Rep. John Murtha: lifelong hawk, military backer, brazen earmarker

PEP has been hard on the late congressman for his role in expanding superfluous defense spending to support his district. This leader's service, particularly as described in this article, illustrates why PEP's work is so important. On one hand, we want to limit the influence of lobbying forces like PMA and the other contractors who lined Congressman Murtha's coffers for 38 years while in the House. On the other, we want to remind congresspersons that you can get more, better jobs out of non-defense spending (see here) and empower them to solicit non-defense work for their constituents.

In the "More" section, are further articles about the late Congressman and his replacement as the head of the appropriations committee.

By Gail Russell Chaddock
February 8, 2010
From the Christian Science Monitor

Washington
Until his public break with the Bush administration over the war in Iraq on Nov. 17, 2005, Rep. John Murtha (D) of Pennsylvania, who died Monday after surgery, was best known for the billions of dollars he secured for his district behind closed doors.

Abandoned by coal and steel factories, Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District owed its billions in defense contracts and infrastructure to the persistence and clout of its 19-term representative, who last month became the state's longest-serving House member of all time.

A protégé of legendary House Speaker Tip O’Neill and, more recently, a confidant of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative Murtha swayed the lion’s share of member projects in any budget year from a perch on top of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee. Regardless of which party was in control of Congress, Murtha had a hand in overseeing the defense budget and distributing its member-projects, or earmarks. There’s even an area of the House floor dubbed “Murtha’s Corner,” for its traffic in earmarks.

His zeal in winning projects for his district brought him to the edge of scandal and frequent ethics investigations. Last month, he was cleared by the Office of Congressional Ethics of charges that he had accepted campaign contributions from PMA Group, a former top defense lobbying firm, in exchange for funding for earmarked projects.

Murtha brushed off the criticism, especially that from those who had never visited his district nor seen the economic devastation there.

“Jack Murtha was a man who thought representing his constituents was the most important thing in his public service,” said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center of Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. “He could care less what people said about pork barrel or earmarks or wasting. He felt that the primary goal of his service was to the 12th District and for that he had their undying affection.”

The first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress, Murtha was also focused on support of US military forces, especially in combat.

“Ever since I was a young boy, I had two goals in life – I wanted to be a colonel in the Marine Corps and a member of Congress,” he wrote in his 2006 memoir “From Vietnam to 9/11.”

A lifelong hawk and an early supporter of the war in Iraq, Murtha led Democrats in pushing for sufficient support for the troops, including adequately armored vehicles. His break with President Bush over the war in Iraq in late 2005 gave a significant boost to the antiwar movement both on and off Capitol Hill.

“Jack was a devoted husband, a loving father and a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years,” said President Obama in a statement honoring Murtha.

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Death Of Murtha Leaves U.S. Defense Vacancy

Feb 9, 2010
By Michael Bruno
From AviationWeek.com

The chairman of the U.S. House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), died Feb. 8, leaving a vast and sudden vacancy in one of the most powerful aerospace and defense lawmaking positions on Capitol Hill.

Murtha had been suffering from complications from gallbladder surgery. He died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., near the Pentagon, early in the afternoon. He was 77.

Reminiscent of the effect of the death last year of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on the debate over U.S. health care, Murtha’s death will silence a powerful and provocative voice in defense spending at a time when the Obama administration is proposing a record $708 billion defense budget for Fiscal 2011, and while the nation is fighting two wars and terrorists worldwide.

In the immediate sense, it may mean weakened calls for sharing the USAF KC-X aerial refueling tanker program between Boeing and a Northrop Grumman-EADS team, extending the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, and reviving Lockheed’s erstwhile VH-71 presidential helicopter replacement. It also means the loss of a major advocate for Navy shipbuilding, as well the Marine Corps, in which the retired colonel won combat awards during the Vietnam War and served as active or reserve for 37 years.

Many of the above programs have seen their likely destinies laid out over the past year, for better or for worse, but in the tanker program there remained room to influence. Murtha was a leading proponent of a so-called split buy of the KC-X, but only after being a proponent of Boeing’s efforts first — the original ending in an acquisition scandal and the second losing to Northrop-EADS until the Pentagon shelved the program in light of heated contracting protests and potentially unprecedented congressional meddling, including by Murtha (Aerospace DAILY, July 17, 2009).

Up through last fall, the climax of the most recent surge in defense budget decision-making, Murtha said it “was in the interest of the taxpayer to build 36 aircraft per year, versus the 15 per year as planned by the latest proposal.”

Murtha butted heads with President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in July 2009 over the curtailment of the F-22 Raptor program. He backed down under pressure, saying the priority was to maintain the current fleet in the best shape possible. He also ran into executive-branch headwinds regarding support for the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, although Murtha had plenty of company across the Hill in opposing its termination.

