Murtha -- no lawyer

Timothy McNulty | July 27, 2009

When Jack Murtha went off on reporters at his annual Showcase for Commerce in Johnstown this May, one of the questions that set him off was whether he had hired a defense lawyer. TPM asks the same question and gets a response ("No") from a Murtha spokesman.

Here's TPM, with some extra info on earmarks on the new defense spending bill:

The Feds may be circling uncomfortably close to Rep. John Murtha as they probe kickbacks to defense contractors and possible earmarks-for-campaign-cash deals. But the veteran Democratic power-broker doesn't seem to be sweating it. In fact, he's acting as defiant as ever.

A Murtha spokesman tells TPMmuckraker that the Pennsylvania congressman has not hired a lawyer in connection with the investigations.

Possible legal jeopardy aside, Murtha doesn't even seem inclined to rein in his penchant for dispensing earmarks to friendly outfits. Buried in a Wall Street Journal story (sub. req.) about the Pentagon spending bill that passed Murtha's Defense Appropriations subcommittee this week is the news that the bill contains 15 separate Murtha-secured earmarks, worth a total of around $77 million, for entities whose employees gave to the congressman's campaigns. One defense contractor, Virginia-based Argon ST Inc., will get $8 million. Argon's employees, and its political action committee, have given Murtha $46,600 in contributions since 2007. In all, the $636.3 billion contains more than 1,100 earmarks, worth a total of more than $2.7 billion.

Murtha was characteristically unapologetic about the earmarks. His spokesman told the Journal that the congressman was "proud to secure funding for businesses and organizations in our district that are delivering quality products and services to the Defense Department."