Murtha: You Got Me All Wrong

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With one eye on the coveted House Majority Leader spot and another on reports he recently called an ethics reform effort “total crap,” Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) took to Hardball tonight to say his piece.

“What I said was, it’s total crap, the idea we have to deal with an issue like this, when. . . we’ve got a war going on and we got all these other issues,” Murtha told host Chris Matthews.

A Roll Call article today quoted Murtha saying of a Democratic ethics reform package, “Even though I think it’s total crap, I’ll vote for it and pass it because that’s what Nancy wants.”

With Matthews, Murtha sounded a call for openness as the antidote to corruption. “Transparency. I think that’s the only way to stop it,” said the 34-year House veteran, who earlier this year worked to help kill Democratic lobby reform efforts. “And I think the regulations that Nancy’s in favor of were very important. I don’t mean to imply that they aren’t.”

Murtha also waved off concerns over his role in ABSCAM. “I had 24 percent unemployment, I was looking at investment,” said the lawmaker, justifying why he negotiated with undercover FBI agents trying to buy legislative favors in 1979. “I told them I wanted an investment in my district, they put $50,000 out on the table. I said I’m not interested in that, I’m interested in investment.

“The ethics committee cleared me completely, unanimous vote,” he said. In fact, an independent prosecutor hired by the committee was not allowed to investigate evidence against Murtha; the prosecutor resigned in protest.

Murtha also criticized the FBI for raiding the office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), who is in the middle of his own bribery investigation. “[I]t’s not fair to go into congressional offices without going through the Speaker of the House, without going to the minority leader,” he said. “This is a breech of the separation of powers.”

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