Murtha Shows Appetite For Pork

Murtha’s district grateful for the pork
washington times ….for complete article
The largess of Rep. John P. Murtha — hundreds of millions of dollars in pork projects over the years — is on display around his district in southwestern Pennsylvania.
From the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport to the stretch of U.S. 219 named Jack Murtha Highway, the Pennsylvania Democrat leaves his mark with federal taxpayer dollars.
The money helped build the stunted economy in and around Mr. Murtha’s hometown of Johnstown, a Rust Belt community about 65 miles east of Pittsburgh, by cultivating a defense-contracting industry, transplanting federal jobs there and subsidizing public-works projects.

“He is a key political leader, and he’s been in a position to help in a lot of areas,” said Robert F. Layo, president of the Greater Johnstown Chamber of Commerce, who credits Mr. Murtha with helping save the town after the steel mills closed.

“You just can’t deny that.”

Critics say Mr. Murtha, 75, is squandering taxpayer money, giving away federal dollars to handpicked businesses and projects without competitive bids or independent oversight.

“Murtha is a poster child for what is wrong with Congress,” said Leslie K. Paige, spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, a group targeting Washington mismanagement. “There are shenanigans going on behind the scenes, and it leads to corruption.”

The budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense says Mr. Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, slipped at least $163.8 million in earmarks into 2008 spending bills.
Mr. Murtha, known for brokering backroom earmark deals, insists that it is Congress’ job to appropriate funds and that members know what is best for their districts.

“We go over every single earmark,” he said on the House floor before the August recess. “We don’t apologize for them because we think the members know as much about what goes on in their district as the bureaucrats.”

House ethics rules adopted in January to shed light on the secretive earmark process did not curb Mr. Murtha’s appetite for pork.
His share of earmarks more than doubled from $80 million in the 2007 budget and topped $121 million from 2006, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

It’s less about him supporting his community than him supporting businesses and lobbyists that are giving him campaign contributions,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Mr. Murtha touts the center’s accomplishments in compiling data on illegal drugs and related crimes, though the administration says the work is redundant and could be conducted at other offices of the Justice Department, which runs the center.
He also funneled $1.5 million to Concurrent Technologies Corp. (CTC), a Johnstown-based research center, the top executives of which have given tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Mr. Murtha, according to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

Wild Thing’s comment……..
With all of this pork going to Murtha’s district, does anyone have the census of the Muslim population there? Maybe this is just the Murtha anti-terrorist program? LOL