and eventually netted the convictions of seven members of Congress. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) was videotaped agreeing to help one of the sheiks in exchange for an investment in his district and showed a willingness to possibly accept money in the future, but took no bribe and was not indicted in the scandal.
"Murtha is known as a dealer of earmarks, trading earmarks for votes on bills. On the floor of the House he occupies a corner, known as the "Murtha corner", where minority Democrats come to ask for earmarks and majority Republicans come to ask for votes for their legislation. Murtha has delivered votes to help Republicans block a number of Democratic initiatives: "to investigate federal contracting fraud in Iraq, to reform lobbying laws, to increase financing for flood control, to add $150 million for veterans' health care and job training, and to exempt middle-class families from the alternative minimum tax." Those who vote with Murtha have been rewarded with a large supply of earmarks for their districts. [8]
"In 1989 Murtha became chairman of the Defense Appropriation Subcommittee. There he imposed new rules and procedure that forced Defense appropriations bills to be decided behind closed doors. The practice has continued since Republicans took the majority in 1995."
Murtha’s history is prototypical of many of the 535 members of the House and Senate. However pure the original motivation for candidacy, once having been elected, the temptation to take advantage of the opportunities for corruption are far too overwhelming to ignore.
Removing the Pod People
Identifying the PPs is the easy part of the problem. Finding candidates with the integrity, intelligence, and the ability to oppose incumbent members of Congress in their respective party primaries presents an even greater challenge. Regardless of party, the existing organization has every reason to support the incumbent, especially one who has served multiple terms.
To successfully elect such candidates, it would seem the most effective point of attack would be through the mechanism of Independent candidacies. While next to impossible to mount a campaign at the presidential level, the localization of state and district boundaries makes feasible an attempt to storm the barricades.
Ending Party Control
Just what is it that support by either of the political parties brings? Two things; money and endorsement. By far, money is the greatest element necessary to win a party based election. In the past a major part of campaign expenditure was directed at media buys, and organizing large public appearances. The Net, with free video broadcasts available to candidates in many forms, an unlimited opportunity for presentation of position statements, and interactive communication between voters and candidates, money is no longer a barrier to entry to a contested election.
Party endorsement and support has always been an essential requirement for election. In years past party identification had value for the voter; it provided a clear definition of political philosophy (the “Party Platform”), and offered candidates vetted (in theory) to being individuals committed to the platform, qualified to hold office, and demonstrated good character. That service may well have had utility for the voter when he could only rely on the daily newspaper and the 6 o’clock news for information about a candidate. Not so, today. Without a consistent and coherent political philosophy nor reliable background information regarding its proffered candidates, the party has nothing of value to offer its voter membership.
The freshman Representative or Senator can best be seen as an indentured servant to the party that sponsored him. He is expected to follow the dictates of party leadership, with swift and certain denial of perks and opportunities certain to follow, should he deviate from their issued marching orders. Support for party legislative positions is a foregone conclusion. So too is the expectation of silence regarding the corrupt activities of party elders. Perks awarded, withheld, or removed can range from the location of office space to choice committee assignments. The party is a major source of support in getting.
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