Defense Industry Loses a Friend on Capitol Hill

8 Feb 2010 // Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who died Monday at age 77, was an old-school, dealmaking politician and a master of the earmark. Some watchdog groups, like Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, called him "corrupt." Murtha just said he was good at his job, and obtaining government money for the folks back home came with the territory.

Obtain he did. According to the annual "Pig Book," a listing of pork projects, published annually by Citizens Against Government Waste, Murtha had a hand in 50 earmarks totaling $132 million--last year alone. The year before, he was responsible for 73 earmarks worth $159 million. Years prior are similar.

A Marine and Vietnam vet, Murtha was a favorite on Capitol Hill of the defense industry. (He was chairman of the House's Defense Appropriations Subcommittee) According to the Center for Responsive Politics, only two other members of Congress--Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo.--received more money from the defense industry since the 2008 elections.

Since 1989 Murtha's political campaigns took in $1.2 million from the defense electronics industry, $1.12 million from lobbyists and $809,000 from the defense aerospace industry. His biggest contributors during the most recent election cycle were General Dynamics ($14,800), Northrop Grumman ($10,500) and BAE Systems ($10,000). Murtha's list of all-time of big money donors reads like a who's who of the defense sector, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, SAIC and Mantech.

Murtha will undoubtedly be remembered most for his skill at acquiring earmarks, for good and for bad. During the past several years, his reputation was tarred by his association with the PMA Group, a lobbying firm that was the fifth most generous donor to Murtha's campaigns since 1989. According to press reports, Murtha helped direct $137 million on federal contracts to PMA's clients, who helped fill the Pennsylvania congressman's campaign coffers. The Office of Congressional Ethics last year dropped its investigation of Murtha.