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Oink: News from the federal pork investigation (New info on Murtha)
Harper's Magazine ^ | October 20, 2009 | Ken Silverstein

Posted on 10/20/2009 11:27:07 AM PDT by jazusamo

The Washington Post reported over the weekend on the ongoing federal investigation into defense earmarks, saying that it was “increasingly focused on a former top aide to Rep. Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.) who worked with the congressman on funding requests from clients of a powerful lobbying firm, according to two sources familiar with the probe.” The story said that the aide, Charles E. Brimmer, Visclosky’s former longtime chief of staff, may have “suggested to some lobbyists that companies seeking Visclosky’s help in getting Pentagon funds would need to commit to a program of donations to the member of the Appropriations defense subcommittee. The Justice Department is trying to determine whether Brimmer’s proposal constituted quid pro quo, an illegal act in which a public official requests something of value in exchange for an official action.”

I’ve reported extensively on Visclosky over the past few years, as well as on Congressman John Murtha, who investigators are also scrutinizing. A lobbyist I spoke to offered interesting insights into how those two congressional pork kings operate, and specifically confirmed that Visclosky’s office made an obvious connection between donations and earmark requests. The lobbyist said that both Brimmer and Rich Kaelin, former appropriations committee assistant, legislative director, and chief of staff to Visclosky who went on to work at a powerful firm called PMA, “were very clear that the more money you raised, the more [earmarks] you’d get.” He added:

Visclosky would hold small fundraising dinners when a bill was moving through congress, and lobbyists would arrange those dinners. It was pretty obvious that people who went got more funding in the bill than people who didn’t. They’d have two small tables and Visclosky would sit at one and [a top appropriations staffer] would sit at the other, and halfway through they’d switch tables so you got face time with both. Murtha operated the same way. I’d get calls from Susan O’Neill [Murtha’s chief fundraiser] and she’d say, “You committed to $50,000 and you only came up with $20,000. When can we expect the rest?” I’m not sure that’s illegal but it sure is uncomfortable.

I also found an interesting connection between Murtha and the National First Ladies’ Library in Canton, Ohio. The library has obtained vast amounts of pork over the years, with former GOP congressman Ralph Regula generally being pointed to at the leading sponsor. “[Regula’s] wife founded the museum and [his] daughter runs it,” said a story from 2007. “Regula has requested hundreds of thousands of federal dollars for the museum since 1991, when he persuaded the National Park Service to pay $1.1 million for its headquarters.”

But Murtha has been a major backer as well, which is not surprising since his wife, Joyce, is the library’s vice president. Indeed, the library has been something of a pet cause for Murtha. One lobbyist who has sought defense money from Murtha sent a note, which I obtained, to another lobbyist who was looking for money from the congressman as well. “If you want to influence Joyce Murtha,” the note said coyly, “you can by donating to this program.” The note was sent attached to the brochure of the First Ladies’ Museum.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: 111th; earmarks; ethics; murtha; murthawatch; paytoplay; visclosky

1 posted on 10/20/2009 11:27:10 AM PDT by jazusamo
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To: smoothsailing; abigailsmybaby; ArmyTeach; Badeye; billmor; bmwcyle; brityank; ConorMacNessa; ...
Possible new evidence against Murtha and Visclosky.

Murtha Watch Ping!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Code Pinkos

To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify me.

2 posted on 10/20/2009 11:29:48 AM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: All
Please bump the Freepathon and donate if you haven’t done so!

3 posted on 10/20/2009 11:30:30 AM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

This short clip shows clearly a Democrat ramming through his agenda despite clear majority vote to the contrary. Why don’t we see things like this on the “mainstream” media? Absolutely frightening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywgUCdefSW8


4 posted on 10/20/2009 12:00:31 PM PDT by sunny48
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To: sunny48

Thanks for linking that video. I’ve seen it several times here at FR but there’s no way the enemedia would ever show it on national TV.

That shows just how arrogant and corrupt not only Murtha is but the RATS that went along with that pathetic display in our House of Representatives.


5 posted on 10/20/2009 12:08:06 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Rep. Murtha in his younger days.

6 posted on 10/20/2009 1:52:00 PM PDT by Impy (RED=COMMUNIST, NOT REPUBLICAN | NO "INDIVIDUAL MANDATE"!!!!!!!)
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To: jazusamo
I’d get calls from Susan O’Neill [Murtha’s chief fundraiser] and she’d say, “You committed to $50,000 and you only came up with $20,000. When can we expect the rest?” I’m not sure that’s illegal but it sure is uncomfortable.

Susan O'Neill, that's a name I've heard before...

................................

Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, coasted along all summer ignoring his reelection race, giving away his money to other House candidates who he thought needed it more. He hadn't a care in the world until one day - after he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that "Western Pennsylvania is a racist area" - a poll showed he could actually lose to his GOP challenger, retired Army lieutenant colonel William Russell.

