Pennsylvania Congressman, John Murtha has spent over 20 years in Congress, following a military career in which he was a combat veteran. Unlike his military record, Murtha's congressional record is steeped in controversy. In the past year or so, he has incurred the wrath of the Bush Administration and its supporters with his strident opposition to the Iraq War, even making comments that seemed to condemn the conduct of the troops fighting in that country. Of course, Murtha's military record gives him some creds when it comes to speaking out against any war, and his military experience must be respected.
Aside from his war opposition, however, Murtha's political record over time has left him wide open to criticism. Specifically, there are two areas in which the Congressman from Johnstown, Pa. is most vulnerable-his role in the Abscam bribery scandal in the early 1980s and his record of bringing in the pork for his home district of Johnstown. Were it not for Senator Robert Byrd of WVa, for whom half of all concrete structures in that state are seemingly named after, Murtha would probably be known as the "King of Pork". With proper deference to Senator Byrd, however, Murtha must be content to be "Prince of Pork".
During the early 1980s, the FBI launched "Operation Abscam", in which an undercover agent, posing as an Arab sheikh, met with several members of Congress and paid them bribes , obstensibly to affect public policy. Several Washington politicians were subsequently prosecuted and sent to prison for accepting such bribes. In this scandal, Murtha was an unindicted co-conspirator. The facts are that Murtha also met with the undercover agent and was offered a $50,000 bribe. The meeting was videotaped. What saved Murtha from prosecution is the fact that he refused the bribe. What remains troubling, however, is the fact that Murtha-again on tape-was recorded stating that he "was not interested-at this time" The congressman went on to tell the undercover agent that perhaps he would be interested later on, after they had had more dealings together. (I am paraphrasing).
To anyone who has ever engaged in these kinds of negotiations (as I have as an undercover DEA agent in my first career) that kind of language is typical among 2 crooks who are dealing with each other for the first time. For example, in a large drug deal, the buyer would usually be reluctant to "front" the money (pay in advance) for drugs for fear of being cheated-meaning the drugs would never be delivered. A buyer would often decline this demand with the proviso that fronting the money might be a future possibility once a couple of deals were completed and mutual trust was established. Is this what Murtha meant? Was he merely being cautious, fearing he might be talking with an undercover agent? I don't know, but I can make my own inferences, especially after having seen the videotape, which I have.
Murtha's involvement in pork barrel politics is also something that I observed during my DEA career, at least from a distance. In 1990, the Congressman was responsible for the establishment of the National Drug Intelligence Center in---Johnstown, Pa. The purpose of this center was to have a centralized center staffed by various Federal Law Enforcement agencies involved in narcotics suppression-a place where intelligence could be received, coordinated and disseminated. Good idea, right? The only problem was that such a center already existed in El Paso, Tx-The El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC). It would seem that this was a clear duplication of effort. Yet, since the White House went along with the idea, it became a reality. Agencies like the DEA, who already had people at EPIC, now had to assign agents to Johnstown as well. To this day, both entities remain. In fact, the Johnstown facility has just recently been involved in an earmark controversy in Congress, with Murtha right in the middle of the infighting. Other examples of pork which Murtha has brought home to Johnstown abound. Not surprisingly, he has been rewarded with one reelection after another by his grateful constituents.
Many feel that this ancient history ought not to be forgotten since there are many-especially young people- who look to Murtha as a hero for his opposition to the war and may have no idea of the congressman's past history. As principled as his opposition to the war may well indeed be, there is another side to this man that is open to question.
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