Roll Call reports that Congressman Jack Murtha, chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, has received donations from every private entity for which he secured an earmark:
Every private entity that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) favored with an earmark in this year’s defense bill recently has given political money to the lawmaker, according to an analysis of House Appropriations and federal elections records by Roll Call and Taxpayers for Common Sense. PACs and employees of those 26 groups together have contributed $413,250 to Murtha since the beginning of 2005. He collected nearly a quarter of the sum–$100,750–in the two weeks leading up to March 16, the original deadline for lawmakers to file their earmark requests… Murtha’s record of receiving at least some campaign cash from every one of his private earmark beneficiaries makes him a rare, but not unique, case on the Defense Subcommittee. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) also got some political money from each one of the private entities he helped to win federal dollars, the analysis found.
It must be deeply gratifying for a lawmaker to see unanimous financial support from the organizations he favors with taxpayer dollars. The coincidence might be less of a concern however, if Murtha’s earmarks all appeared to be judicious uses of federal money. As we’ve chronicled here, that’s certainly not the case. Also see Murtha’s reaction to being asked about his charges regarding the events at Haditha.
