Jack Murtha's Nephew Smells Like Bacon

In the wake of the swine flu pandemic, we have another pork-related story for you.

When a new Democratic administration came into power with ample support in Congress, most hallmarks of the previous Dick Cheney-led government were cast aside. Torture, Guantanamo Bay prison, espousing personal religious beliefs in international doctrines... all gone.

But one major Cheney nugget has remained. The grand tradition of the no-bid contract.

But since the Democrats are running the show now, the no-bid contracts aren't necessarily steered toward the usual suspects like Halliburton and their offshoot, KBR.

Instead they're going to relatives of Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA)...

[L]ast year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services... Murtech's most striking feature is its owner -- Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He is the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department's spending as chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

And remember, much of that $4 million came specifically from no-bid contracts...

Robert Murtha Jr. says the no-bid arrangement was "the government's choice" and occurred because the government "got itself in a bind."

Although the younger Murtha is persistently reticent when asked exactly what it is his company does in exchange for that $4 million, we're sure it's a bargain. After all, in federal government terms, $4 million is like one of those store coupons whose actual cash value is 1/20 of a cent.

And it could be worse. The government could have given young Robert Murtha $150 million worth of pork to build and maintain a completely worthless airport in rural Pennsylvania-- an airport that got first dibs on the stimulus package passed earlier this year.

But young Robert never pitched the idea, so his Uncle Jack just had to give the taxpayers' money to someone else.

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