Did Kagen 'Laugh' All the Way to the Bank?

(Who said I wouldn't stop being a pain in the man's back-side?)

Admittedly, the Politico doesn't list who John Murtha (D-PA) laughed it up with last night...

The House denied Republicans a chance to officially reprimand Rep. John Murtha on Tuesday, days after the powerful Pennsylvania Democrat allegedly threatened to deny future defense projects to a Michigan Republican who challenged one of his earmarks.

The House voted to table a resolution offered by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), 219-189.

The vote ends a brief episode on Capitol Hill about whether Murtha’s alleged tirade violated House rules.

Rogers offered his resolution Monday, alleging that Murtha approached him on the House floor on Thursday to yell at him for trying to strip $23 million from legislation that the Pennsylvania Democrat requested to prevent the administration from shuttering an intelligence-gathering facility in his district.

During the vote, Murtha sat in a darkened corner of the House floor, laughing with colleagues who surrounded him. As the clock wound down, other Democrats congratulated the senior member of the Appropriations Committee who oversees a massive defense spending bill every year.

But reports from the Majority Accountability Project - a Conservative Watchdog Group on the new Dem Congress - show that most of the 23 freshmen who huffed and puffed about ethics earlier this month didn't just end up voting against reprimanding Murtha, they apparently are returning Murtha a $2000 contribution favor from 2006.

In fact, twenty-two of the twenty three freshmen who spent last week promoting tougher House ethics voted on Tuesday to kill the reprimand. One, North Carolina’s Heath Shuler, voted “present.” Shuler did not receive any funds from Murtha during his campaign.

In addition to the members already mentioned, the following freshmen who vowed tougher ethics rules, yet refused to rebuke Murtha, received the following contributions from the Pennsylvania Democrat. They are: Patrick Murphy, PA, $7,000; David Loebsack, IA, $4,500; Peter Welch, VT, $4,000; Yvette Clarke, NY, $4,000.

Additionally, Murtha contributed $2,000 each to Harry Mitchell, AZ; Jerry McNerney, CA; Ed Perlmutter, CO; Tim Mahoney, FL; Brad Ellsworth, IN; Baron Hill, IN; Tim Walz, MN; Paul Hodes, NH; Albio Sires, NJ; Kirsten Gillibrand, NY; Betty Sutton, OH; and Steven Kagen, WI.

Perhaps residents of the 8th CD can ask the Congressman about the ethical lapse while he's pumping their gas in this blatant political stunt this weekend.

They can also ask him if his "brother's" clinic price gouges as well, since they're pulling in a greater profit margin than those "Evil, Big Oil Companies" according from Kagen's own financial disclosure.