Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Ethics watchdogs point to the following as ethics problems involving Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.):

· Murtha's relationship with defense industry lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti, whose PMA group and 11 of the firm's clients contributed a total of $274,649 to Murtha's campaign in the past two years. PMA clients received at least 60 "earmarks" in the 2006 defense spending bill, worth $95 million.

· Murtha's business dealings with his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha, a former senior partner at KSA Consulting. A 2004 defense spending bill that went through Murtha's Appropriations defense subcommittee benefited at least 10 companies represented by KSA.

· Murtha's ethical scrape in the early 1980s, when he was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal Abscam bribery scandal and testified against two House colleagues.