John Murtha passes away; traffic jam outside Johnstown PA results as residents flee his massive NDIC boondoggle

Rep. John Murtha, Democrat of Pennsylvania, passed away today at age 77. Our condolences go out to his family.

Democrats wasted no time in using Murtha's death to push for government-run health care.

Murtha was famous, or infamous depending upon how you look at things, for earmarks. Possibly his most noteworthy legacy is the National Drug Interdiction Center, or NDIC. Situated 140 miles away from Washington DC in a small Pennsylvania town, the NDIC is considered by experts to be a complete waste of money as it is entirely redundant with real drug and law enforcement agencies.

...the center has survived largely due to unflagging support from Murtha, the Johnstown Democrat who brought NDIC to his district in the early 1990s...

Residents flee Johnstown, PA, home of the troubled NDIC, after the town received word of the passing of Rep. John Murtha.

“This expensive facility duplicates programs already operating in multiple other agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Justice,” U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, said in a statement... “Such misuse of resources is unacceptable and extremely dangerous.”

...It is the third consecutive year that Murtha has had to lobby for NDIC money after President Bush proposed closing the Johnstown facility.

Other troubles have dogged the center... In June 2004, NDIC Director Michael Horn was ousted after a Justice Department probe... Employees had complained of poor management, low morale, gender bias and wasteful spending.

And in May 2005, U.S. News & World Report published a scathing investigative article that said NDIC was “troubled from the start” and had an unclear mission.

One official called the center a “jobs program that Mr. Murtha wanted.”

As recently as last year, Murtha had shoved a $44,000,000 appropriation for the NDIC through Congress.

But it's not like there's a financial crisis going on or anything.

Judicial Watch Announces Most Corrupt Politicians of 2009 Awards (Rangel Quote: 'You Like Me, You Really Like Me!')

Judicial Watch has announced its prestigious Most Corrupt Politicians of 2009 Awards and, disappointingly for Howard Dean, Democrats only batted 90%. The top ten:

1. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT):  This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 “Ten Most Corrupt” list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him.  In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat.  In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms.  Judicial Watch's complaint forced Dodd to amend the forms.  However, press reports suggest the property to this day remains undervalued.  Judicial Watch also alleges in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon (during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time friend and business associate.  The false financial disclosure forms were part of the cover-up.  Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking Committee.

2. Senator John Ensign (R-NV):  A number of scandals popped up in 2009 involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious abuse of power.  The year’s worst offender might just be Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign.  Ensign admitted in June to an extramarital affair with the wife of one of his staff members, who then allegedly obtained special favors from the Nevada Republican in exchange for his silence.  According to The New York Times:  “The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide…”  The former staffer, Douglas Hampton, began to lobby Mr. Ensign's office immediately upon leaving his congressional job, despite the fact that he was subject to a one-year lobbying ban.  Ensign seems to have ignored the law and allowed Hampton lobbying access to his office as a payment for his silence about the affair.  (These are potentially criminal offenses.)   It looks as if Ensign misused his public office (and taxpayer resources) to cover up his sexual shenanigans.

3. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA):  Judicial Watch is investigating a $12 million TARP cash injection provided to the Boston-based OneUnited Bank at the urging of Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank.  As reported in the January 22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks to jump-start lending.  Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but it was also "under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives' use."  Rep. Frank admitted he spoke to a "federal regulator," and Treasury granted the funds.  (The bank continues to flounder despite Frank’s intervention for federal dollars.)  Moreover, Judicial Watch uncovered documents in 2009 that showed that members of Congress for years were aware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were playing fast and loose with accounting issues, risk assessment issues and executive compensation issues, even as liberals led by Rep. Frank continued to block attempts to rein in the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs).  For example, during a hearing on September 10, 2003, before the House Committee on Financial Services considering a Bush administration proposal to further regulate Fannie and Freddie, Rep. Frank stated:  "I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis.  That is, in my view, the two Government Sponsored Enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate.  I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury."  Frank received $42,350 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between 1989 and 2008.  Frank also engaged in a relationship with a Fannie Mae Executive while serving on the House Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

4. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner:  In 2009, Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted that he failed to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2001-2004 on his lucrative salary at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization with 185 member countries that oversees the global financial system.  (Did we mention Geithner now runs the IRS?)  It wasn’t until President Obama tapped Geithner to head the Treasury Department that he paid back most of the money, although the IRS kindly waived the hefty penalties.  In March 2009, Geithner also came under fire for his handling of the AIG bonus scandal, where the company used $165 million of its bailout funds to pay out executive bonuses, resulting in a massive public backlash.  Of course as head of the New York Federal Reserve, Geithner helped craft the AIG deal in September 2008.  However, when the AIG scandal broke, Geithner claimed he knew nothing of the bonuses until March 10, 2009.  The timing is important.  According to CNN:  “Although Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional leaders on Tuesday that he learned of AIG's impending $160 million bonus payments to members of its troubled financial-products unit on March 10, sources tell TIME that the New York Federal Reserve informed Treasury staff that the payments were imminent on Feb. 28.  That is ten days before Treasury staffers say they first learned ‘full details’ of the bonus plan, and three days before the [Obama] Administration launched a new $30 billion infusion of cash for AIG.”  Throw in another embarrassing disclosure in 2009 that Geithner employed “household help” ineligible to work in the United States, and it becomes clear why the Treasury Secretary has earned a spot on the “Ten Most Corrupt Politicians in Washington” list.

5. Attorney General Eric Holder:  Tim Geithner can be sure he won’t be hounded about his tax-dodging by his colleague Eric Holder, US Attorney General.  Judicial Watch strongly opposed Holder because of his terrible ethics record, which includes:  obstructing an FBI investigation of the theft of nuclear secrets from Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory; rejecting multiple requests for an independent counsel to investigate alleged fundraising abuses by then-Vice President Al Gore in the Clinton White House; undermining the criminal investigation of President Clinton by Kenneth Starr in the midst of the Lewinsky investigation; and planning the violent raid to seize then-six-year-old Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint in order to return him to Castro’s Cuba.  Moreover, there is his soft record on terrorism.  Holder bypassed Justice Department procedures to push through Bill Clinton’s scandalous presidential pardons and commutations, including for 16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican terrorist group that orchestrated approximately 120 bombings in the United States, killing at least six people and permanently maiming dozens of others, including law enforcement officers.  His record in the current administration is no better.  As he did during the Clinton administration, Holder continues to ignore serious incidents of corruption that could impact his political bosses at the White House.  For example, Holder has refused to investigate charges that the Obama political machine traded VIP access to the White House in exchange for campaign contributions – a scheme eerily similar to one hatched by Holder’s former boss, Bill Clinton in the 1990s.  The Holder Justice Department also came under fire for dropping a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party.  On Election Day 2008, Black Panthers dressed in paramilitary garb threatened voters as they approached polling stations.  Holder has also failed to initiate a comprehensive Justice investigation of the notorious organization ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which is closely tied to President Obama.  There were allegedly more than 400,000 fraudulent ACORN voter registrations in the 2008 campaign.  And then there were the journalist videos catching ACORN Housing workers advising undercover reporters on how to evade tax, immigration, and child prostitution laws.  Holder’s controversial decisions on new rights for terrorists and his attacks on previous efforts to combat terrorism remind many of the fact that his former law firm has provided and continues to provide pro bono representation to terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.  Holder’s politicization of the Justice Department makes one long for the days of Alberto Gonzales. 

6. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)/ Senator Roland Burris (D-IL):  One of the most serious scandals of 2009 involved a scheme by former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to sell President Obama’s then-vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.  Two men caught smack dab in the middle of the scandal:  Senator Roland Burris, who ultimately got the job, and Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.  According to the Chicago Sun-Times, emissaries for Jesse Jackson Jr., named "Senate Candidate A" in the Blagojevich indictment, reportedly offered $1.5 million to Blagojevich during a fundraiser if he named Jackson Jr. to Obama's seat.  Three days later federal authorities arrested Blagojevich.  Burris, for his part, apparently lied about his contacts with Blagojevich, who was arrested in December 2008 for trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat.  According to Reuters:  “Roland Burris came under fresh scrutiny…after disclosing he tried to raise money for the disgraced former Illinois governor who named him to the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama…In the latest of those admissions, Burris said he looked into mounting a fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich -- later charged with trying to sell Obama's Senate seat -- at the same time he was expressing interest to the then-governor's aides about his desire to be appointed.”  Burris changed his story five times regarding his contacts with Blagojevich prior to the Illinois governor appointing him to the U.S. Senate.  Three of those changing explanations came under oath.

7. President Barack Obama:  During his presidential campaign, President Obama promised to run an ethical and transparent administration.  However, in his first year in office, the President has delivered corruption and secrecy, bringing Chicago-style political corruption to the White House.  Consider just a few Obama administration “lowlights” from year one:  Even before President Obama was sworn into office, he was interviewed by the FBI for a criminal investigation of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s scheme to sell the President’s former Senate seat to the highest bidder.  (Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and slumlord Valerie Jarrett, both from Chicago, are also tangled up in the Blagojevich scandal.)  Moreover, the Obama administration made the startling claim that the Privacy Act does not apply to the White House. The Obama White House believes it can violate the privacy rights of American citizens without any legal consequences or accountability.  President Obama boldly proclaimed that "transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," but his administration is addicted to secrecy, stonewalling far too many of Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act requests and is refusing to make public White House visitor logs as federal law requires.  The Obama administration turned the National Endowment of the Arts (as well as the agency that runs the AmeriCorps program) into propaganda machines, using tax dollars to persuade "artists" to promote the Obama agenda.  According to documents uncovered by Judicial Watch, the idea emerged as a direct result of the Obama campaign and enjoyed White House approval and participation.  President Obama has installed a record number of "czars" in positions of power.  Too many of these individuals are leftist radicals who answer to no one but the president.  And too many of the czars are not subject to Senate confirmation (which raises serious constitutional questions).  Under the President’s bailout schemes, the federal government continues to appropriate or control -- through fiat and threats -- large sectors of the private economy, prompting conservative columnist George Will to write:  “The administration's central activity -- the political allocation of wealth and opportunity -- is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption.”  Government-run healthcare and car companies, White House coercion, uninvestigated ACORN corruption, debasing his office to help Chicago cronies, attacks on conservative media and the private sector, unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for campaign donors – this is Obama’s “ethics” record -- and we haven't even gotten through the first year of his presidency.

8. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA):  At the heart of the corruption problem in Washington is a sense of entitlement.  Politicians believe laws and rules (even the U.S. Constitution) apply to the rest of us but not to them.  Case in point:  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her excessive and boorish demands for military travel.  Judicial Watch obtained documents from the Pentagon in 2008 that suggest Pelosi has been treating the Air Force like her own personal airline.  These documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, include internal Pentagon email correspondence detailing attempts by Pentagon staff to accommodate Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker's 11th hour cancellations and changes.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also came under fire in April 2009, when she claimed she was never briefed about the CIA's use of the waterboarding technique during terrorism investigations.  The CIA produced a report documenting a briefing with Pelosi on September 4, 2002, that suggests otherwise.  Judicial Watch also obtained documents, including a CIA Inspector General report, which further confirmed that Congress was fully briefed on the enhanced interrogation techniques.  Aside from her own personal transgressions, Nancy Pelosi has ignored serious incidents of corruption within her own party, including many of the individuals on this list.  (See Rangel, Murtha, Jesse Jackson, Jr., etc.) 

9. Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and the rest of the PMA Seven:  Rep. John Murtha made headlines in 2009 for all the wrong reasons.  The Pennsylvania congressman is under federal investigation for his corrupt relationship with the now-defunct defense lobbyist PMA Group.  PMA, founded by a former Murtha associate, has been the congressman's largest campaign contributor.  Since 2002, Murtha has raised $1.7 million from PMA and its clients.  And what did PMA and its clients receive from Murtha in return for their generosity?  Earmarks -- tens of millions of dollars in earmarks.  In fact, even with all of the attention surrounding his alleged influence peddling, Murtha kept at it.  Following an FBI raid of PMA's offices earlier in 2009, Murtha continued to seek congressional earmarks for PMA clients, while also hitting them up for campaign contributions.  According to The Hill, in April, "Murtha reported receiving contributions from three former PMA clients for whom he requested earmarks in the pending appropriations bills."  When it comes to the PMA scandal, Murtha is not alone.  As many as six other Members of Congress are currently under scrutiny according to The Washington Post.  They include:  Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN.), James P. Moran Jr. (D-VA), Norm Dicks (D-WA.), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), C.W. Bill Young (R-FL.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-KS.).  Of course rather than investigate this serious scandal, according to Roll Call House Democrats circled the wagons, "cobbling together a defense to offer political cover to their rank and file.”  The Washington Post also reported in 2009 that Murtha’s nephew received $4 million in Defense Department no-bid contracts:  "Newly obtained documents…show Robert Murtha mentioning his influential family connection as leverage in his business dealings and holding unusual power with the military.”

10. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY):  Rangel, the man in charge of writing tax policy for the entire country, has yet to adequately explain how he could possibly "forget" to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income he earned from his off-shore rental property.  He also faces allegations that he improperly used his influence to maintain ownership of highly coveted rent-controlled apartments in Harlem, and misused his congressional office to fundraise for his private Rangel Center by preserving a tax loophole for an oil drilling company in exchange for funding.  On top of all that, Rangel recently amended his financial disclosure reports, which doubled his reported wealth.  (He somehow “forgot” about $1 million in assets.)  And what did he do when the House Ethics Committee started looking into all of this?  He apparently resorted to making "campaign contributions" to dig his way out of trouble.  According to WCBS TV, a New York CBS affiliate:  “The reigning member of Congress' top tax committee is apparently ‘wrangling’ other politicos to get him out of his own financial and tax troubles...Since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him.”  Charlie Rangel should not be allowed to remain in Congress, let alone serve as Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and he knows it.  That’s why he felt the need to disburse campaign contributions to Ethics Committee members and other congressional colleagues.

Hopefully Judicial Watch won't sue me for copying the entire article. If so, I'll just claim Eric Holder told me to do it.

Leaked Document Shows Murtha, Rangel and Dozens of Others Are Under Congressional Investigation

A leaked Congressional document describes ongoing ethics investigations for "dozens" of House lawmakers.

Members of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee had steered targeted appropriations called earmarks to clients of a now-defunct lobbying firm—PMA—and received contributions from the firm and its clients.

The names of defense subcommittee chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., and Democratic members Jim Moran of Virginia and Peter Visclosky of Indiana had previously surfaced in connection with the inquiry.

The document adds the names of Norm Dicks, D-Wash.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; ranking subcommittee Republican C.W. Bill Young of Florida and Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan.

...The Pentagon budget panel had such an allure for Kaptur—who represents a Toledo-anchored Rust Belt district—that in 2005 she gave up her party's top seat on the agriculture subcommittee to claim a rare open seat on Murtha's subcommittee. She would have become one of a dozen Appropriations subcommittee chairmen had she stayed put.

...The most prominent lawmaker under investigation, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has been interviewed about his personal finances, the document showed... Earlier this month, the committee announced it authorized nearly 150 subpoenas in the Rangel investigation, interviewed 34 witnesses, produced 2,100 pages of transcripts, reviewed and analyzed more than 12,000 pages of documents and held more than 30 meetings.

The Justice Department often asks the committee to suspend its work when prosecutors are looking at the same allegations. The document said this occurred in the case of Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., whose finances came under scrutiny some three years ago.

