Pelosi backs Murtha for Majority Leader (1 Viewer)

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Well, this clarifies Pelosi's stance on Iraq.

Pelosi backs Murtha as majority leader
Endorsement adds to power struggle, as other Dems support Hoyer’s bid
Updated: 1 hour, 25 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - Rep. Nancy Pelosi, in line to become speaker of the House, stepped into a postelection power struggle among fellow Democrats on Sunday with a letter of support for Rep. Jack Murtha in the race to pick a majority leader.

“Your presence in the leadership of our party would add a knowledgeable and respected voice to our Democratic team,” Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote Murtha. The Pennsylvania lawmaker is widely viewed as an underdog in a two-man race with Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer in this week’s leadership elections.

Murtha issued a statement saying, “I am deeply gratified to receive the support of Speaker Pelosi, a tireless advocate for change and a true leader for our party and our country.”

READ MORE
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15690793/
 
Ab-so-lute-ly!

We already know this. There's no point to this thread.
 
Well I see they have found a way to bring Murtha down from his running for Speaker perch. Good for them.
 
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), in line to become Speaker in January, is throwing her support to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) in the race for Majority Leader, a move that will be an early test of her influence and will weigh heavily on Murtha's contest with Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) for the post...

Pelosi, in a letter distributed Sunday to newly elected House Democrats, wrote that Murtha's outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq helped change the electoral campaign for the House this fall. Murtha began calling for a U.S. pullout from Iraq a year ago, and his open opposition to the war made him a focus of intense criticism from Republicans and the White House...

Hoyer released his own letter on Friday signed by 21 of the 41 incoming Democrats, and his backers claimed that at least another five new Members would support his candidacy for Majority Leader, giving Hoyer claim to a huge block of votes
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/15974-1.html
 
WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Just days after Democrats took over Congress, Americans embraced their top goals and President George W. Bush's job approval rating slid to 31 percent, according to a Newsweek poll issued on Saturday.

Huge majorities of those polled said they approved of the legislative priorities cited by Democratic leaders after their party seized control of the Senate and the House of Representatives from Republicans, the magazine said.

But they also expressed concerns that Democrats might seek to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq too quickly or hamper the administration's efforts to combat terrorism, it said....

While a bare majority of 51 percent called the Democrats' victory "a good thing," even more said they were concerned about some of the actions a Democratic Congress might take, including 78 percent who were somewhat or very concerned that it would seek too hasty a withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Another 69 percent said they were concerned that the new Congress would keep the administration "from doing what is necessary to combat terrorism," and two-thirds said they were concerned it would spend too much time investigating the administration and Republican scandals.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11417154.htm
 
Impeached Judge May Chair House Intelligence Committee

The scuttlebutt circulating in Washington, DC is that Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings may become the next chairman of the House of Representative's Intelligence Committee. The Congressional Black Caucus has been pressuring the new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to appoint blacks to key leadership positions and Hastings may benefit from the pressure on the radical left Pelosi....

Prior to his election to congress, Hastings worked as a private-practice attorney, a civil rights activist, and a Florida judge. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, he became the first African-American federal judge in the state of Florida, and served in that position for ten years. He's still called "Judge" by some of his colleagues, but one would think he'd rather forget his days on the federal bench.

In 1989, Judge Hastings was impeached by the US House of Representatives for bribery and perjury. The Democratic-controlled Senate convicted Hastings of accepting a $150,000 bribe in 1981 in exchange for a lenient sentence and of perjury in his testimony about the case. Hastings said the charges against him smacked of racism.

He distinguished himself by being only the sixth Judge in US history to be removed from office by the US Senate. So damning was the evidence against him that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), a founding member of the CBC, favored impeaching him.
http://www.commonvoice.com/article.asp?colid=6219
 
I saw a blurb on Fox News a couple of days ago expecting this, but indicating that it is probably a bit of score settling on Pelosi's part rather than an indication of the direction the party is going to take. Even though he was effectively her deputy as the Minority Whip, allegedly he and Pelosi don't get along very well.
 
