It's Only A Matter of Time...

Play with sharks long enough, and sooner or later, you will get bit:

Kuchera Defense Systems, a Pennsylvania contractor closely tied to Rep. John Murtha and his military earmark machine, has again been barred from getting government contracts, Politico reports.

The Navy put Kuchera on a banned list in December in response to allegations that the company paid kickbacks to win part of an earmark awarded by Murtha to another company. Those allegations arose in a fraud trial for two ex Air Force officers that resulted in convictions last year.

As we have documented on this blog, Jihad Jack Murtha was pronounced an unindicted co-conspirator in the ABSCAM case in the early 1980s. Since then he's skated on corrupt ice for upwards of three decades, and has engaged in questionable tactics since, as documented in droves on every page of this blog.

But Murtha's chickens may be coming, as the good Rev. Wright says, home to roost:

But you have to wonder why a year has passed with no real news on the investigation.

Those close to U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, predict there will be news and it will be released – or leaked – at a strategic time right before the congressional primary in May or the general elections in November.

You would hope that the 300 employees of Kuchera are not being used as pawns in a political game.

But if you are naive enough to think that such shenanigans don’t go on, you need to shake off your veil of innocence and remember that this is good old American politics.

And "good ol American politics" as usual, as can be attested to as of late in the great state of Massachusetts, is getting a bit old.

We at Murtha Must Go!! certainly look forward to the day when Mr. Murtha can take up residence in the "John P. Murtha State Penitentiary."

Corruption, Inc.

In yet anther instance of quid pro quo and pay-to-play politics, Boss John "Jihad Jack" Murtha pours millions of taxpayer dollars to buy even more votes! (emphases added)

Working with two of the most powerful members of a House subcommittee that controls Pentagon spending, the company also hired lobbying firms that employed former top aides of both the Democratic lawmakers and Mr. Murtha's brother. Company executives and their lobbyists donated thousands of dollars to the two congressmen.

Soon, money flowed the other way.

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.

Hey PA-12-- do you feel like taking a shower yet?

Murtha--It Just Keeps Getting Slimier & Slimier

Murtha's associates involved in the drug trade?

A Johnstown-area defense firm under investigation for possible contract fraud received an infusion of cash during its start-up years from a narcotics trafficker with whom one of the company's founders admitted engaging in the drug trade.

[SNIP]

Mr. Whorley's $50,000 line of funding, and whether it amounted to a loan or a share of the company, became the subject of a bitter legal battle between the two former partners who, according to a deposition by William Kuchera, were once associates in the narcotics trade.

The role of Mr. Whorley, as well as Mr. Kuchera's past as a marijuana dealer, surfaced amid a federal investigation of the Kuchera companies.

What was unclear was whether Mr. Kuchera's narcotics conviction should have precluded him or his company from receiving a security clearance that would enable the firm to perform defense work.

Department of Defense spokesmen did not respond to requests to explain the firm's status and the possible effects that a felony conviction would have on the Kuchera companies' eligibility for defense work.

Loren Thompson, who heads the Lexington Institute, a Washington-area think tank that deals with defense procurement issues, said he believed a narcotics conviction would be sufficient to disqualify Mr. Kuchera.

"Felony drug convictions are usually enough to disqualify a person for a security clearance, because they go to character," Mr. Thompson said.

[SNIP]

U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Johnstown, has helped to direct millions of dollars in federal defense appropriations to major defense contractors that sub-contract large portions of the jobs to Kuchera Defense Systems. The Kucheras, their employees and associates are among major contributors to Murtha political campaigns.

There is no indication that Mr. Murtha was aware either of Mr. Kuchera's past or Mr. Whorley's role in the firm's early days.

And, what has become a very typical byline from anyone trying to get answers from Jihad Jack Murtha:

A Murtha spokesman declined comment about the Kucheras today.

Sources close to the probe said federal prosecutors are attempting to determine whether the companies padded their payroll to increase the amount of federal cost-plus contracts, and whether they delivered on millions of dollars in federal contracts steered their way through Mr. Murtha's office.You know John Murtha has lots of things named after him in PA-12, like an airport, a couple of clinics, and a pavilion along with many other monuments to his largesse. We've reported on Murtha's relationship with Kuchera and/or the PMA group since 2006 here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

In light of the recent revelations in Murtha's behavior, along with his somewhat checkered political past, may I suggest one more memorial, totally fitting to the life to Jihad Jack Murtha: The John P. Murtha Penitentiary.

The Heat Is On...