Subpoenas were authorized to the Justice Department and National Security Agency for intercepted communications in an inquiry involving Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif...

Aren't you relieved that Nancy Pelosi (D-Marxist) "drained the swamp" and eradicated the "culture of corruption" back in 2006?

Democrats distancing themselves from Murtha

Politico reports that even the swamp-denizen Democrats are returning money from John "Unindicted Co-Conspirator" Murtha, author of some of the sleaziest earmarks in Congressional history.

A Democratic congressional candidate in Florida returned a campaign check from House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha’s PAC, offering further evidence that Democrats in competitive races are worried about being linked to Murtha, who has come under intense scrutiny for his earmarking practices.

Lori Edwards, running in a GOP-leaning district in Florida, gave back $1,000 in Murtha money earlier this summer, shortly before the House killed a resolution from Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) demanding a probe into earmarks and contributions related to the now-defunct PMA Group lobbying firm, run by former Appropriations Committee aide Paul Magliocchetti. The returned check was revealed in the October campaign finance reports released Wednesday.

More than 100 House members secured earmarks for clients of the PMA Group in the Murtha-written fiscal 2008 defense spending bill alone, and those members had taken in more than $1.8 million in campaign contributions from the PMA Group’s political action committee and its employees since 2001, according to CQ Politics.

...Flake spent months trying to pressure the House to force an ethics investigation, and around the time Edwards returned her Murtha money, more Democrats were beginning to distance themselves from Murtha. Though Democratic leaders were able to fend off the Flake efforts, 29 Democrats — mostly from swing districts — voted with Flake on one of his Murtha-related resolutions...

Of course, it's easy to forget about Murtha with so many corrupt slugs circling the drain (Rangel, Dodd, Mollohan, Reid, Waters, Frank, Feinstein, Pelosi, etc., etc.).

Real Men of Congress: Representative Unindicted Co-conspirator

Pork Lite presents... Real Men of Congress.

Real men of Con-n-n-gress

Today we salute you, Representative unindicted co-conspirator!

Representative unindicted co-conspira-tor...

When folks said you couldn't send billions of dollars in defense spending to tiny towns in Western Pennsylvania, you proved them wrong...

You awarded no-bid contracts over the objections of the Pentagon, the DEA, the White House, and federal auditors.

Someone's knockin'... warm up the shredder...

And when nosy reporters found out that you'd directed $250 million to non-profits headed by your friends and family...

You just blamed it on a right-wing conspiracy... even though your net worth soared $11 million in four years.

I had a winning streak in Vegas...

Or when you were videotaped taking a hundred grand during an FBI sting operation...

You claimed you were just trying to help the feds, though you stashed ninety grand in your freezer.

WhoooooooooaaaaAAAAH! My tongue is stuck to a Hundred...

And when nay-sayers claimed you couldn't direct billions to your husband's defense firm, even while you were serving on a defense appropriations committee, ...you just laughed at them!

I shoulda been a Senator...

So crack open an ice-cold box of Pork Lite wine, oh Senator Conflict-of-Interest. We know that when it comes to your personal integrity, only two things matter... that we're not wearing a wire and that we've got a cashier's check made out to your son-in-law.

Representative Unindicted Co-conspirator...

Real Men of Congress, Washington DC, 20001.

Above the Law: A Handy Guide to Democrat Corruption

It's getting more difficult by the day to keep track of which Democrats are involved with exactly what corrupt and/or ethically challenged activities. Earlier this week, YANSID (my handy new acronym that means "yet another new scandal involving Democrats") was discovered.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and her husband own as much as $500,000 in stock of the troubled OneUnited Bank. In a direct conflict-of-interest, she intervened with regulators on behalf of the bank. Ed Morrissey asks the rhetorical question: "Did Americans go deep into debt to send bailout money to politically-connected banks and to prop up the investment portfolios of elected officials? Apparently, yes we did."

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) engaged in a relationship with a Fannie Mae executive while supposedly overseeing the GSE. Fannie's meltdown -- amid repeated financial scandals and Frank's fierce fight to shield them from regulators -- played a critical role in the financial crisis.

