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As ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Murtha “walks on water,” explained Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, in an interview with Washington’s The Hill newspaper.
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Ashdown and his nonpartisan watchdog group criticized Murtha for using the $417 billion fiscal 2005 Pentagon spending bill to give business to his lobbyist brother. The Los Angeles Times in June reported that Murtha funneled nearly $21 million to 10 or more corporate clients of KSA Consulting, where Robert “Kit” Murtha is a senior partner. Carmen Scialabba, a Murtha congressional aide for 27 years, is also a high-ranking official at KSA.

In one case, a small Arkansas manufacturer of military vehicles who was a KSA client was awarded $1.7 million ? triple its total sales for 2004. One defense contractor based in Murtha’s home state of Pennsylvania even told the Times he hired KSA on the recommendation of a top Murtha aide.

The newspaper Roll Call reported that there might be a House ethics committee investigation of Murtha’s apparent improprieties. But is that possible now that Murtha has become the media’s “hawk with a conscience?” Come to think of it, could Murtha have been thinking about a possible ethics investigation when he decided to throw himself into the public limelight last week?