The not-so-scandalous story about Rep. Murtha and his brother

June 13, 2005

With Tom DeLay’s scandals generating so much attention, reporters seem intent on finding similar controversies surrounding other lawmakers — particularly Dems. It’s part of the pox-on-both-your-houses style embraced by journalists who are afraid of being accused of harboring a partisan bias.

Almost two weeks ago, it was a front-page Washington Post piece on some Dem connections with Jack Abramoff, which ultimately pointed to absolutely no wrongdoing. Today, it’s the LA Times running a front-page piece on Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and his lobbyist brother.

When Congress passed the $417-billion Pentagon spending bill last ear, Rep. John P. Murtha, the top Democrat on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, boasted about the money he secured to create jobs in his Pennsylvania district.

But the bill Murtha helped write also benefited at least 10 companies represented by a lobbying firm where his brother, Robert “Kit” Murtha, is a senior partner, according to disclosure records, interviews and an analysis of the bill by The Times.

Apparently, there’s supposed to be something scandalous here, but there isn’t.

KSA Consulting represents about two dozen small- and medium-sized defense firms. Like every other military-related lobbying firm, KSA encouraged members of Congress who oversee defense appropriations to help finance projects done by its clients. In this case, KSA was largely successful — its clients received a total of $20.8 million from the spending bill.

The accusation isn’t that those defense firms didn’t deserve the money, or that they’re charging too much, or that they’ll produce items the Pentagon doesn’t want. Instead, this front-page piece is on the fact that KSA employees the brother of a Democrat on the House committee that was lobbied.

And this is scandalous because … well, because the LA Times seems to think so. Is there any evidence that Rep. Murtha’s brother lobbied his sibling directly? No. Is there any evidence Murtha’s brother was involved in any way in securing appropriations for KSA clients? No. Is there any evidence to support the Times’ “Lobbyist’s Brother Guided House Bill” headline? No. Is there any evidence of wrongdoing here on the part of anyone? No.

In fact, Ken Stalder, KSA’s founder, chief executive and lead lobbyist, said Rep. Murtha’s brother has never lobbied his brother or any other House member.

“Having him on staff doesn’t help me with Congressman Murtha’s office,” he said in an interview in his office. “I don’t [accept some business propositions] because of Kit, because it might look funny.”

So, KSA is not only playing by the rules, it’s going beyond to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Is there any reason this deserves a 2,100-word expose on the front page of one of the nation’s leading newspapers? No.

It’s the same shit the media did last fall in “fact-checking” the claims made by the Kerry Campaign versus the Bush Campaign: if Bush’s camp LIED by a ton, the media said it was the same as when Kerry’s camp FUDGED by an ounce!! Where the fuck is the LAT’s 2,100 word expose on Halliburton? On the DSM? On all of the other shit going on that is taking away our democracy, especially and most recently Sensenbrenner’s abominable behavior at the Hearing the Dems forced him to call last Friday? Nada.

I think the prgressive blogs have it right as to why the MSM (or whatever the fuck you want to call it) won’t cover all of the shit on the DSM that the British press has been hammering on for the last 7+ weeks, and that is this: “the media knew, in 2002, that Bush was lying us into the war, but gave him a pass because they concluded he was so popular — a media lie by omission; now that this is coming out on the DSM, it’s “old news” TO THE MEDIA, so they act as if it is not newsworthy and give Bush yet ANOTHER pass — a media lie by comission.”

As I commented on Atrios this morning, two lies don’t make a right.

  • I believe the media is either afraid of the BUSH administration or they are afraid of their bosses who are BUSH buddies.
    What about the fact that the SWIFT BOAT VETS lied their ass off and it was always in the paper and almost NOTHING about BUSH NOT EVEN finishing his National Guard Service. Does anyone really think he did his National Guard Duty??? NO FUCKING WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Do the math! Even if one Murtha brother had influence on another, 21 million, when compared to 417 billion, is crumbs. I think it equal five thousands of one percent. Crumbs, indeed.

  • Do the math! Even if one Murtha brother had influence on another, 21 million, when compared to 417 billion, is crumbs. I think it equal five thousands of one percent. Crumbs, indeed.

    Absolutely spot on! And the idea that a DEM was able to “guide a house bill” is laughable. The GOP controls all legislation in both houses, including ammendments. NOTHING happens without their explicit agreement. The LATimes should be ashamed.

  • At long last, liberals finally feel the pain that Republicans have felt for the last thirty years with the media when they all used to be liberal elite lapdogs. Now their shoddy fact finding is raising your ire. About damn time. Perhaps now the tide will turn in journalistic accountability since it is the left getting a taste of the medicine. I’ll always rememeber the outrageous crap the press used to sling around about Ronald Reagan stealing cans of pork and beans from homeless folks in DC and riding around in his limo eating them. But here’s the rub- I bet you this so called “nepotism” against Murtha is probably the same thing that Delay’s relatives were doing- but since no one in the media will actually spell it out we’ll never know.(like I’ve begged for any to reply in a June 6 posting on this site by myself):
    “For the Love of God will somebody please tell me specifically what it is that Tom DeLay has done wrong- be it ethics bylaws or an actual violation of law. All you hear in the news is “ethics violations” over and over again, but no one will actually (like journalists of old who followed the guidelines of “what, when, where, who, and sometime why” when they wrote news articles) spell it out.”

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