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), the powerful Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, threatened filibuster after filibuster over additional regulation of the mortgage market while accepting funds and sweetheart mortgages from the very organizations he was supposed to be regulating. In fact, Dodd has yet to disclose the nature of his personal loan deals, despite having promised to do so months ago.

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, appears to be the subject of 32 simultaneous ethics issues or investigations including 28 mysterious asset transfers (prohibited by House rules); undisclosed income from his Costa Rican rental property; multiple violations of New York City rent control statutes; killing a tax increase that would have hurt a contributor; and more.

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), dubbed "the overnight millionaire," is in the news again. He received his nickname because in 2000 Mollohan had no portfolio to speak of while making less than $80K a year. By 2004, he reported having at least $6.3 million in assets that generated income of somewhere around $700K annually. Earlier this week, it was reported that a non-profit funded by Mollohan (with the taxpayers' money, of course) had provided his family with $75,000 in free rent and services.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), an unindicted co-conspirator from the Abscam days, has had several ethical clouds hanging over his head for decades. The latest theft of taxpayer money is especially disturbing: Over the course of the past decade, Rep. John P. Murtha has earmarked millions of dollars for the Electro-Optics Center at Penn State University — money that has, in turn, gone to clients of the PMA Group, the Murtha-linked lobbying shop that was raided in November as part of a federal criminal probe..

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), a member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee, helped award $3.7 billion to companies controlled by her hsuband. Despite an obvious conflict of interest, Feinstein voted for appropriations "worth billions to her husband's firms."

Sen. Harry "Land Deal" Reid (D-NV), the Senate Majority Leader, collected a $1.1 million windfall profit on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't owned the property for at least three years. Reid also did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company. The AP learned of the land deal from a former Reid aide who was concerned that the deal had been "hidden from Congress."

Just remember, peons: these jamokes are all still serving in Congress -- without a care in the world -- because they are above the law. They are royalty, not rabble (like you and I). Sure, if any one of us normal folks had pulled this type of chicanery, we'd be serving ten years in the big house. But these are our Lords, our betters. Remember that, peons.

Update: Culture of corruption: Michelle Malkin details Maxine Waters' egregious behavior.

Linked by: Jawa Report, Public Secrets and Carnal Reason. Thanks!

Congrats! Dems sweep the 2008 Naughtiest Politician Awards!

A national CNN/Opinion Research poll reveals the top three Naughtiest Politicians of 2008. May I have the envelope please, Vanna?

Bronze: John Edwards (D-Sleazebag), who cheated with Rielle Hunter on his cancer-stricken wife and reportedly fathered a not-so-secret love child.

Silver: Love Client #9, former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer (D-Hypocrisy), who was ensnared in the rollup of a high-end prostitution ring.

Gold: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Batsh*t crazy), seemingly involved in so many pay-to-play schemes he probably had a dedicated IT staff to keep all of the grifts straight.

Honorable mentions weren't listed, but I'm betting they included Charlie Rangel (D-Tax Man), Chris Dodd (D-HUD Statement), Allan Mollohan (D-Self-made Millionaire), John Murtha (D-Porkmeister), and William Jefferson (D-Freezer Burn).

Linked by: Gateway Pundit. Thanks!

Rangel found floating in Pelosi's swamp

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi swept into power with a promise to "drain the swamp" and combat a "culture of corruption."

It turns out that the swamp has in fact not been drained; it instead continues to rise and new floaters seem to surface every day.

Yesterday Bloomberg reported on the latest turd to pop to the surface of the cesspool.

He goes by the name of Charlie Rangel.

Oh, and there are some income tax violations as well.

New York Representative Charles Rangel received an interest-free loan from the developer of his Dominican Republic vacation villa, a resort official said.

...The assertion that Rangel didn't know about the interest- free loan is one of several unusual aspects of his financial and real estate dealings. He said yesterday he failed to report more than $75,000 in rental income from the villa on his federal or state tax returns. The units rent for $500 to $1,000 a night, according to the New York Times.

