Murtha Sticks Foot in Mouth...Again, Pelosi Defends...Again

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070520/D8P85CK00.html

Pelosi Defends Murtha Vs. GOP Reprimand


May 20, 10:06 AM (ET)


WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is defending a close Democratic ally whom Republicans want to reprimand for threatening a GOP lawmaker's spending projects.

Pelosi, D-Calif., said she had "no idea what actually happened" during a noisy exchange in the House chamber last week between Reps. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., and Mike Rogers, R-Mich.

"What I do know is that Congressman Murtha has - enjoys - an excellent reputation in the Congress on both sides of the aisle," said Pelosi in a broadcast interview taped Friday and aired Sunday.

SNIP

During a series of House votes Thursday, Murtha walked to the GOP side to confront Rogers, a former FBI agent. This month, Rogers had tried unsuccessfully to strike from an intelligence spending bill an item that would restore $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center, a facility in Murtha's Pennsylvania district.

According to Rogers' account, which Murtha did not dispute, the Democrat angrily told Rogers he should never seek earmarks of his own because "you're not going to get any, now or forever."

 

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news...ter-five-weeks-after-deadline-2007-05-22.html

Murtha sent earmark letter five weeks after deadline
By Susan Crabtree
May 22, 2007
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) submitted an earmark certification letter for the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) May 1, more than five weeks after the Intelligence Committee’s deadline and the day before the panel marked up its authorization bill, according to copies of the letter and the notice of the deadline sent to the entire committee.

Murtha addressed the letter only to Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), not Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the panel’s ranking member. Hoekstra has said he was not given a copy—an apparent violation of House rules. All earmarks must be disclosed in writing to both the chairman and ranking member.

SNIP

Controversy over the measure flared anew last Friday when Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) accused Murtha of threatening him on the House floor for offering a procedural motion to the 2008 intelligence bill that would have prevented funding for NDIC. Even though the effort failed, Rogers said Murtha approached him Thursday and angrily said: “I hope you don’t have an earmarks in the defense bills because they are gone and you will not get any earmarks now and forever.”

Rogers argues that the threat is a violation of House rules, which preclude members from conditioning earmarks on a members’ vote. He introduced a privileged resolution Monday night reprimanding Murtha for the threat, but Democrats postponed a vote on the measure. Democrats have a 48-hour window to decide whether the resolution’s claims are valid, which in turn would allow an hour of debate and a vote. One Democratic source said that a vote could come Tuesday.

Republicans have touted this latest incident as more evidence that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is failing on her promise to run the most ethical House in history. More broadly, Republicans charge that there is a growing pattern of abuses on the part of Democrats, and they led a revolt on the House floor late last week over alleged Democratic efforts to limit the GOP’s use of a procedural motion to thwart key Democratic measures.

 

Murtha now apologizes for what democrats said never happened, but clearly did.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0507/Murtha_sends_Rogers_an_apology_note.html
May 23, 2007
Murtha sends Rogers an apology note

Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania sent a note of apology to Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan Wednesday, the day after a divided House denied Rogers a vote to officially reprimand the powerful senior Democrat.
Murtha apologized for his "outburst" in a handwritten note Rogers received Wednesday morning, the latter's office confirmed. This marks his first acknowledgement of an episode between the two lawmakers on the House floor.

Last week, the powerful Democrat allegedly threatened to deny Rogers any future spending projects in defense bills after the Michigan Republican challenged his earmark request for $23 million to prevent the administration from closing an intelligence gathering facility in his western Pennsylvania district.
Republicans have called the tirade a flagrant abuse of House rules.
Members and aides on both sides of the aisle continued to speculate that Rogers or another Republican will eventually call on the ethics committee to formally investigate last week's flap, even after Tuesday's partyline vote to prevent debate.