Murtha served in the House since his 1974 election, becoming the first Vietnam veteran sent there. The eighth most senior member of the 435-member House, according to his staff, Murtha was an avowed earmarker, defending the practice as constitutional and appropriate, but his links to now-defunct PMA Group fed into an FBI investigation and numerous investigative news reports. He continued to receive criticism and acclaim until his death.



Washington state lawmaker ascends to powerful funding post
By Les Blumenthal and Scott Fontaine | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Over the past 30 years, Rep. Norm Dicks has been in the middle of virtually every of the nation's major defense funding controversies — from increasing military pay after the Vietnam War to the B-2 stealth bomber, and from the MX missile to replacing the Air Force's C-5 cargo plane with a modified Boeing 747.

At the same time, the major Army, Air Force and Navy installations in Washington state survived four rounds of base closings unscathed and emerged as cornerstones in the nation's defense community.

Now, the Washington state Democrat almost certainly will become chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, which controls the Pentagon's $650 billion budget. It represents roughly half of the discretionary spending in the federal budget.

It's an enormously powerful chairmanship. Coupled with Democratic Rep. Adam Smith's new chairmanship of an important House Armed Services subcommittee, it gives Washington state a major voice in national security and defense polices.

It also could provide a boost to Washington state's bases and to Boeing, though given the ongoing dispute over earmarks, lawmakers are increasingly cautious about steering vast sums of money to their districts or states.

Even so, Dicks said, "this subcommittee is critically important to my district. I've always tried to do positive things for my district and my state."

Dicks would replace Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who died Monday from complications following gall bladder surgery. Democratic members of the House Appropriations Committee, the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and the House Democratic Caucus all have to approve Dicks' appointment.

While Murtha had been sick, Dicks had been acting chairman. Dicks worked the phones last week rounding up support from such members as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland. As of late last week, he had no known opposition.

"Everything looks pretty well lined up," Dicks said in an interview.

Dicks has a strong background in defense and national security issues. He has served on the defense appropriations subcommittee since 1979 and spent eight years on the House Intelligence Committee, where he was in line to become chairman before Republicans seized control of Congress in 1994.

Dicks and Murtha worked closely together over the years, and last Thanksgiving traveled to Afghanistan together. The transition is expected to be seamless, as the two lawmakers have seen eye to eye on most major defense issues. One exception is the ongoing competition for a $35 billion contract to replace the Air Force's aging aerial refueling tanker.

Murtha had been a staunch proponent of splitting the buy between Boeing and a team that includes the parent company of Europe-based Airbus. Dicks has opposed a split buy.

The differences between the two have not been so much over substance as style. Murtha represented a down-on-its-heels, gritty steel and coal district. He was comfortable working in the shadows on Capitol Hill. Dicks' district stretches from the rural Olympic Peninsula to Tacoma, and the congressman is pretty much an in-your-face, in-the-open type of lawmaker.

"It's the difference between Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst for the Lexington Institute, a national security think tank based in northern Virginia. "I don't see a change in the thrust of the committee, but there will be major stylistic changes."

Thompson said Dicks' strengths include an understanding of the appropriations process and defense technology, a focus on results, and "everyone likes him. It's so obvious."

As for bringing money and projects back to the state, Thompson said that "historically the Washington state congressional delegation has looked out for its industrial base."

Other analysts say Boeing could benefit from Dicks assuming the chairmanship, and not just in the tanker competition.

"For Boeing this is great news," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group, a national security consulting firm. At stake in the coming years, Aboulafia said, are the survival of Boeing's C-17 and F-18 production lines.

"Dicks has been supportive of Boeing on the tanker front," Aboulafia said. "I don't know whether it will extend to other areas."

Aboulafia said Dicks' and Smith's new assignments will be "obviously helpful" to Washington state.

Yet both Dicks and Smith sought to downplay the impact.

The sprawling Joint Base Lewis-McChord, with 32,700 active-duty personnel. 4,900 National Guard and Reserve personnel and 14,500 civilian employees, is in Smith's congressional district but was once in Dicks' district. Dicks' district includes the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the submarine base at Bangor and other naval facilities.

Smith, the chairman of the Air and Land Force subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, does not have a reputation for steering money back home.

"That's not the way I do things," said Smith. "What I want is the best equipment for our men and women in the military. ... I do not believe that my role on the committee is to steer as much money as possible to my state or my district."

Local officials, however, are hoping Dicks-Smith will deliver.

"Without a doubt this is big news," said Gary Brackett, business and trade development manager for the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce. "You're talking about the major industry in our area. It provides more jobs, more income and more contracts than any other sector. ... Both congressmen have paid very close attention to the military — both on a Pierce County basis and a regional basis."

Echoing Smith, Dicks said he wants to ensure the troops have all the equipment they need and adequate resources and facilities to take care of them when they return from deployment. He also talked about the need for a new bomber to replace the B-52 and a new submarine to replace the Trident.

Among his other priorities, Dicks said, are improving the nation's intelligence gathering, improving the nation's cyber security, and strengthening the National Guard and Reserves.