And Jihad Jack Murtha is feeling a bit hot under the collar:

NEW – National media draws Murtha's ire

The Tribune-Democrat
A visibly angry Rep. John Murtha cut his Showcase for Commerce press conference short this morning after a reporters’ questions about Kuchera Defense Systems of Windber, which is under investigation by the federal government.

Kuchera offices were raided in January and the company was suspended from new Navy contracts last month. The Kuchera family and related companies are major campaign contributors for Murtha.

“What’s that got to do with me?” Murtha shot back to a reporter’s question about the investigation. “What do you think? Do you think I oversee these companies? That’s the Defense Department’s job. That’s not my job. You guys write these stories: You don’t have a clue what this is all about.”

But that's exactly what's bothering you, isn't it, Jack Murtha. The media are actually starting to get a clue, the same clue that we at Murtha Must Go!! have had since we started this blog in May of 2006. That you are a self-serving, self-indulgent, arrogant sorry excuse for a public official who thinks he can do whatever he wants to meet his ends, even going so far as to deny Constitutional rights to those who laid their lives on the line to defend them.

But now it isn't so easy, is it Jack. With two Republican challengers, and even a democrat primary challenger, the power you wielded so recklessly is now slipping through your greasy fingers like sands through an hourglass.

When you were giving your party cover when you declared the Iraq war unwinnable in November of 2005, Jack, you were the toast of the town. The darling of every antiwar moonbat, your eyes set greedily upon the majority leader post in Congress, you thought you were untouchable.

And now your plans are unraveling like a cheap $15 suit from the Goodwill, as you finally receive your comeuppance:

Murtha would not answer a question if he would distance himself from Kuchera, and cut the session off when asked if he had hired a lawyer.

“What kind of question is that?” Murtha fumed, leaving the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center, 201 Napoleon St.

The right kind of question, Jack. The kind of question the media should have asked you long ago.

Better late than never, I guess.

Oh How The "Mighty" Have Fallen...

Could the "P" for "Power" turn into a "P" for "Pissant?"

WASHINGTON — So powerful was Representative John P. Murtha at one time that he used to put up billboards in his Western Pennsylvania district declaring that “the P is for Power.” Few in Congress dared disagree: he doled out or withheld billions in federal money each year for lawmakers’ pet projects, better known as earmarks.

Now, however, a string of federal criminal investigations of contractors or lobbyists close to Mr. Murtha, the top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, are threatening to undermine his backroom clout.

In the weeks since the news that prosecutors had raided the offices of the PMA Group — a lobbying firm founded by a former Murtha associate that became a gateway to his office and his biggest source of campaign money — about two dozen rank-and-file Democrats have risked his wrath by calling for a House ethics investigation of the matter. One Democrat has even foresworn seeking earmarks for the military contractors in his district because of ethical concerns about the process.

Jack "Pissant" Murtha--once the anti-war, anti-America kooks' dearest darling, for ostensibly giving the democrats in congress and in the Senate cover to be able to bang the "defeat at all costs!" drum, has now outlived his usefulness.

By the time this is over, ol' Jack "Pissant" Murtha will be lucky to get his dog to play with him

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Murtha & PMA--the King of Pork is the also the King of kickbacks...

According to Open Secrets:

The chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who has helped insert more than $100 million in defense-related earmarks into appropriations bills for 2008, according to government watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, collected the most from PMA and its clients among all subcommittee members--$2.4 million. Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) is next, having brought in $1.4 million. The PMA clients that have given the most since 1998 to the subcommittee's current members are three well-known defense companies: Lockheed Martin ($862,700), General Dynamics ($693,400) and Boeing ($578,600). (This research commences in 1998 because that's how far back CRP's lobbying data goes.)

The following two tables include: 1) A list of current members on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee who have received money from lobbying firm PMA Group and the employees and PACs of its clients since 1998 and 2) A list of the PMA Group clients that have contributed through their employees and PACs to current members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee since 1998.

Members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee who have received contributions from PMA Group and the firm's clients:

Name	Total
John P. Murtha (D-Pa)	$2,378,552
Pete Visclosky (D-Ind)	$1,369,298
Jim Moran (D-Va)	$997,348
Norm Dicks (D-Wash)	$536,330
C. W. Bill Young (R-Fla)	$460,750
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)	$359,041
Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan)	$351,565
Kay Granger (R-Texas)	$347,450
Hal Rogers (R-Ky)	$249,499
Jack Kingston (R-Ga)	$199,750
Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio)	$144,300
Allen Boyd (D-Fla)	$143,000
Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (D-Ga)	$93,500
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)	$80,000
Steven R. Rothman (D-NJ)	$74,000
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich)	$13,500

I suppose if you're going to be doing something, it always pays to do your best. Especially when your best talent involves lining your pockets at taxpayer expense.

