More on the Murtha ethics scandal dust up errr…there’s nothing to see here, move along…
On May 16, Democrat lawmakers held a news conference in Washington, DC, where more than two dozen freshmen announced a push for stronger ethics enforcement. The members followed up that event with local media, garnering widespread attention for vowing to reform Congress.
But the very first opportunity they had to backup their words with action? They folded like scared children Murtha’s paid-for-puppets.
Go read the entire thing, but this is just depressing:
Another freshman publicly calling for tougher ethics enforcement was Connecticut’s Chris Murphy.
“Too often the ethics process has been used by Congress to protect its own,†Murphy told his hometown paper, the New Britain Herald. “People are tired of the scandalous headlines coming out of Washington, and Congress should move forward soon to clean up its act.â€
Murphy, who claimed in that interview to have “organized and led…the freshman class†on ethics reform, also voted to kill the reprimand; and, like his colleagues, collected $2,000 from Murtha in 2006.
In fact, twenty-two of the twenty three freshmen who spent last week promoting tougher House ethics voted on Tuesday to kill the reprimand. One, North Carolina’s Heath Shuler, voted “present.†Shuler did not receive any funds from Murtha during his campaign.
In addition to the members already mentioned, the following freshmen who vowed tougher ethics rules, yet refused to rebuke Murtha, received the following contributions from the Pennsylvania Democrat. They are: Patrick Murphy, PA, $7,000; David Loebsack, IA, $4,500; Peter Welch, VT, $4,000; Yvette Clarke, NY, $4,000.
Additionally, Murtha contributed $2,000 each to Harry Mitchell, AZ; Jerry McNerney, CA; Ed Perlmutter, CO; Tim Mahoney, FL; Brad Ellsworth, IN; Baron Hill, IN; Tim Walz, MN; Paul Hodes, NH; Albio Sires, NJ; Kirsten Gillibrand, NY; Betty Sutton, OH; and Steven Kagen, WI.
Besides Shuler, only Stephen Cohen, TN; Kathy Castor, FL; and Phil Hare, IL, received no financial backing from Murtha.
Regardless of the role that Murtha’s campaign contributions played in these frosh’s decision to capitulate to Rep. John “That’s the Way I do it!” Murtha — it doesn’t pass the smell test. And this stinks.
As Glenn has been saying, “Meet the new boss, yada, yada, yada.”
If the Dems ever had any ethics they would have gotten rid of the Kennedy’s (Patches and Ted), Gerry Studds, Barney Frank, William Jefferson, Gary Condit and the KKKs Grand Wazoo, Robert Byrd a long time ago.
Left by NH on May 23rd, 2007 at 2:06 pm