What The Mainstream Press Won’t Tell You About Congressman Murtha

You can’t swing a dead cat lately without smacking into an article concerning Congressman John Murtha’s (D-Pennsylvania) view of the necessity to withdraw American troops from Iraq. In fact, as reported by the MRC’s Brent Baker, Murtha is going to be on CBS’s “60 Minutes” discussing exactly that on Sunday with none other than Mike Wallace. However, for some reason, that same demised feline has little chance of ever coming in contact with a report of the Congressman’s proclivities to take funds from Washington lobbyists. Today, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette broke ranks from the mainstream media in this regard.

In an article entitled “Santorum Reaps Money From Lobbyists,” the Post-Gazette’s Maeve Reston led with the revelation that Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) has taken more money from Washington lobbyists in the 2006 election cycle than anyone else on Capitol Hill. However:

“Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, was not far behind Mr. Santorum. He took sixth place, with $90,500, on the center's list of the top 20 recipients.

“When the center's list is narrowed to House candidates, Mr. Murtha ranked first in both 2004 and 2006.”

Wow. Congressman Murtha has taken more money from lobbyists than any other member of the House in both the 2004 and 2006 election cycles? How does his appetite for such funds compare to other highly publicized members of this august body?

“He more than doubled the amount that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, received from lobbyists in 2004. And Mr. Murtha was in the top five among House candidates in 2002 and 2000.”

Wow. He took twice as much money from lobbyists in 2004 as Tom DeLay? You think Mike Wallace is going to ask Murtha about this on Sunday?