"Murtha turned aside questions about the suspension of Kuchera Defense Systems Inc., a family-run business that has supported him with $60,000 to his campaign and to his political action committee.... Murtha has secured $14.7 million in congressionally directed funds known as "earmarks" for Kuchera to perform work for the military, a tiny slice of Murtha's earmarks overall.... defense contractors with ties to Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha"
Guess how he's getting there:
"Extra VIP jets will be cut from bill" by Bloomberg News | August 12, 2009
WASHINGTON - House leaders said they will drop plans to purchase four more VIP jets than were requested by the Department of Defense to transport government officials on foreign trips.
Related: Congress Jets Around
Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who leads the House defense appropriations subcommittee, said he would cut the additional aircraft from legislation that would provide $636.3 billion for the military in fiscal 2010.
More than the rest of the world combined -- friend and foe.
“If the Department of Defense does not want these aircraft, they will be eliminated from the bill,’’ Murtha said.
Question: WHY WERE THEY PUT IN THERE TO BEGIN WITH, looter?
And I quote: "The Pentagon asked for only one of the $65 million planes"
Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in an e-mail that “the speaker supports Chairman Murtha’s decision.’’ Members of Congress travel by military planes on official trips abroad, particularly to war zones....
The change would probably occur in a House-Senate conference to resolve differences between the House-passed defense budget and what the Senate eventually produces.
Probably? Still might slip by, huh?
In an e-mail, Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell welcomed the decision. “We asked for what we need and want nothing more than that,’’ Morrell said.
Murtha, in his statement, defended the request for the two extra Gulfstream C-37s, the military version of General Dynamics Corp.’s Gulfstream V, and two additional C-40s, the military version of
Yeah, right, spending money on something you don't need saves you money, yup.
Sigh.
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Then again, he's had plenty of taxpayer-funded reasons to laugh and lie....
"Contractor tied to Murtha suspended" by Associated Press | May 30, 2009
WASHINGTON -
.... An annual trade show featuring defense contractors gathered in Johnstown, Pa.....
Seven of the world's largest defense contractors.... helped bankroll the "Showcase for Commerce."
During a brief news conference yesterday at the event, Murtha turned aside questions about the suspension of Kuchera Defense Systems Inc., a family-run business that has supported him with $60,000 to his campaign and to his political action committee since 2002.
Over the past two years, Murtha has secured $14.7 million in congressionally directed funds known as "earmarks" for Kuchera to perform work for the military, a tiny slice of Murtha's earmarks overall.
Asked about Kuchera's troubles, Murtha said: "What's that got to do with me? What do you think, I'm supposed to oversee these companies? That's not my job. That's the Defense Department's job."
They are ALL a bunch of MY-SHIT-DON'T-STINK arrogant bastards, aren't they?
And they wonder why they are having problems at the town hall?
Murtha is chairman of one of the most powerful panels in Congress, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, where he has been a member for over two decades....
--more--"Of course, that isn't the ONLY KICKBACK SCANDAL thi s***ter is involved in:
"Ex-Air Force contractor accepted kickbacks" by Associated Press | July 21, 2009
PENSACOLA, Fla. - A former government employee pleaded guilty yesterday and agreed to cooperate in a criminal investigation of appropriations that members of Congress steer to defense contractors.
Mark O’Hair is the second defendant in the past week to begin cooperating with federal prosecutors who are looking into alleged wrongdoing by defense contractors with ties to Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha, Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Last week, the former chief executive of a defense contractor with ties to Murtha pleaded guilty to soliciting kickbacks from a subcontractor in Pennsylvania. In 2007, Murtha directed $4 million in federal funds to Richard S. Ianieri’s company, Coherent Systems International Corp.
O’Hair was program officer for an Air Force project underwritten with congressional appropriations to Coherent. Yesterday in US District Court, O’Hair admitted that he failed to disclose that he was a director of a company that benefited financially from his work as a civilian program officer for the Air Force.
He pleaded guilty to making a false statement and engaging in a conflict of interest. O’Hair faces up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for failing to list on financial disclosure forms that he was a director of Schaller Engineering Inc. The company received more than $200,000 in contracts while O’Hair was charged with awarding contracts for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle.
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Hey, empires cost money, America.