Will Murtha’s past haunt him as a leader?

Critics say Abscam, special interest perks tarnish congressman’s integrity


WASHINGTON - In Rep. Nancy Pelosi's first interview after Democrats won control of the House, talking with NBC's Brian Williams on Nov. 8, she made a sweeping promise.

"To turn this Congress into the most honest and open Congress in history," she said. "That is my pledge. That is what I intend to do."

But some Democrats and ethics experts say that promise was undercut when Pelosi endorsed John Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran with a checkered ethical record, for the No. 2 leadership position in the House.

"Rep. Murtha has basically been on the wrong side of public integrity issues during his career," says Fred Wertheimer, president of watchdog group Democracy 21.

Critics claim Murtha has amassed power in part by handing out taxpayer money to special interests, including to clients of defense lobbyists who give him big campaign contributions.

Then, there is video from an FBI sting in 1980, known as Abscam. Murtha was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal bribery scandal, which led to the conviction of one U.S. senator and six members of Congress.
"Each packet contains $10,000 in $1,000 bills," says an undercover FBI agent on the tape as he offers a bribe to Murtha. "I went out, I got the $50,000," continues the agent as he opens a drawer and shows the money . "From what you're telling me, you're telling me that's not what, you know, that that's not what you..."
"I'm not interested," interrupts Murtha.
"OK."
"At this point," clarifies Murtha.
"OK."
"You know, we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't, you know," says Murtha.
Murtha refuses the cashand talks about his need to be cautious because of his ambitions.
"I expect to be in the (expletive) leadership of the House," he says on the tape. "And you have anything said about you, then you've got a problem."
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15719627/
 
A politician turning down a bribe on camera? It's a scandal I tell ya! Bill Jefferson would never stand for it!
 
Will Murtha’s past haunt him as a leader?

Critics say Abscam, special interest perks tarnish congressman’s integrity


WASHINGTON - In Rep. Nancy Pelosi's first interview after Democrats won control of the House, talking with NBC's Brian Williams on Nov. 8, she made a sweeping promise.

"To turn this Congress into the most honest and open Congress in history," she said. "That is my pledge. That is what I intend to do."

But some Democrats and ethics experts say that promise was undercut when Pelosi endorsed John Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran with a checkered ethical record, for the No. 2 leadership position in the House.

"Rep. Murtha has basically been on the wrong side of public integrity issues during his career," says Fred Wertheimer, president of watchdog group Democracy 21.

Critics claim Murtha has amassed power in part by handing out taxpayer money to special interests, including to clients of defense lobbyists who give him big campaign contributions.

Then, there is video from an FBI sting in 1980, known as Abscam. Murtha was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal bribery scandal, which led to the conviction of one U.S. senator and six members of Congress.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15719627/


+12 characters
 
Murtha is horrible.

Almost as bad as Alcee Hastings, who was impeached as a Federal Judge. He also is a bud of Castro.
And last but not least, he is first in line to become the leader of the House Intelligence Committee. Pelosi better put and end to that foolish move.
 
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New York Times best seller states how former House Speaker saved Murtha from ethics shakedown

...It appears that what Mr. Murtha was referring to was a form of investment not for the sake of investment, but because "that's the secret" to how you can take a bribe and get away with it. Mr. Murtha was never indicted for his role in Abscam, even though he testified in federal court that he had called his "immigration guy" to determine what could be done to help the fake sheik with his immigration problems.

But in 1981, the House Ethics Committee became concerned that Mr. Murtha had, at a minimum, violated House rules that required he report any attempt at bribery, which he had not. A special prosecutor, Barry Prettyman, was appointed to oversee the committee's investigation. He soon expanded his probe beyond the six House members who were directly involved and began moving against Rep. Murtha. He was also rumored to be offering deals in exchange for testimony that would take the scandal inside the office of Speaker O'Neill.