That's when the emergency Murtha rescue plan was formed. Operation Save Jack involved veteran fundraiser Susan O'Neill (daughter of the late former Speaker Tip O'Neill), campaign manager Abe Dyk and uber Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta, who ran John Kerry's Pennsylvania campaign in 2004 and Bill Clinton's in 1992 and 1996.

Former President Clinton came to Murtha's Johnstown district twice within about 10 days. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did robo calls. And Podesta parachuted in from Brazil, where he and his wife, Heather Podesta, also an "L" word (lobbyist), were enjoying vacation - until his phone rang.

It was O'Neill calling in a panic. "She said I should end my vacation and get to Johnstown," Podesta tells us. So he did.

A frenetic ground operation of door knocking, phone calling and fundraising ensued. Within about 10 days, Murtha raised more than $1 million. (The politically ambidextrous gun-loving hero to anti-war liberals took about $5,000 from the National Rifle Association's PAC, and more than $150,000 from MoveOn.org.) It was enough to help pay for four TV spots that ran during Monday night's Steelers game against the Redskins[The night before Election Day].

How Jack 'The Big Fish' Murtha Got Away

7 posted on 10/20/2009 2:00:33 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: Impy
Good depiction, as his corruption has increased over the years and his take from taxpayers is now in the hundreds of millions he's morphed into this.

Murtha ethics

8 posted on 10/20/2009 2:00:40 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: smoothsailing

Great find, Smooth.

When I read the name it sounded a little familiar, must have read it last year when they put the SOS’s out for Fat Jack but I sure didn’t connect her as the daughter of Tip O’Neill.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe it was Tip that pulled Murtha’s cojones out of the fire on ABSCAM.

Sounds like one big happy corrupt family.


9 posted on 10/20/2009 2:07:35 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

“Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe it was Tip that pulled Murtha’s cojones out of the fire on ABSCAM.”

Yep....

In 1980, Tip O’Neill was House Speaker and the center of Democratic power in Washington, George Crile wrote in his book, “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Murtha was a member of O’Neill’s inner circle.

When O’Neill learned that the special prosecutor, Barrett Prettyman Jr., had set his sights on Murtha, “the Speaker immediately summoned [then-Texas Dem. congressman] Charlie Wilson into his office with an offer he couldn’t refuse” — a seat on the House ethics committee.

Wilson, a man of proudly compromised morals, protested that they would both get “laughed off the [House] floor” if he accepted. But O’Neill wanted Wilson on the panel to stop the probe from reaching Murtha, Crile reports. And he got it — by promising Wilson a lifetime appointment to the board of the Kennedy Center, which gave Wilson — a well-known womanizer — dozens of free tickets to performing arts events.

“Wilson arrived on the Ethics Commitee just as O’Neill had hoped — like a wrecker,” Crile wrote. “He told a Washington Post reporter that the committee was on a partisan witch-hunt and that what was really on trial was not John Murtha but the integrity of the House of Representatives. . . .

“[S]hortly after Charlie’s arrival the rules of the game changed completely and before [special prosecutor] Prettyman could fully deploy his investigators to move on the Murtha case, he was informed that the committee had concluded there was no justification for an investigation. ‘This matter is closed,’ proclaimed the newly appointed Ethics Committee chairman Louis Stokes, another of the Speaker’s reliables.”

Prettyman was stunned, Crile said, and resigned his congressional post in protest. Murtha kept his —

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/001993.php


10 posted on 10/20/2009 2:39:35 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: smoothsailing

“Charlie Wilson’s War”.....A great movie.


11 posted on 10/20/2009 2:44:56 PM PDT by jslade (People that are easily offended OFFEND ME!)
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To: jslade; jazusamo
“Charlie Wilson’s War”.....A great movie.

Will Charlie Wilson's War Hurt Jack Murtha?

12 posted on 10/20/2009 2:52:12 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: jslade

Thanks, I’m going to squirrel that away for future reference. This kind of stuff is almost unbelievable but I guess almost is the keyword.

Reminds me of a funny scene in “The Comancheros” where the old judge said this couldn’t be done legal and proper talking about Stuart Whitman who was wanted for murder because of killing a guy in a duel and John Wayne wanted Whitman in the Texas Rangers. The judge said they’d do it illegal and improper and they did. Of course Murtha and ABSCAM was not a movie and it wasn’t funny.


13 posted on 10/20/2009 2:57:59 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: smoothsailing

Smooth, post #13 was for you. Can’t even get the name right. lol


14 posted on 10/20/2009 3:05:09 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo
Yawn.....

This stuff has been going on forever...and will continue to go on till we collide with another member of the multiverse.

Catch and jail the ones who overstep the law in porkification efforts, but nothing can do away with porkification itself.

15 posted on 10/20/2009 3:27:14 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is another agitator for republicanism like Sam Adams when we need him?)
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To: SuperLuminal
Catch and jail the ones who overstep the law in porkification efforts

I believe that's exactly what this investigation is about, to nail these two turkeys.

16 posted on 10/20/2009 3:34:41 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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