John Patrick "Jack" Murtha, Jr. (June 17, 1932 – February 8, 2010) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Murtha, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1974 until his death in 2010. The district presently stretches southwest from Johnstown (the largest city in the district and Murtha's hometown).
A former Marine Corps officer, Murtha was the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. A member of the Pennsylvania House from 1969 to 1974, in 1974 he narrowly won the special election held to choose the successor to the incumbent, who died in office. In the first decade of the
21st century, Murtha has been best known for his calls for a withdrawal of American forces in Iraq.
In 2006, after the Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections he made a failed bid to be elected House Majority Leader for the 110th Congress (2007–2009) with the open support of the new House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. He lost to Steny Hoyer of Maryland. After this defeat, Murtha became chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. He had previously chaired this subcommittee from 1989 to 1995 and served as its ranking Democrat from 1995 to 2007.
Murtha was born into an Irish-American family in New Martinsville, West Virginia; near the border with Ohio and Pennsylvania, and grew up in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; a largely suburban county east of Pittsburgh.
As a youth, he became an Eagle Scout. He also worked delivering newspapers and at a gas station before graduating from The Kiski School, an all-male boarding school in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania.
Murtha left Washington and Jefferson College in 1952 to join the Marine Corps and was awarded the American Spirit Honor Medal for displaying outstanding leadership qualities during training. Murtha became a drill instructor at Parris Island and was selected for Officer Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia. Murtha was then assigned to the Second Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Murtha remained in the Marine Forces Reserve, and ran a small business, Johnstown Minute Car Wash (which still operates in the West End section of Johnstown.) He also attended the University of Pittsburgh on the G.I. Bill, and received a degree in economics. Murtha later took graduate courses from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Murtha married his wife Joyce on June 10, 1955. They have three children and live in Johnstown.
Murtha left the Marines in 1955. He remained in the Reserves after his discharge from active duty until he volunteered for service in the Vietnam War, serving from 1966 to 1967, serving as a battalion staff officer (S-2 Intelligence Section), receiving the Bronze Star with Valor device, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a Colonel in 1990, receiving the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.
Murtha was admitted to the hospital after suffering from abdominal pains in December 2009. Murtha had surgery to remove his gallbladder in late January 2010; a week later, he was admitted to the intensive care unit due to complications from the surgery. He died on February 8, 2010.
He was elected to represent the 72nd legislative district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on May 20, 1969.
Murtha faced tough primary challenges in 1982, 1990 and again in 2002. The 1982 challenge occurred when the Republican-controlled state legislature took advantage of Murtha's connection to Abscam, and incorporated most of the district of fellow Democrat and Vietnam War veteran Don Bailey of Westmoreland County into the 12th District.
The 2002 challenge occurred when the state legislature redrew the district of fellow Democrat Frank Mascara to make it more Republican-friendly, but shifted a large chunk of Mascara's former territory into Murtha's district. Mascara opted to run against Murtha in the Democratic primary, since the new 12th contained more of Mascara's old territory than Murtha's. However, Mascara was badly defeated.
In 2006, Murtha's Republican challenger was Diana Irey, a county commissioner from Washington County, the heart of Mascara's former district. Irey attacked Murtha for his criticism of the Iraq war. Even though Irey was Murtha's strongest Republican opponent in decades, she polled well behind Murtha throughout the campaign. An October 12, 2006 poll by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review showed Murtha with a commanding lead over Irey, 57%–30%. In the November election, Murtha won 61%–39%.
On June 9, 2006, Murtha informed Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that he would run for Majority Leader if the Democrats gained control of the House in the 2006 midterm elections. Despite Murtha receiving Pelosi's support, current Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer was elected to the post.
On March 18, 2008, Murtha endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton, former First Lady and former Senator from New York, in her bid for the presidency.
In 1980, during his fourth term as a Congressman, Murtha became embroiled in the Abscam investigation, which targeted dozens of congressmen. The investigation entailed FBI operatives posing as intermediaries for Saudi nationals hoping to bribe their way through the immigration process into the United States. Murtha met with these operatives and was videotaped. He did agree to testify against Frank Thompson (D-NJ) and John Murphy (D-NY), the two Congressmen mentioned as participants in the deal at the same meeting and who were later video taped placing the cash bribes in their trousers. The FBI videotaped Murtha responding to an offer of $50,000, with Murtha saying, "I'm not interested... at this point. [If] we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't", right after Murtha had offered to provide names of businesses and banks in his district where money could be invested legally. The U.S. Attorneys Office reasoned that Murtha's intent was to obtain investment in his district. Full length viewing of the tape shows Murtha citing prospective investment opportunities that could return "500 or 1000" miners to work.
