Democrats marked by ethical questions

At least one Beretta executive has contributed to Hoyer's campaign fund.

Murtha is no stranger to ethics controversies.

Some of his largest campaign contributions came from the clients of Washington lobbying firms that represent beneficiaries of his earmarks.

Among them is a firm, Ervin Technical Associates, chaired by a former House colleague, Joseph M. McDade, who was accused in 1992 of providing earmarks in exchange for campaign contributions and gifts. He was charged with bribery and racketeering for accepting gifts and other benefits from defense interests, but was acquitted.

McDade and other principals of the firm could not be reached for comment, but an independent contractor working with the firm said the firm had the highest integrity, and defended the need for earmarks generally.

Another firm associated with Murtha, the PMA Group, is led by Paul Magliocchetti, who worked with Murtha as a senior staffer on the defense appropriations subcommittee for a decade. The PMA Group and 11 of the firm's clients rank in the top 20 contributors to Murtha, with campaign contributions totaling $274,649 in this election cycle, according to calculations by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning watchdog group.

The 2004 defense appropriations bill provided earmarks for 10 companies represented by a lobbying firm in which his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha, was a senior partner. The Los Angeles Times first reported in 2005 on Robert Murtha's lobbying activities for the firm, KSA Consulting.

At the time, Robert Murtha and others at KSA said he did not lobby his brother and thus saw no problem in his lobbying others.

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A new controversy

On Tuesday, a new controversy flared up. The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call quoted Murtha as telling a group of Democrats that Pelosi's ethics reforms were "total crap."

Murtha said his remarks were misinterpreted, perhaps deliberately. He told MSNBC on Wednesday that he had been referring to illegal activities such as Abramoff's, not to the reforms.

"What Nancy is trying to do is important," he told host Chris Matthews.

"What I said was, it's total crap, the idea we have to deal with an issue like this ... when we've got a war going on," Murtha said.

Murtha first gained national attention decades ago as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam investigation into congressional corruption. In a videotaped interview with the FBI agent posing as a sheik, Murtha was offered $50,000 to help the sheik.

"I'm not interested. I'm sorry," Murtha told the FBI agent, but added: "At this point. You know, we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't."

Murtha did not respond to requests for comment, but he told MSNBC that he knew the fake sheik was trying to corrupt him, but that he led him on in hopes of luring investment to his hard-pressed district. "I deal with people like this all the time," he told Matthews.

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chuck.neubauer@latimes.com

tom.hamburger@latimes.com