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Rep. John Murtha, the first Vietnam War combat veteran to serve in Congress and a powerful advocate for both the military and for the interests of his Pennsylvania district, died Monday at the age of 77.
His office didn't give a cause of death. Mr. Murtha, a Democrat, had recently undergone gall
bladder surgery.
Mr. Murtha chaired the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and was a confidant of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), and an important backer of her rise to the party's leadership. Mr. Murtha's 2005 speech against the Iraq war marked a turning point in the congressional attitude toward the effort.
Mr. Murtha often stirred controversy with his unapologetic championing of the congressional earmark process, which he used to direct federal money to his district. He also faced ethical scrutiny. In 1980, the Federal Bureau of Investigation videotaped him during its Abscam investigation turning down a bribe, but appearing to leave the door open to future payments.
More recently, Mr. Murtha came under an ethical cloud again, when federal investigators focused on PMA Group, a lobbying firm with ties to the congressman. He was not accused of wrongdoing.
Mr. Murtha's death comes as Democrats are fighting to avoid deep losses in the 2010 mid-term elections. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said he had not yet decided whether to set the special election to succeed Mr. Murtha for May 18, the same date as Pennsylvania's primary, or earlier. The southwest Pennsylvania district has centrist politics, having voted for Democrat John Kerry in 2004 and Republican John McCain in 2008, though Mr. Murtha generally won with comfortable margins.
A colorful and outspoken presence in the House for 36 years, Murtha was never one to shy away from a fight, whether with his fiscally conservative critics or military leaders who disagreed with him on where to direct defense dollars. He once threatened to have the genitals "cut off" any Pentagon leaders who withheld information from his committee on the Iraq war.
Republicans joined Democrats Monday in paying tribute to Mr. Murtha's long service, military record and support for the Pentagon. "I have never seen a more valiant defender of the men and women of our armed forces, nor a more steadfast advocate for our country's unequaled national defense," said Rep. Jerry Lewis (R., Calif.), the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.
"Jack Murtha was a giant," Ms. Pelosi said. "All who served with him were honored to call him colleague. I was privileged to call him friend."
Mr. Murtha's most likely successor as chairman of the powerful Appropriations panel is Rep. Norm Dicks (D., Wash.), whose district includes Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and who is a big booster of Boeing Co.
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI'S FIRST CHOICE FOR MAJORITY LEADER, PENNSYLVANIA REP. JOHN C. MURTHA, DIED TODAY OF COMPLICATIONS RELATING TO A GALLBLADDER SURGERY. MURTHA WAS 77.
A decorated Vietnam War hero, Pelosi credited Murtha with helping to turn public opinion against the war in Iraq after he announced his opposition to the war in 2005. Murtha had voted to send troops to Iraq in 2002 but over the years changed his mind after no weapons of mass destruction were found and questions emerged about the intelligence leading up to the war. “The American public is way ahead of us,” Murtha wrote in November 2005 as he was sponsoring a resolution asking President Bush to set a timeline of withdrawal of troops from Iraq. “The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction.”
Murtha “understood the misery of war,” said Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey in a statement on Murtha's passing. “Every person who serves in the military has lost an advocate and a good friend today.”
Murtha was born in 1932 in New Martinsville, West Virginia, near the Pennsylvania border to an Irish American family. The Eagle Scout left William and Jefferson College to enlist in the Marines, becoming a drill sergeant at the Marine's training facility on Parris Island before he was selected as an officer. He left the Marines in 1995, enlisting in the reserves, only to raise his hand for the Vietnam War in 1966-67, winning a Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry.
In 1969 he became the first Vietnam veteran elected to Congress. Over the years he weathered several tough reelection challenges exacerbated by scandal, in particular, the 1980 FBI Abscam investigation during which he told a person he believe to be a Saudi national looking to bribe his way through the U.S. immigration process with $50,000, “I'm not interested... at this point. [If] we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't."
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