Murtha was targeted by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress.
In September 2006 the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) listed Murtha under Five Members to Watch in its Second Annual Most Corrupt Members of Congress Report. The report cited Murtha's steering of defense appropriations to clients of KSA Consulting, which employed his brother Robert, and the PMA Group, founded by Paul Magliocchetti, a former senior staffer on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense.
In 2008, Esquire Magazine named him one of the 10 worst members of Congress because of his opposition to ethics reform and the $100 million a year he brings in earmarks to his district. The Wall Street Journal has called him "one of Congress's most unapologetic earmarkers." According to the Pennsylvania Report, Murtha was one of "Pennsylvania’s most powerful congressman" and a "master of crossing the aisle and bringing pork into his district."
In February 2009, CQ Politics reported that Murtha was one of 104 U.S. representatives to earmark funds in the 2008 Defense appropriations spending bill for a lobbying group that had contributed to his past election campaigns. The spending bill, which was managed by Murtha in his capacity as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, secured $38.1 million for clients of the PMA Group in the single fiscal law. The PMA Group is currently under investigation by the FBI.
In March 2009, the Washington Post reported that a Pennsylvania defense research center regularly consulted with two "handlers" close to Murtha while it received nearly $250 million in federal funding via Murtha's earmarks. The center then channeled a significant portion of the funding to companies that were among Murtha's campaign supporters.
Murtha voted for the October 10, 2002 resolution that authorized the use of force against Iraq. However, he later began expressing doubts about the war. On March 17, 2004, when Republicans offered a “War in Iraq Anniversary Resolution” that “affirms that the United States and the world have been made safer with the removal of Saddam Hussein and his regime from power in Iraq”, when JD Hayworth called for a recorded vote, Murtha then voted against it.
Still, in early 2005 Murtha argued against the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. “A premature withdrawal of our troops based on a political timetable could rapidly devolve into a civil war which would leave America’s foreign policy in disarray as countries question not only America’s judgment but also its perseverance”, he stated.
On November 17, 2005, Murtha submitted the H.J. Res. 73 in the House of Representatives, calling for the redeployment of U.S. troops in Iraq, saying, "The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It is time to bring them home.”
The bill cited that lack of progress of towards stabilizing Iraq, the possibility that a draft would be required to sustain sufficient troop numbers, Iraqi disapproval of US forces and approval of attacks on the soldiers, and the increasing costs of the war. The bill proposed that deployment to Iraq be suspended and that US Marines establish a "over-the-horizon" presence in nearby countries.
Murtha's comments forced a heated debate on the floor of the House on November 18. Republicans led by Duncan Hunter of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, responded by proposing their own resolution (H. Res. 571), which many Republicans said was intended to demonstrate that those calling for immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq were “out of the mainstream”.
During debate on adopting the rule for the resolution, Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) made a statement attributed to Danny Bubp, an Ohio state Representative and Marine Corps Reservist, “He also asked me to give Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.”
Seeing Schmidt's remarks as an unwarranted "cheap shot" against Murtha, outraged Democrats brought House business to a halt for ten minutes until Schmidt herself asked and received permission to withdraw her comments. Bubp has since stated that he never mentioned Murtha when making the quoted comment. He added that he would never question the courage of a fellow Marine. Bubp later said, “I don't want to be interjected into this. I wish (Congresswoman Schmidt) never used my name.”
The Haditha incident occurred on November 19, 2005, and since then there have been differing accounts of exactly what took place.
In November 2005 Murtha announced that a military investigation into the Haditha killings concluded U.S. Marines had intentionally killed innocent civilians. Referring to the first report about Haditha that appeared in Time magazine, Murtha said:
"It's much worse than reported in Time magazine. There was no fire fight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood. And that's what the report is going to tell."
The Marine Corps responded to Murtha's announcement by stating that "there is an ongoing investigation; therefore, any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process." Murtha was criticized by conservatives for presenting a version of events as simple fact before an official investigation had been concluded.
In August 2006, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich filed a lawsuit against Murtha for character defamation during an ongoing investigation into the Haditha incident. In April 2009 this suit was dismissed by a federal appeals court, which ruled that Murtha could not be sued because he was acting in his official role as a lawmaker when he made the statements.
