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John P. Murtha

Former U.S. Representative (February 1974-February 2010)

Why He Mattered

The first Vietnam veteran ever elected to Congress, Murtha was a consummate backroom dealer who wielded enormous clout in the House through the power of his purse strings. As chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, Murtha was the gatekeeper for billions of government dollars, and he used that power liberally to broker deals and forge alliances with his colleagues. He died at the age of 77 on Feb. 8, 2010 after complications from gall-bladder surgery.

Murtha served 17 consecutive terms representing Pennsylvania's 12th district, a socially conservative, pro-union area outside of Pittsburgh that has backed Democratic candidates since the days of the New Deal. Murtha's seat on the House Appropriations Committee helped him secure millions of government dollars for the district, which has struggled to overcome the loss of steel and coal jobs. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group, estimates Murtha collected more than $2 billion worth of earmarks to businesses in the district during his time on the Appropriations Committee.

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Background

At a Glance

Birthday: June 17, 1932
Hometown: New Martinsville, W.Va.
Alma Mater: University of Pittsburgh, B.A.(economics), 1962
Spouse: Joyce
Religion: Catholic

DC Office: 2423 Rayburn House Office Building, 202-225-2065
District Office: Johnstown, 814-535-2642
Email
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Path To Power

Murtha was born June 17, 1932, in New Martinsville, West Va., and grew up in Mount Pleasant, Pa., in a family of strong women. His father, a World War II veteran, worked in mining and managed a gas station and car wash, but he died of alcoholism at a young age. Murtha doesn't drink to this day because of what happened to his father.

Murtha enrolled in Washington and Jefferson College after graduating from high school, but left to join the Marine Corps in 1952. He volunteered to fight in Korea, but the conflict ended before his assignment came. He finished up his stint in the Corps at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he met his wife, Joyce.

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Murtha moved back to Pennsylvania to manage the family gas station. He completed his undergraduate education, earning a degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966, and then joined the Marine Reserves unit in Johnstown, Pa. After President Johnson declined to call the reserves into active duty, Murtha volunteered to go to Vietnam and was sent into combat in 1966 with the 1st Marines Regiment near Da Nang.

Murtha was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry for his service in the war. He remained enlisted in the Marine Reserves, attaining the rank of colonel, and retired from the military in 1990 after 37 years of service. Notably, Murtha is one of the few Democrats who favors the reinstatement of the military draft.

Election to U.S. House

In 1968, Murtha ran for Congress after being recruited by Democratic officials and was defeated by the 12th district's incumbent, John P. Saylor (R). A special election was held in 1974 after Saylor died in office, and Murtha ran for the seat again, this time capturing it by 230 votes.

Murtha quickly established himself as a power player in Congress, becoming a trusted ally of then-House Speaker Tip O'Neill (D-Mass.), but he was soon ensnared in a scandal that would nearly derail his political career.

Abscam

In the late 1970s, the FBI devised a sting operation, known as Abscam, in which agents posed as representatives of Arab sheiks and offered bribes to politicians around the country. One of the FBI stings was arranged with Murtha, who was taped during the meeting. The agents offered Murtha $50,000 to help one of the imaginary sheiks secure U.S. residency. Murtha did not accept the offer, but he spoke at length with the agents and talked about his interest in business investments for his district.

The Abscam investigation would lead to the convictions of six Congressmen and one Senator for bribery and conspiracy. Murtha was named a co-conspirator in the case, but he was never indicted on any charges and the House ethics committee cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Murtha has rarely spoken about the incident, though he has steadfastly maintained his innocence. MSNBC host Chris Mathews pressed him to talk about the scandal during an interview in November 2006. Murtha said he thought the undercover agents were the "slimiest guys" he'd ever seen and felt they were trying to corrupt him. "I wanted to negotiate with [the undercover agents] about investment in the district. That's what I was interested in. That's the only thing I was interested in."

If Murtha was embarrassed by Abscam, it did little harm to his standing with his colleagues. In a 1985 Washington Post profile, he was identified as possibly the "premier political operator" in the House. "His reputation is, if you're going to put a coalition together, you have to have Murtha," then-Rep. Mike Synar (D-Okla.) told the Post at the time.

Murtha's looming presence in the House was probably best captured by the fact that he is the only lawmaker in the body who had an informally recognized assigned seat on the House floor. Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) said ''no one else dares sit" in Murtha's traditional corner space.

Alliance with Nancy Pelosi

To say that Murtha was Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) right-hand man in the House is no exaggeration; the two were extremely close allies and he was part of her inner circle of advisers. "To work with Jack Murtha in Congress is to watch a master at work," Pelosi said of her friend in 2006.

When Pelosi ran for minority whip in 2002, Murtha chaired the successful campaign, helping her build a coalition that defeated Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). In 2006, after House Democrats regained the majority, soon-to-be-Speaker Pelosi returned the favor, supporting Murtha's bid to become majority whip in a contest against then-Minority Leader Hoyer. Pelosi's intense advocacy of Murtha's campaign angered many Democrats, and the fight was a bruising one for the party. In the end, Hoyer's tireless fundraising and campaign work for House Democrats carried the day, and he defeated Murtha in a secret vote by a count of 149 to 86.

