"Swift Boating" John Murtha?

U.S. Representative John "Jack" Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) is upset at his fellow Democrats for blocking his path to become the next House Majority Leader. His quote:

"I thought we were above this type of swift-boating attack," he said… "This is not how we restore integrity and civility to the United States Congress."

In the race for Most Corrupt Congressman, Murtha ranks high. Here are some of the reasons:

- Recently the left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington listed Murtha under "Five Members to Watch" in its 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress annual report.

- Rep. Murtha was involved in the Abscam sting operation conducted by the FBI in 1980, barely escaping prosecution when then-Speaker Tip O'Neil arranged to have the charges dropped.

- Rep. Murtha was instrumental in making Rep. Allan Mollohan the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, effectively slowing ethics reform to a crawl. Earlier this year Rep. Mollohan was booted off the ethics committee after evidence surfaced of his undisclosed personal assets and his steering of earmarks to various political allies.

- Rep. Murtha is the ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and for three years running has been the House's top recipient of defense appropriation earmarks. That spells "pork."

- Rep. Murtha's brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha, was a K-Street lobbyist until his retirement a few months ago. Kit Murtha earned a legendary reputation as an "earmark specialist" during his time at KSA Consulting. In 2005 the Los Angeles Times reported that "most of KSA's defense contractor clients hired the firm in hopes of securing funding from Rep. Murtha's subcommittee, according to lobbying records and interviews. And most retained the firm after Kit Murtha became a senior partner in 2002."

- Gary Ruskin, the former director of the Congressional Accountability Project, said, "When it comes to institutional policing of corruption in Congress, John Murtha is a one-man wrecking crew."

A sealed-ballot election tomorrow will determine the next Speaker of the House. For the sake of all citizens of our great republic, the Humble Patriot hopes that Jack "Semper I" Murtha is defeated by Rep. Steny Hoyer. The Democrats decried a "culture of corruption" prior to the recent election, and the perception of such a culture probably helped them at the polls. Even considering Rep. Murtha for such a position speaks volumes about the real priorities of the left.

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