Team 4 Investigates Murtha Contributions (Part 2)WTAE-TV's Paul Van Osdol ReportsPOSTED: 2:00 p.m. EDT August 8, 2002 On Aug. 1, Team 4's Paul Van Osdol reported that Congressman John Murtha has helped dozens of companies nationwide to get billions of dollars in defense contracts, and that those companies are paying him back with big campaign contributions.
In the second half of a two-part series, Team 4 has found connections between Murtha and Johnstown-based Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC). Perhaps no company has benefited more from Murtha than CTC, and the head of a watchdog group that monitors ethics in Washington says these findings are very troubling.
Van Osdol delivered this follow-up report Aug. 2 on WTAE-TV Action News.
Van Osdol: "How many people in Pittsburgh even know you exist?" Daniel DeVos, CTC President: "Very few." The Pentagon knows about CTC. In the past decade, the non-profit company has gotten $1 billion in government contracts, including projects that aim to make tanks faster and helicopters safer. CTC's prime sponsor is Murtha -- who, as ranking Democrat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, controls $300 billion in Pentagon spending. DeVos: "We know the Department of Defense very well. So does he. He knows where requirements are, and he encourages people to come up here and look at our capabilities." Murtha: "If there's a good project, they didn't put it in, they come to us. We put the extra money in, because they know an awful lot of the work is done in the district." Jobs for Johnstown -- but the Pentagon itself questions whether all taxpayers benefit. Five years ago, Murtha announced a nearly $200 million Pentagon contract for CTC to run a program that the Pentagon did even not want. In an audit, the Pentagon inspector general said the Electronic Commerce Resource Center Program "has not been efficient or cost-effective." Murtha: "I have been on the defense subcommittee a long time. We think we know better than they know what they want and what they need." This year CTC showed its appreciation for Murtha, giving him more than $32,000 in campaign contributions. The company's lobbyist gave Murtha another $36,000. CTC is based in the John Murtha Technology Park in Johnstown -- and there is another connection between the congressman and the company. CTC's chief lobbyist is a former Murtha aide and, in the past four years, the company has paid the lobbyist more than $1 million in fees. The lobbyist, Paul Magliocchetti of PMA Group, also represents other companies Murtha has helped out. Van Osdol: "His connection to Murtha probably helps." DeVos: "It doesn't hurt. We know we're on the same page all the time." Charles Lewis, head of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington: "That is such an incestuous little game right there. It's not normal for members of Congress to have nonprofit corporations with taxpayer money that they have set up that, somehow, the benefit rebounds back to them with campaign money, or their aides getting million-dollar contracts." Again, CTC is a nonprofit -- but the company pays its people very well. The most recent financial reports show DeVos earning a salary of $345,000, which is more than the presidents of Carnegie Mellon University or the University of Pittsburgh. At least seven other top officials earn more than $200,000. DeVos says he needs to pay his people top dollar because CTC is competing for talent with technology companies. Team 4 did not find anything illegal about the ties between Murtha and CTC. The Center for Public Integrity says the situation warrants further scrutiny.
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