Not all corruption is illegal - and, according to the Times yesterday, prospective Majority Whip candidate John Murtha has himself a racket of the legal kind in the heart of the Capitol:
For more than a decade, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania has operated a political trading post in a back corner of the House of Representatives.
A gang of about two dozen Democrats mill around his seat. A procession of others walk back to request pet spending projects, known as earmarks. And Republicans come by, asking him to enlist some of those Democrats to join them on close votes. "Whether they get what they want in the bill or they get the votes they are looking for, nobody ever leaves completely disappointed," said Representative Paul E. Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat often found in what is known as the Murtha corner.
Now, naturally with a piece like this, you're suspicious of hidden malign influences at play.
No doubt with such a consideration in mind, the journo gets an interview with the man himself:
Mr. Murtha, who announced a bid this spring to become the next House Democratic leader, acknowledges that some Democrats grouse about his history of leading others across the aisle. (Several Democrats said as much, but none would speak publicly.) He confirmed working with Republicans on the Iraq war spending vote that blocked the Democratic corruption investigation, but said he did not remember the others. He said he always acted on principle, working with Republicans either because he agreed with them or to uphold private agreements about spending bills.
And he gets a senior Dem grousing on the record:
Some members of Congress complain that earmarks corrupt lawmaking in other ways. "They are used as internal bribery in order to get members to vote for a piece of legislation they wouldn't ordinarily give two minutes to," said Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.
Of course, one has to admire an enterprising spirit in one's legislators.
But the whole process of earmarks (whether so called or not) is deeply corrupt - and the fact that Murtha has his own production line doesn't exactly fight the widespread public belief that they're all the same.