| I saw the headline last night, but it was late and I was tired and impropriety with a defense contract and a Murtha connection is as predictable as the sunrise. Yep. The sun came up this morning. Yep. Jack Murtha is a corrupt s-o-b. Don't bitch about Murtha to me. Take it up with the voters in his district who keep electing him. They have known since ABSCAM that he's a corrupt s-o-b but he is their corrupt s-o-b.
This time, Murtha's nephew received $4 million in no-bid contracts for warehousing and engineering services, but in reality doesn't seem to do very much, except cash the checks. Carol Leonig and Alice Crites sat outside and watched the business on several different days, and not a single truck backed up to any of the ten cargo bays of the warehouse.
Robert Murtha said he is not at liberty to discuss in detail what his company does, but for four years it has subsisted on defense contracts, according to records and interviews. He said Murtech's 17 employees "provide necessary logistical support" to Pentagon testing programs that focus on detecting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, "and that's about as far as I feel comfortable going." Giving more details could provide important clues to terrorist plotters, he said.
Murtha said he does not advertise being the nephew of John Murtha and considers it "unfortunate" that some will unfairly assume Murtech received its federal contracts because of his uncle's influence at the Pentagon.
"If we're not doing our job well, we wouldn't be doing our job," he said. "I'm successful at the work I do because of the skill sets I have. . . . You don't know how good someone is unless you work with them."
That's pretty weak tea. When your name is Murtha, you don't have to advertise the connection, and the reason we will assume impropriety is because history has taught us to do so when John Murtha is even tangentially involved.
I would be interested to see the personnel files and the shipping records, if for no other reason than to finally retire the corrupt old goat and get someone in there who hasn't been gaming the system and abusing his power for years.
When I say I want better Democrats, I mean I want the Murthas and Harmans kicked to the curb, replaced with decent people like Tom Perriello and Emanuel Cleaver. Real Democrats with a sense if decency who advocate for all of their constituents, not just a handful of friends and relatives who line their pockets by virtue of acquaintance.
***h/t to DanP at WaMo for pointing out that I had forgotten to link to the Washington Post article I lifted the quote from. Apologies for the oversight.*** |
