Even as President Obama has instituted tough new ethics guidelines for administration officials, House Democrats continue to wrestle with the ethics problems of two of their most senior members—Reps. John Murtha (Pa.) and Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.).
While neither case directly involves the Obama team, the allegations leveled against Murtha and Rangel open Democrats up to charges that even as their president preaches change, his party remains mired in traditional transactional politics. - Yahoo/Politico
The New York Times recently reported that Rangel helped preserve a lucrative tax break for an oil-drilling company whose CEO pledged $1 million for the Rangel Center. The veteran Democrat — who’s also been the subject of recent stories on his failure to pay taxes on a Caribbean vacation home and his holding of four rent-controlled apartments in Harlem — has denied any wrongdoing, but the ethics panel decided to review the allegation. - Yahoo/PoliticoMurtha, for his part, may be part of a new federal corruption investigation. Investigators from the FBI, IRS and DCIS on Thursday raided the offices of two Pennsylvania firms, Kuchera Defense Systems and Kuchera Industries, closely linked to Murtha, as well as the homes of the brothers who run them. Bill and Ron Kuchera and their employees have donated more than $65,000 to Murtha’s reelection campaign and PACs during the last six years.
The Kucheras’ companies have been awarded more than $100 million in federal earmarks, including more than $8 million in 2008. Murtha chairs the powerful Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, giving him say over tens of billions of dollars in defense spending. - Yahoo/Politico
This is what happens when you hold the Majority. The guns come a blazing from all angles. You see it with every Congress. When you act Holier than though, people dig to find the dirt, and there is always dirt.
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