On December 21, 2006, the US military charged Wuterich with 12 counts of unpremeditated murder against individuals and one count of the murder of six people "while engaged in an act inherently dangerous to others". Charges were subsequently dropped against seven of the eight Marines involved: Capt. Lucas McConnell, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum, Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt, Capt. Randy Stone and 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson. Only Sergeant Frank Wuterich is still facing trial on 9 counts of involuntary manslaughter.
In a June 24, 2006, speech at Florida International University, Murtha said that the military presence in Iraq was hurting U.S. credibility, citing a poll by the Pew Research Center indicating that people in several countries consider the U.S. in Iraq to be a greater threat to world peace than either Iran or North Korea. When the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported the speech on June 25, it asserted without further evidence that it was Murtha's own view that the U.S. was a greater threat to world peace: “American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.”
The Sun-Sentinel story was picked up by the wire services and the Drudge Report website, leading several conservative pundits, including Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson, and Newt Gingrich to comment. After the Sun-Sentinel issued a correction, O'Reilly publicly apologized.
Commenting on the prospects for the election of Barack Obama during the 2008 Presidential campaign, Murtha became the subject of controversy after deriding many of his own constituents as 'racists' who would not vote for Obama because he is black. In response to the outrage at his comments he apologized, but then reiterated the point by stating "[T]here's still folks that have a problem voting for someone because they are black. This whole area, years ago, was really redneck."
Murtha was a Democrat with a relatively populist economic outlook, and was generally much more socially conservative than most other House Democrats. He was pro-life, and voted against abortion, consistently receiving a 0% rating from NARAL and 70% rating from National Right to Life Committee[1]; however, he supported federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. He generally opposed gun control, earning an A from the National Rifle Association. Murtha was also one of the few Democrats in Congress to vote against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 and also one of the few Democrats to vote in favor of medical malpractice tort reform.
He was strongly pro-labor, and opposed both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). He opposed President George W. Bush's tax plan and Social Security privatization, and also opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment. In 2004, he was one of only two congressmen to vote for a measure proposing reinstating the draft. He was also considered more "hawkish" than most other Democrats holding office at the time of his.
In 2001, Murtha and Duke Cunningham (R-CA) co-sponsored the Flag Desecration Amendment, which passed the House of Representatives, but not the Senate.
In late 2005, he led the effort of House Democrats to offer a motion to endorse language in a military spending bill, written by Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and a fellow Vietnam veteran, that would forbid abusive treatment of terror suspects.
Murtha voted for the Affordable Healthcare for America Act (HR 3692), which passed in the House 220-215 on November 7, 2009. He said of the bill, "For nearly a century, both Democrats and Republicans have failed to enact comprehensive health care reform. Today's historic vote moves us closer to solving America's health care crisis." However, Murtha did not support allowing abortions as part of health care reform. He voted for the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the health care bill that prohibits elective abortions for people covered by the public healthcare plan and to prohibit people receiving federal assistance from purchasing a private healthcare plan that includes abortions, except when the woman’s life is in danger. He also voted for a bill to prohibit pregnant minors from crossing state borders to obtain abortions.
Murtha's critics accused him in August of not taking action on the recent healthcare reform. Tim Burns, Murtha’s challenger for his seat in the House, invited him to attend a town hall meeting focused on healthcare, but Murtha refused. At the time, Murtha had not yet hosted a town hall meeting, even though he had held several conference call sessions with his constituents focused on healthcare. Burns’ spokesman said, “There’s been four weeks of recess and [Murtha’s] had no face-to-face meetings with his constituents to discuss healthcare at a critical juncture for our country.”
Murtha, a pro-life Democrat, did not received favorable ratings from abortion and reproductive health interest groups. Planned Parenthood, whose stated purpose is “to provide comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care,” gave him a rating of 50% in 2009. He received a rating of 28% from the National Right to Life Committee, which advocates voluntary access to family planning and reproductive health services. He received a rating of 50% from the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which advocates “access to voluntary, comprehensive and culturally sensitive family planning and reproductive health care services and ... reproductive freedom for all.”
Murtha was hospitalized for an infection caused by an accidental cut to the bile duct during gall bladder surgery. He died a week later on the afternoon of February 8, 2010, in the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia with his family by his side.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who was also a close friend of Murtha, said in a statement on the day of his death that "with the passing of John Murtha, America has lost a great patriot". House Republican Leader John Boehner said that "our nation has lost a decorated veteran."
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