"Maggie (the late Washington Democratic Sen. Warren Magnuson) used to call this kitchen work," Dicks said.

Late last year, the Office of Congressional Ethics ended its investigation without taking action into the relationship between Dicks and a defense lobbying firm that is under federal investigation for possible criminal violations. Dicks received more than $133,000 in campaign contributions from the lobbying firm, its employees and clients. He secured $27 million in funding for four of the firm's clients.

The investigation focused on whether Dicks secured the earmarks in exchange for the campaign contributions. Dicks had steadfastly maintained he had done nothing wrong.

The lobbying firm, the PMA Group, also had links to Murtha.

Dicks said he will insist that subcommittee members follow all the new House ethics rules when it comes to disclosing earmarks.

"We will be extra vigilant," he said.

In taking the chairmanship of the defense appropriations subcommittee, Dicks will have to give up the chairmanship of the interior appropriations subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the $27 billion budget for the Interior Department, the U.S. Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies.

Dicks will remain the No. 2 Democrat on the interior subcommittee.

"Norm was flat-out terrific and, frankly, we will miss that," said Bill Arthur, the Sierra Club's deputy national field director based in Seattle. "He will still be the ranking member, and that is not insignificant."

Dicks said he will remain a force on the interior subcommittee, knows its new chairman, Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., well and doesn't expect federal funding for the Puget Sound cleanup or other programs and policies important to Washington will suffer.




Industry sees few changes with new House defense appropriations chief
By Megan Scully - Congress Daily (on Govexec.com February 12, 2010

Defense industry officials and analysts say they expect a seamless transition when Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., takes the gavel of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and promptly gets to work on the fiscal 2011 Defense spending bill when the House reconvenes later this month.
He has not been tapped officially for the chairmanship, but House Majority Leader Hoyer has said he expects Dicks, the second-ranking Democrat on the panel, to take over after the death this week of longtime chairman Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.

Dicks brings with him strong ties to aerospace giant Boeing Co., which builds many of its largest planes in Everett, Wash., near his district. But while he's known as an unabashed Boeing champion, defense sources said they don't expect his chairmanship to bring about a significant change in defense spending priorities.

After all, Boeing, the country's No. 2 defense contractor, hardly went unnoticed during Murtha's tenure as chairman, which was marked with multibillion-dollar congressional add-ons benefitting Boeing's product line, such as the C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane and the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

"I don't think a whole lot changes," said one defense lobbyist, observing that Dicks' priorities are largely aligned with what Murtha advocated.

But the two lawmakers diverged last year when Murtha fought and lost a battle to split the contract to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force between rival bidders Boeing and a team led by Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS, the European consortium behind Airbus.

Murtha hoped splitting the contract would curtail what he feared would be an endless cycle of challenges to contract awards. Dicks has favored giving the contract to Boeing alone.

The Air Force is expected to release a final request for proposals this month, in anticipation of selecting a contractor this summer. Northrop and EADS already have threatened to pull out of the competition unless there are significant changes made to the draft RFP, which they argue favors the Boeing plane.

Dicks' chairmanship could have a psychological affect on down-and-out Northrop supporters. "You're adding further weight against a Northrop decision to bid," said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at the Teal Group.

A Northrop spokesman said the firm enjoys a good working relationship with Dicks.
By law, Dicks cannot say who gets the contract, and he or other lawmakers cannot pressure the Government Accountability Office in deciding any contract protest. But he can try to set funding levels and add conditions or riders to the tanker program in the fiscal 2011 Defense spending bill.

"If the award goes to Northrop/EADS, you can bet there's going to be trouble in the appropriations subcommittee," said Gordon Adams, the Office of Management and Budget's associate director of national security during the Clinton administration. "If the award goes to Boeing, you can bet there won't be."

Meanwhile, Adams says Dicks will lead the subcommittee in the tradition of his predecessor.
"Appropriators are appropriators are appropriators, and it kind of doesn't matter whether it's a [Rep.] Jerry Lewis or a Jack Murtha or a [former GOP Sen.] Ted Stevens or a [Sen.] Daniel Inouye or a Norm Dicks," Adams said. "You have to have a particular frame of mind to be an appropriator. You have to like details, you have to like dealing with the money, and you really have to enjoy earmarks."

In the fiscal 2010 Defense spending bill, Murtha sponsored 23 earmarks worth $76.5 million, according to public disclosures. Dicks obtained 14 earmarks worth $39 million -- a figure likely to swell when he becomes chairman.

Dicks will have to realize that, to be effective, he must share the wealth, as Murtha always did, Adams said. "They all have to make deals and appropriators are the master dealmakers," he added.
The biggest change, however, may be who benefits from those deals.

Dicks, though a close adviser to Murtha as the next-in-line on the panel, will have his own friends and allies.

For the lawmakers who had curried favor and collected chits with Murtha, "that bank has gone bust," said Steve Ellis, a vice president at Taxpayers for Common Sense.