That was the final straw from the irascible O'Neill. He determined to shut the investigation down, and the story of how he did it makes up a fascinating part of Mr. Crile's book, "Charlie Wilson's War" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2003). Crile died earlier this year of cancer, but his story of how the larger-than-life Rep. Charlie Wilson of Texas single-handedly steered money from the defense subcommittee that Rep. Murtha chaired to the anti-Soviet mujahadeen in Afghanistan is so riveting that it is being made into a major motion picture produced by Mike Nichols and starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts...

O'Neill made it clear he would appoint Mr. Wilson to the board he coveted, but that he would have to joni the Ethics Committee to take care of the Murtha matter. "It's a package deal, Chally," O'Neill is said to have told Mr. Wilson.

"The word on Charlie was that he didn't talk," ex-Rep. Tony Coelho, who became majority whip after O'Neill's retirement, told Crile. "From time to time the speaker needed to mount irregular operations, and Wilson was one of those irregulars Tip could count on." Mr. Wilson didn't need any prodding for his task: "He was a happy warrior as he raced to the rescue of his imperiled friend John Murtha," Crile wrote.

Crile reported that prior to Mr. Wilson's arrival on the Ethics Committee, it had largely given Mr. Prettyman, the special counsel, a free hand in his probe. That quickly changed: "Before Prettyman could fully deploy his investigators to move on the Murtha case, he was informed that the committee had concluded there was no justification for an investigation." The Ethics Committee chairman, Rep. Louis Stokes of Ohio, suddenly declared "This matter is closed."

Mr. Prettyman, who had already likened the Ethics Committee to "a misdemeanor court faced with a multiple murder," was furious at the dramatic change of course. He abruptly resigned his post the same afternoon the committee voted to clear Mr. Murtha. While Mr. Prettyman continues to refuse to discuss the case, he told Roll Call newspaper in 1990 that it would be "a logical conclusion" that he resigned over the committee's exoneration of Mr. Murtha. Crile's book notes that "a teary Murtha had confided to a colleague that Wilson's effort had saved his life." Crile concludes that the Murtha "rescue operation" had far-reaching consequences. "For O'Neill the intervention ended the threat to his hold on the House and unleashed him to become Ronald Reagan's liberal tormentor."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110009248
 
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Washington Post not happy. Makes a point that Murtha asked Pelosi for her support.

As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, he (Murtha) has been an avid participant in the orgy of earmarking, including numerous projects sought by a lobbying firm that employed his brother.

WASHINGTON POST
A Choice for Democrats
Steny Hoyer should be the new House majority leader.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006; Page A30


LOYALTY IS an admirable quality, but sometimes it can be taken too far. That is the case with the decision by the incoming House speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), to offer a public endorsement of the bid of Pennsylvania Rep. John P. Murtha (D) to become majority leader. Ms. Pelosi's preference for Mr. Murtha was no secret; he managed her campaign for minority leader against Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), now Mr. Murtha's rival for the majority leader post.

What was surprising was that Ms. Pelosi would weigh in publicly on Mr. Murtha's behalf, albeit -- as she pointedly noted at the beginning of her letter -- in response to his request.

READ MORE
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301038.html
 
To the victor goes the spoils.


The Democrats won the election. We all knew (or else were uninformed and had no business voting) that a democrat victory would put Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, Waxman, Leahy, Kennedy, Biden, etc in positions of power over various committees and the Congressional bodies themselves.

Gridlock would probably be a good thing on the domestic front. Despite supporting Bush, it is obvious to anyone that he and the past Republican Congress sought to sell us "Liberal Lite" as a governing policy.

However, I don't see gridlock, but instead I see Bush caving in to any and almost every agenda set forth by the new Congress. Bush's goose is cooked and he knows that he will be lucky to accomplish anything - other than possibly avoiding impeachment proceedings - unless he bends over and takes it up the tailpipe from the new Congressional leaders and the sympathetic press.

The main thing that scares me is the foreign policy realm. Hopefully now that the democrats have power, they will use it wisely. Based on past experience, I will not hold my breath. I fully expect a couple of years of trying to "get Bush" when that mission is already accomplished...
 

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