News from Pittsburgh this weekend that another member of Congress is under federal investigation. Tim Murphy is facing scrutiny for having his legislative staff undertake campaign work -- while on federal time. That's not permitted -- and let's just say, everyone in the business knows it's not permitted:

Authorities are investigating whether Rep. Tim Murphy's legislative staff members performed campaign work while on government time, which would violate federal law, according to a broadcast report.

Federal authorities have started interviewing Mr. Murphy's former staff members, according to KDKA-TV, which cited anonymous sources.

Mark Carpenter, Murphy's press secretary, declined to comment on the report of a federal investigation, but acknowledged that the lawmaker had forwarded similar allegations to the House ethics committee for review.

Citizens Blogging first reported on this brewing scandal on October 30th:

Using tax-payer funded staff and resources for partisan political work is not permitted. Congress has strict rules governing this area. Everyone on "the Hill" knows that. It's unusual that congressional staffers would ever report that kind of activity occurring in their offices, but that's what has happened in the case of Tim Murphy (R-PA):

U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, who is seeking his third term in Congress, has mixed campaign activities and official government work in a manner that present and former staffers consider unethical or in violation of House rules, according to interviews with a half-dozen of them.

Some of those interviewed described the practices as routine, others as sporadic, but all said they were disturbed by the conduct. The allegations primarily concern the use of taxpayer-funded congressional staff and resources to do work they viewed as part of Mr. Murphy's political campaign.

That can be a difficult charge to prove because workers are permitted to perform campaign tasks when on voluntary personal time, and there is no clock they punch to switch time. But it's clear that multiple staff members believed that what they were instructed to do crossed an ethical line.

The PIttsburgh Post-Gazette provides specific examples of the behavior relayed by current and former staffers from Murphy's office. That's unusual for the culture of Capitol Hill.