Murtha won't let military directly lobby for their needs

It has long been known that Jack Murtha has been living high off the hog with regard to earmarks that have been given to his military contracting buddies. As a matter of fact, he's making such good money from his beneficiaries that he wants to streamline the earmark process: He plans to bypass advice by members of the military altogether:

The House’s top defense appropriator has pledged to help strengthen the role of the Pentagon’s comptroller in an effort to curb lobbying by the military services for their controversial programs.

Why should he listen to the military, as the military itself doesn't provide Jack with campaign contributions.

As I've stated before, Jack Murtha does nothing without there being something in it for Jack Murtha. To Jack Murtha, the military is merely a tool he uses to keep his fat backside in power, or to advance his political career, a/la his slanderous declaration of guilt toward the Haditha Marines.

I don't know; perhaps I'm a bit too cynical. I'm absolutely positive that there is no lobbying going on when Concurrent Technologies receives a taxpayer-funded porkbarrel contract to the tune of $200 million dollars... or is there?

Yet, the Murtha situation is very troubling when you look at CTC’s Form 990. With the exception of three individuals listed on the schedule of officers and directors, all have contributed to Murtha’s congressional campaigns since 2002.

[SNIP]

The Times also notes that CTC has paid somewhere around $500,000 to a lobbying firm. The lobbying firm's executives and clients have contributed over $1.2 million to Murtha in campaign contributions (the Times refers to these as donations) since 1999, according to the Times.

So we have a congressman who was a driving force behind the creation of this tax-exempt entity. That same congressman is earmarking significant amounts of money to that organization. Those who are in control of the organization (several of whom receive significant salaries from CTC) contribute large amounts of money to the congressman’s campaign. We can only wonder how the entity distributes the federal grant money within the local community.

I mean, with sweetheart deals like that, why should Murtha even bother to take the time listen to those pesky military folks who actually know what they need?

I mean, there's gold in them there earmarks, right, Jihad Jack?

(Cross-posted at Murtha Must Go!!)