WASHINGTON — Though incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to push through ethical reforms in Congress, both of the Democrats vying to be her second-in-command have long histories of earmarking, close relationships with corporate interests, and using their positions to raise millions of dollars in campaign contributions.
Pelosi's choice for the job, Rep. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, used his seat on the appropriations committee and the largely secret earmark process to obtain $121 million in earmarks during the current session, making him one of the top earmarkers in Congress, according to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Murtha, a tough-talking veteran who made headlines last year by denouncing President Bush's policy in Iraq, directed much of the money to firms and institutions in Johnstown, Pa., in his district. Defense contractors and other beneficiaries dominated a list of Murtha's top campaign contributors.
Murtha was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam scandal of the 1970s, which has prompted some to support the other man seeking the House majority leader's job -- Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland -- as the more ethical candidate.
Hoyer, also on appropriations, sent $61.7 million to his district just outside of Washington during this Congress, the watchdog group says. That put him among the top 10% of earmarkers in the House. The earmarks frequently benefited local defense contractors.
In the 2006 defense appropriations bill, for example, Hoyer secured $2.8 million for ManTech International Corp., which has a facility in his district that is developing a military project. ManTech's executives and its political action committee have donated $49,000 to Hoyer's campaign and leadership funds since 2001.
David Sirota, a former House Appropriations Committee aide who wrote the recently published book "Hostile Takeover" decrying corporate influence on the Democratic Party, said he was concerned about the records of Murtha and Hoyer.
"In my book I wrote that a top legislative staffer to Hoyer simultaneously served as a top corporate fundraiser for Hoyer, helping raise money for his leadership PAC," he said.
"There is nothing illegal about that, but it definitely makes a joke of the idea that Hoyer is the ethics candidate in this race," said Sirota, who supports Murtha for the post.
Federal Election Commission records show Murtha also employed at least one staffer to do campaign work.
