WASHINGTON — When Congress passed the $417-billion Pentagon spending bill last year, Rep. John P. Murtha, the top Democrat on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, boasted about the money he secured to create jobs in his Pennsylvania district.
But the bill Murtha helped write also benefited at least 10 companies represented by a lobbying firm where his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha, is a senior partner, according to disclosure records, interviews and an analysis of the bill by The Times.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday June 15, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Lobbying chart -- A chart in Monday's Section A that showed defense appropriations and annual sales for 10 companies that received funding from the Pentagon labeled a column "annual sales in millions." The label should have said "annual sales."
Clients of the lobbying firm KSA Consulting -- whose top officials also include former congressional aide Carmen V. Scialabba, who worked for Rep. Murtha for 27 years -- received a total of $20.8 million from the bill.
One of the clients, a small Arkansas maker of military vehicles, received $1.7 million, triple its total sales for 2004. Several other clients received money that represented more than half of their annual sales from last year.
KSA directly lobbied the congressman's office on behalf of seven companies that received money from the bill, records and interviews show. Among those clients, a firm based in Maryland received one of the larger individual awards, $4.2 million.
And a defense contractor based in Pennsylvania said he hired KSA on the recommendation of a top aide of the congressman.
Disclosure of Kit Murtha's ties to the lobbying firm prompted criticism from Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan Washington watchdog group that tracks government spending.
"Family members lobbying family members is becoming an all-too-common phenomenon on Capitol Hill," he said. "What's even more troubling is that decisions about defense dollars are being made at family reunions rather than the halls of Congress."
Kit Murtha said in a phone interview that he did not lobby his brother's office and that he saw no problem working for a firm that did.
"Let's be honest, the name certainly creates some kind of impression, but I can't help that," he said. "We're not doing anything improper or underhanded. I'm entitled to make a living like the next guy."
Rep. Murtha and his staff declined to answer questions for this report. In public statements, the congressman has said money he inserted into the defense bill has helped make his district a center for national defense programs and has benefited the local economy.