The revelations come on the heels of a report that Rangel occupies four different rent-controlled apartments -- including one as a campaign office -- and has violated New York City regulations in doing so.

It turns out Rangel just hit the ethics investigation trifecta; his use of congressional stationary to solicit donors for a university center that would carry the Rangel name is also under review.

With that, Rangel joins other Pelosi floaters including:

William "Freezer-burn" Jefferson (D-LA), who was found with $90,000 in marked bills stuck in his freezer at home. Federal agents told a judge the money was part of a $100,000 payoff delivered to Jefferson by an informant in a bribery probe. That probe has already led to guilty pleas by a Kentucky businessman and a former Jefferson aide. The Justice Department been investigating Jefferson's relationship to various international telecommunications agreements.


Allan "Jed Clampett" Mollohan (D-WV), who is a former chair of the House Ethics Committee under federal investigation after the National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the department regarding a bizarre increase in Mollohan's net worth. For 2005, Mollohan and his wife reported assets worth $6.8 million to $25.7 million, up from $116,000 to $315,000 in 1999. His financial disclosure restatements came only after the group's complaint.


John "Porky" Murtha (D-PA), the famed chair of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee; a charity founded by a longtime Murtha aide has become a "funnel for money" to his campaigns from defense contractors and lobbyists who directly benefit from his decisions. A Taxpayers for Common Sense spokesman noted, "It's a real tangled web between the congressman, the nonprofit, the defense contractors and the lobbyists."


Harry "Land Deal" Reid (D-NV), the Senate Democratic Leader who collected a $1.1 million windfall profit on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't owned the property for at least three years. Reid also did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company. The AP learned of the land deal from a former Reid aide concerned that the deal had been "hidden from Congress."

Linked by: One Big Dog. Thanks!

Proposed Murtha reelection poster

 
Since John Murtha has been in Congress since around the time of the Spanish-American War, I figured he may need some fresh new ideas for his next reelection go-round.

This seems to fit.

Back story here.

CBS goes after John "unindicted co-conspirator" Murtha

 
Someone pinch me. CBS is pulling the rug out from under one of the sleaziest of all current politicians, John Murtha (D-PA). And that's no easy feat given his prodigious weight (rimshot, please). You may remember Murtha from some of his greatest hits like Abscam, the sting operation that videotaped government officials accepting bribes from undercover FBI employees posing as Arab businessmen.

[Murtha] was one of the Congressmen videotaped in an encounter with undercover FBI operatives. Although never indicted or prosecuted, he was named an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the scandal... A short clip from the videotape shows Murtha stating "I'm not interested, I'm sorry. At this point..." in direct response to an offer of $50,000 in cash...

...he did not report the attempted bribe following the meeting, a violation of House Ethics Rules. Murtha was also taped saying, "You know, we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested...

CBS's new investigation reveals some of Murtha's more recent outrages including pork spending totaling "$600 million in earmarks to his Pennsylvania district in the past four years and $2 billion since 1992" (not inflation-adjusted, mind you - the real value is higher). Among the accusations:

Quid pro quo

“Every private entity that received an earmark from Rep. Murtha gave him a contribution. A campaign contribution,” Ryan Alexander for Taxpayers for Common Sense told CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

Murtha helped set up the non-profit Concurrent Technologies in his hometown of Johnstown, Pa. Among the things they do is help others get federal money. They should know, they get $200 million in federal grants each year.

Murtha alone doled out nearly $12 million in earmarks to Concurrent this year. Concurrent pays big bucks to PMA, a lobby firm started by a former Murtha committee staffer. Both and Concurrent employees give generously to Murtha's campaigns.

CBS also calls attention to:

The case of the missing million dollars

More mysterious is Murtha's million-dollar earmark to the "The Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure."

“We don’t even know if it even exists,” says anti-earmark Congressman Jeff Flake (R-AZ).

Mary Katherine Ham went searching for the CICI and came up dry.

