Isn't America great? Companies make money the old-fashioned
way--open an office in the district of Rep. John Murtha and hire
one of his former aides as a lobbyist. Not that Murtha is
alone. Rep. Jim Moran is in on the game too.
Reports the Washington Times:
Between 2003 and 2009, Mr. Murtha and Mr. Moran helped deliver
$12 million to MobilVox in earmarks - money that is set aside
by lawmakers for pet projects in the government's annual
spending bills. The latest House defense spending bill
introduced and pushed through by Mr. Murtha includes an
additional $2 million earmark for MobilVox requested by Mr.
Moran. The bill is currently pending in conference committee.
MobilVox, the two lawmakers and the lobbyists hired by the
company insist they followed all congressional rules and
campaign fundraising laws, and that all earmark decisions were
made on their merit. None has been accused of any wrongdoing.
But MobilVox's success fits a pattern of doing business in
Washington that ethics watchdogs deride as a "pay-to-play"
system - one that became infamous during Republican years and
continues to operate under a Democratic leadership that had
promised to change a "culture of corruption" in Washington.
Mr. Moran's and Mr. Murtha's relationship with MobilVox "raises
red flags. It is not subtle. It looks bad," said Joel Hefley, a
retired Republican congressman from Colorado who chaired the
House ethics committee when that panel admonished then-Majority
leader Tom DeLay for ethical lapses earlier this decade.
Mr. Hefley, who retired in 2006, said he was particularly
troubled by MobilVox's opening of an office in Mr. Murtha's
district, saying that while there may have been a good reason,
"It looks like it was done to curry favor with a person who has
power to benefit them."
In a time of budget crisis every million dollars should matter
even in Washington. Especially military outlays, given the
fact that the U.S. spends almost as much as the rest of the world
combined. The last thing Congress should be doing is
wasting money on defense pork.
And then there was the Democratic campaign against ethical
lapses by the GOP. Not that anyone should be surprised by
the obvious hypocrisy, but the Democrats should have the good
grace to retire the word "reform" from their vocabulary if they
won't clean up the sort of blatant abuses evidence by Messers.
Murtha and Moran, as well as other paladins of virtue, such as
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel.