The Issues

Murtha successfully blended social conservatism with economic populism during his House career. He staunchly opposed abortion rights and stricter gun control laws and supported the death penalty. In 1993, he authored legislation to put prayer back in the nation's schools. He supported expanded health care, hikes in the minimum wage and trade policies beneficial to the steel industry. Murtha has also voted for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Murtha's main sphere of influence was on defense matters. He traveled extensively to war zones and global hot spots, and his ties to the military establishment were as deep as anyone's in Washington. He visited regularly with troops stationed overseas and was a persistent advocate for increased pay and benefits for men and women in uniform.

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Murtha supported the 1991 Gulf War, but urged President Clinton not to intervene in Bosnia and Somalia. Murtha also voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq in 2002.

Iraq War

After repeatedly criticizing the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war, Murtha decided to go public with a demand for withdrawal of U.S. troops in November 2005, dropping a bombshell on Washington. "Our military's done everything that has been asked of them. The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It's time to bring the troops home," he said.

Murtha's reputation as a hawkish Democrat made the announcement politically damaging for the Bush administration, and Republicans rallied to the president's defense. A day after Murtha's announcement, House Republicans forced a vote on a measure calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Democrats decried the vote as a stunt, and emotions ran high in the chamber. When Murtha entered to cast his vote on the bill, Democrats gave him a standing ovation.

During the debate on the withdrawal resolution, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) stood up to relay a message she claimed to have received from a Marine. "He asked me to send Congress a message - stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message - that cowards cut and run, Marines never do," she said. Schmidt withdrew her statement and later issued a public apology. But the resolution was defeated 403 to 3.

Murtha sparked controversy again in May 2006 when he announced a Pentagon investigation would show U.S. Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood" in Haditha, Iraq.

Some of the veterans who ran the 2004 Swiftboat campaign against Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) came after Murtha, holding rallies against him and launching a Web site, www.bootmurtha.com, to try and get him voted out of Congress. Two of the Marines involved in the Haditha incident sued Murtha, and one of the lawsuits, for defamation, was still playing out in the courts.

Murtha said his Haditha comments had a positive impact on the conduct of the war. "There are all kinds of things that have happened that have made a difference, but one of the big differences is that we are not bullying our way through [in Iraq] like we used to."

Afghanistan War

In the fall of 2009, with debate raging in the capital about the future course of military action in Afghanistan, Murtha announced he would not support sending additional U.S. troops to the war effort. "In Vietnam it took 500,000 troops and that didn't solve the problem. So we have to take a different approach," Murtha said.

Ethics

Observers accused Murtha of coupling his House appropriations dealmaking with blatant intimidation. Murtha admitted that he rejected appropriations requests from colleagues who voted against defense spending bills, and he was known for denying earmarks to lawmakers who have crossed him. Over the years, Murtha resisted legislative efforts to make the earmarking process more transparent.

Murtha was also unapologetic about the millions in earmarks he has brought home to his district, despite the fact that many of the projects have been derided by critics as wasteful pork. One of the most often-cited cases was the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pa. Murtha secured more than $500 million in federal funding for the center despite complaints that it duplicated the work of other government agencies. The Bush administration tried to have the center closed in 2007, but Murtha kept it open with a $23 million legislative earmark.

Murtha's ties to Johnstown's Concurrent Technologies Corporation also drew scrutiny. The organization landed nearly $1 billion in federal grants and contracts since 1999, and the company's executives donated thousands to Murtha's campaigns. Concurrent was also a high-paying client of the PMA Group, a powerful lobbying firm that was run by ex-Murtha aide Paul Magliocchetti. PMA was forced to close its doors in the spring of 2009 after its offices were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into the firm's campaign contributions. PMA's clients in the 12th district received millions in federal earmarks and were among Murtha's largest campaign donors. Murtha denied any wrongdoing in connection with PMA.

One of Murtha's former colleagues on the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee, Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), was subpoenaed by the FBI in the spring of 2009 as part of the investigation of PMA Group. Authorities asked Visclosky to provide records pertaining to his connections with PMA. Like Murtha, Visclosky received substantial campaign contributions over the years from PMA and its clients.

In 2009 federal authorities launched an investigation of Kuchera Industries, another defense firm with close ties to Murtha, after a former employee accused the company of contract fraud. According to The Washington Post, Murtha steered more than $50 million worth of defense earmarks to Kuchera Defense Systems and Kuchera Industries Inc. from 2001 to 2008. Bill Kuchera, the firm's owner, once held a campaign fundraiser for Murtha at his Pennsylvania ranch. Murtha said the fraud allegations against Kuchera have nothing to do with him.

Family Connections

In 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported the lobbying shop KSA Consulting was employing Murtha's brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha. KSA had lobbied Murtha's office on behalf of seven companies in 2004, and KSA clients were awarded substantial earmark funding. Kit Murtha said he never lobbied his brother's office on behalf of any KSA clients. "Let's be honest, the name certainly creates some kind of impression, but I can't help that," Kit Murtha said. "We're not doing anything improper or underhanded. I'm entitled to make a living like the next guy."

Kit Murtha's son, Robert C. Murtha, is the founder of Murtech Systems, a defense firm that has received millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to provide logistical services to the Pentagon. A Pentagon spokesman said Rep. Murtha never contacted the Army command about his nephew's company. Robert Murtha, a former Marine, said Murtech's success has nothing to do with his family ties.

The Economy

Murtha voted for the $700 billion bank bailout legislation in October of 2008 despite being inundated with calls from his constituents urging him to oppose it. Murtha said every American would suffer if Congress failed to act to restore confidence in the financial markets.

The Network

Besides Pelosi, Murtha's closest relationship in Congress was probably with Republican Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), a longtime colleague and partner on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee.

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