The Office of Congressional Ethics — an independent government board that monitors congressional ethics — will refer to the Justice Department its investigation into potential ethics violations by seven House members, the office announced Thursday.
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) (Library of Congress)
In 2009, the office opened a probe into allegations that several members of the House Appropriations Committee accepted campaign contributions from PMA, a now defunct lobbying group, in exchange for defense-related earmarks. The members at the center of the probe include Reps. Norman Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), James Moran (D-Va.), Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas), Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.). The investigation also looked into allegations against the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee who died earlier this year.
In November 2008, the FBI raided the offices of the PMA Group. Records on Murtha released by the FBI earlier this week indicate the bureau’s investigation into PMA is still ongoing, the Hill reported.
“The board of the Office of Congressional Ethics has voted unanimously to refer to the United States Department of Justice certain evidence collected in the course of its investigation concerning appropriations earmarks and the now defunct PMA lobbying group,” the office said in a brief statement. “The evidence pertains to factual findings by the OCE board that certain persons and companies saw their campaign contributions as affecting decisions about earmarks.”
In February, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct released a report clearing all seven members of any wrongdoing.