Way to go, Jack Murtha--whether it's pork, or graft, or corruption, you're still the king!

Murtha & PMA: The Political Equivalent of "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts?"

It just gets dirtier and dirtier...til you wouldn't want to touch it with a ten foot pole attached to a pair of salad tongs.

PMA’s founder, Paul Magliocchetti, is a former House Appropriations Committee aide who has a long-running relationship with Murtha, D-Pa., the chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Murtha, who used to boast that his middle initial stands for “power,” carved out $38.1 million for PMA clients in the fiscal 2008 defense spending law, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Indiana Rep. Peter J. Visclosky , who serves on Murtha’s subcommittee and additionally is chairman of the subcommittee that allocates money for the Pentagon’s nuclear programs, earmarked $23.8 million for PMA clients in the fiscal 2008 defense spending bill.

And the fun doesn't end there (emphases added).

No Overhead?

Curiously, in the last four election cycles, PMA’s political action committee reported expenses of only $18, according to federal campaign finance reports compiled by CQ MoneyLine.

It reported no payroll costs.

The $18 was for re-ordering checks and another bank fee.

Now that PMA has been the focus of news reports, several lawmakers have said they’ll give away some of their campaign money.

“My campaign has informed me that the PMA Group has made contributions to my re-election committee in past years. I have directed that all contributions ever received from the PMA Group be returned to them,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren , D-Calif., chairwoman of the House ethics committee. “I do so without making any comment to the veracity of the allegations against PMA Group.”

[snip]

The inventory of PMA’s contributions and earmark benefactors includes a number of House members who have clout by association, because they are Murtha’s friends or his proteges in the Pennsylvania delegation — a group that congregates along the southeast edge of the House chamber in what’s been known for years as Murtha’s corner.

Among the top 20 recipients of PMA campaign dollars since 2001 are Pennsylvania Democrats Mike Doyle ($69,400), Tim Holden ($57,275), Paul Kanjorski ($37,150) and Chris Carney ($38,500) — even though Carney was first elected in 2006.

In the PMA donation top 30 are Pennsylvania Reps. Patrick J. Murphy ($29,250), Allyson Y. Schwartz ($25,000) and Jason Altmire ($24,500). Schwartz was first elected in 2004, and Altmire and Murphy first won their seats in 2006.

Those Pennsylvanians combined for $17.3 million in PMA earmarks in the single fiscal 2008 bill shepherded by Murtha.

Rep. Michael E. Capuano , who is often only partially visible in the House chamber because he stands behind Murtha’s back row with his arms over the railing, has taken $54,000 in campaign contributions from PMA sources in the last eight years.

In the fiscal 2008 bill, he requested a successful $2 million earmark for Parametric Technology Corporation, a PMA-represented information systems company with offices near Capuano’s Boston-based district and in Murtha’s district in western Pennsylvania.

Capuano also secured $800,000 in that bill for another one of the lobbying firm’s clients.

But Murtha's greasy tentacles go way beyond PMA itself. A reliable source emails

If anyone really wants to follow the money they should look at Murtha's creation in Armstrong County. The Electro-Optics Center. I understand that Murtha has funneled over $250 Million of earmarks through that place. It goes back out to PMA clients. while a little stays there. It is basically a front organization for PMA and Murtha to hide earmarks to defense buddies.

Supposedly this is where most of the money goes and then kicked back to Murtha:

Tuesday 3 March 2009

Fort Belvoir Officers’ Club

5500 Schulz Circle

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6102

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Electro-Optics Center

We are proud to announce Congressman John Murtha as the Keynote Speaker along with other prominent guest speakers.

Please RSVP for the meeting by using the following link

http://www.electro-optics.org/psu/webform10.aspx

There is a $30 fee for this meeting

For questions, please contact Kathy Kovalcik

e-mail: eoa@eoc.psu.edu phone: 724-295-7016

Continental Breakfast @ 7am. Meeting starts at 7:45 am

More information and final agenda to follow in the near future.

Accommodations are available, with a block of rooms being held under "Group
Code PSU"

Courtyard by Marriott

14300 Crossing Place

Woodbridge,VA 22192

703-491-4525

Rooms are on a first come, first serve basis and cost is the responsibility of the attendee. Please note Block rate is available until 12 February 2009

We value our ongoing partnerships and look forward to future collaborations.

Hey PA-12--feel like taking a shower, yet?