By Laurence Arnold

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- John Murtha, a former Marine drill instructor turned congressman who unapologetically wielded his power to benefit his Pennsylvania district, died today. He was 77.

Murtha, a Democrat, died of complications after undergoing gallbladder surgery in late January in a hospital in Arlington, Virginia.

During 36 years in the House, the Vietnam veteran from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, rose to chairman of the subcommittee that approves defense spending. That perch gave him a platform to exert his knowledge and strong beliefs about the proper use of the U.S. military.

In November 2005, citing increasing attacks on Americans, he called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, a military engagement he had voted for in 2002.

He was an ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. “It’s the passing of a major political figure who was close to the speaker and always involved in Democratic legislation,” said Stuart Rothenberg, an independent political analyst based in Washington. Rothenberg called Murtha a major force in “forming American politics in jobs and spending.”

Representative Norm Dicks, Democrat from Washington state, the senior most member of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee after Murtha, would be the “one most likely to succeed,” George Behan, a spokesman for Dicks, said in an interview. The House Appropriations committee headed by Representative Dave Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin, would make the final decision, Behan said.

User of Earmarks

Murtha’s seat on the Appropriations Committee enabled him to become one of Congress’s most adept users of the earmark process to send money to specific projects back home. The John Murtha Johnston-Cambria County Airport was among the more visible results of his taxpayer-funded largess. Murtha steered an estimated $150 million in federal funds to the airport, the Washington Post reported in 2009.

Murtha’s town also became a popular place for defense contractors, which received millions in earmarks through the congressman. Some of those firms donated to Murtha’s campaign and gave jobs to his allies, the Post reported, creating a web of connections that drew the attention of federal prosecutors.

Searches were carried out in January and February of 2009 at the offices of a Virginia lobbying firm and a Pennsylvania- based defense contractor that had benefited from Murtha’s earmarks.

Abscam Investigation

Earlier in his career, he was investigated -- though not prosecuted -- in the Abscam bribery scandal that led to the convictions of seven other lawmakers in the 1980s.

Murtha’s use of earmarks and ties to lobbyists made him a top target of good-government groups. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington labeled him one of the “most corrupt” members of Congress.

Murtha gave no ground. “If I’m corrupt, it’s because I take care of my district,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in March 2009. “My job as a member of Congress is to make sure that we take care of what we see is necessary.”

As his congressional Web site put it, Murtha “has worked hard to bring tens of thousands of family-sustaining jobs to western Pennsylvania,” which had suffered “the widespread loss of coal and steel jobs that were the lifeblood of the area.”

After Democrats won a majority of seats in the House in November 2006, Murtha ran for the No. 2 leadership post, majority leader, and was supported by Pelosi, the incoming House speaker. Murtha, who may have lost votes due to the allegations about his ethics, was defeated by Steny Hoyer of Maryland.

‘Racist Area’

Murtha won his 18th full term in 2008 even after seeming to insult his district by calling it “a racist area” where some voters might be reluctant to vote for Barack Obama. He later apologized.

His committee was preparing to take up the latest war spending bill, which would fund the Obama administration’s troop buildup in Afghanistan. Murtha had expressed skepticism, saying in December he was “not sure that there’s a threat to our national security” in Afghanistan because al-Qaeda “can go any place -- they don’t have to be in Afghanistan.”

Murtha’s death likely creates another competitive race as Republicans try to retake the House in November. His district gave 49 percent of its vote to Obama in 2008 and 49 percent to Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

John Patrick Murtha was born on June 17, 1932, in New Martinsville, West Virginia, and graduated from high school in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania.

Drill Instructor

He left Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1952 to join the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War, serving until 1955 and becoming a drill instructor at Parris Island.

In his second tour of active duty, in 1966 and 1967, he served in Vietnam as a Marine intelligence officer. His honors included a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He was a reservist from 1952 to 1990 and retired from the Marine reserves as a colonel.

He earned a degree in economics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1962.

He began his political career as a member of Pennsylvania’s legislature from 1969 to 1974. The death of U.S. Representative John P. Saylor, a Republican, in 1973 forced a special election in February 1974 that was viewed as a referendum on the unpopular Republican president, Richard Nixon, then beset by problems including inflation and the emerging Watergate scandal. Backed by organized labor, Murtha won by just a few hundred votes.

‘Tip’ O’Neill

House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill took a liking to Murtha and named him to the powerful Appropriations Committee. He became chairman of the defense subcommittee in 1989.

Murtha was often called upon by congressional leaders and presidents to travel overseas to assess security challenges or monitor elections. In 1982, O’Neill sent Murtha to Beirut to review President Ronald Reagan’s decision to deploy U.S. Marines there as part of a multinational peacekeeping force.

Murtha concluded the American troops were too vulnerable. “I’d like to get them out of here as soon as possible,” he told reporters.

In 1992, he was a leading congressional critic of President George H.W. Bush’s decision to send U.S. troops to Somalia on a humanitarian mission. “The danger is we won’t be able to get them out,” Murtha warned.

Murtha’s congressional Web site said of his role in the Somalia debate: “Although his advice was not heeded, history would prove him right.”

Murtha and his wife, Joyce, had three children.

--With assistance from Kate Andersen Brower and Gopal Ratnam in Washington. Editors: Laurie Asseo, Jim Rubin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurence Arnold in Washington at +1-202-624-1904 or larnold4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at +1-212-617-5801 or jgreiff@bloomberg.net

================

While it is sad news, there is no doubt this guy was one of the most corrupt politicians in DC. - He constantly fought against ethics reform. He had been under investigation to see if his brother's company benefited from his earmarks.

-Bruce

__________________________

"Faith is Action, Based upon Belief, Sustained by Confidence in God's Word and His promise to perform it" ---Dr. Gene Scott

"If you have a God given talent, that is God’s gift to you. If you use that
talent, that is your gift to God." -- Red Skelton

"Freedom is still the most radical idea of all" -- Nathaniel Branden

Bookmark/Search this post with:

| | | | | |