The National Drug Intelligence Center

His most notorious project is the government agency that the government doesn't want: the National Drug Intelligence Center. Every year the White House tries to close it because they already have a drug intelligence center. But Murtha keeps the duplicate open using -- you guessed it -- earmarks... a half billion dollars so far

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The strange tale of Charles D. Riechers

In September, 2007, the Washington Post broke the story that Murtha's pet company CTC appeared to be handing out "no-show" jobs for certain connected friends. If you're thinking that sounds like CTC is "mobbed up" -- kinda like Bada Bing -- your head's where mine is.

While waiting to be confirmed by the White House for a top civilian post at the Air Force last year, Charles D. Riechers was out of work and wanted a paycheck. So the Air Force helped arrange a job through an intelligence contractor that required him to do no work for the company, according to documents and interviews...

Riechers's job highlights the Pentagon's ties with Commonwealth Research and its corporate parent, which has in recent years received hundreds of millions of dollars worth of grants and contracts from the military, and more than $100 million in earmarks from lawmakers...

Two weeks later, the New York Times reported that Riecher was dead.

The second-highest ranking member of the Air Force’s procurement office was found dead of an apparent suicide at his Virginia home Sunday, Air Force and police officials said today... The official, Charles D. Riechers, 47, came under scrutiny by the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month after the Air Force arranged for him to be paid $13,400 a month by a private contractor, Commonwealth Research Institute, while he awaited review from the White House of his appointment as principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition.

CREW's Most Corrupt Members of Congress Report

In September of 2006 the left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) listed Murtha in its Five Members to Watch list described in the Second Annual Most Corrupt Members of Congress Report. The report noted that Murtha had steered defense appropriations to clients of KSA Consulting and PMA Group, which employed his brother Robert and Paul Magliocchetti, a former staffer, respectively.

The "War caused recession" Meme

Gateway Pundit has called attention to a concerted public relations campaign linking the cost of the Iraq war to the economy ("It's the Economy-- Caused By an Illegal War For Oil -- Stupid!").

I've got a news flash: if we could stop sleazebags like Murtha from blowing through billions of dollars in pork, perhaps the economy would be better. But don't look for the rocket scientists at MorOn.org to point that out. That would require telling the truth.

Truth Corner

John Murtha's House website has a navigation bar on the lefthand side of the page.

One of the choices is Truth Corner. When I clicked it, an audio clip of laughter played.

More: Washington Times: Murtha's defense of earmarks questioned and Murtha's appetite for Pork; Wall Street Journal: Murtha, Inc.; Gateway Pundit; Glenn Reynolds; Mudville Gazette; Mary Katherine Ham (a fruitless search for the truth); Americans for Prosperity; My Man Mitt has CTC salaries; The Corner notes a missing letter from the CBS Report (*sigh*, yes it's "D").

Update: jpm100 notes that Murtha endorsed Hillary on March 18th. Shortly thereafter, CBS' investigation broke. Hmmm.

Good news for America. Bad news for the Copperheads.

 
Gateway Pundit has the good news for America and the bad news for Copperhead Democrats.

* Violence in Iraq is down by 50%.

* Civilian casualties in Iraq are down by 60%.
* Baghdad casualties are down by 75%.
* Basra violence is down by 90%.

* Terrorist attacks in Iraq are down by 80%.
* IED attacks down by 55%.
* Average daily attacks down by 42%.

* Foreign insurgent flow into Iraq down by more than 50%
* Suicide bombings down 70% since March.
* Foreign Terrorist flow into Iraq down by 50%.
* Diala Province violence down by 68%.

Oh, and 5000 troops are coming home this month.

The Politico reports that even the most egregious of Democrats (hint: his name rhymes with Burtha) have admitted that the U.S. military has won the war and that Iraq is a non-issue for voters.

And Don Surber points out that the New York Times is scraping the last smidgen of residue at the bottom of the "quagmire" barrel. The Times has resorted to scooping all other media outlets on... Iraq's illicit car-washes.