John Murtha, Ike Skelton, Duncan Hunter and others subpoenaed in Cunningham scandal

[cali]

House Members Resist Subpoenas in Case Linked to Cunningham Bribery Scandal
By Alan K. Ota and Toby Eckert, CQ Staff
More than a dozen House members from both parties have been served with subpoenas in the case of defense contractor Brent Wilkes, who is facing charges stemming from the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham.

The 13 lawmakers have joined forces behind the scenes to try to fight the wave of subpoenas they have received in recent days from an attorney for Wilkes.

A source familiar with discussions among the lawmakers and lawyers said they were organizing the joint effort on grounds that the subpoenas are overly broad requests for testimony and documents. Mark Geragos, Wilkes’ lawyer, has asked all of them for information related to Wilkes’ trial.

Five of the 13 lawmakers received subpoenas for both documents and testimony: Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo.; Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas; Duncan Hunter of California, ranking Republican on Armed Services; Defense Appropriations Chairman John P. Murtha, D-Pa.; and Jerry Lewis of California, ranking Republican on Appropriations.

The other lawmakers all received subpoenas that requested only testimony. They included Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.; Michigan Republicans Joe Knollenberg and Intelligence ranking member Peter Hoekstra; California Republicans Darrell Issa and John T. Doolittle; Jerry Weller, R-Ill; and Interior-Environment Appropriations Chairman Norm Dicks, D-

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http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002585644.html

I don't know what this means, but it looks like 4 out of the 13 are dems- including Murtha.

[cali]

1. I don't know how big this story is gonna be but

when you have Murtha and Skelton subpoenaed, along with Hunter, I suspect there'll be plenty of buzz.

[SoCalDem]

2. Sadly, there are always some dems who are susceptible too

This is what bothers me about the "long-tenures". People start to feel "comfy and entitled" after they have been there a long time..

Duke's indiscretions did not happen in a vacuum.. people knew about them, maybe participated in some sense..

This is an issue that dems HAVE to take seriously. If we plan to excoriate the repubes as scoundrels and thieves, we CANNOT allow it to go on in our own party.

With the media we have, all it takes is ONE dem involved, and the multitude of repubes involved will somehow morph into a "bipartisan" scandal, with the one or two dems being given MORE attention..

[cali]

3. Before I start excoriating the dems

subpoenaed in this, I'll wait and see. What is disturbing is that until now, dems haven't been implicated in this scandal, and even the subpoenas don't necessarily mean they did anything wrong, but public perception and the MSM being what they are....

[SoCalDem]

4. Watch for this to come front & center as the elections get closer

I think media sits on "scandals" and dribbles them out when they can do the most harm :grr:..

If they were implicated with Duke, this is not "new" information..

[tekisui]

7. They should all keep their nose clean, and any that

slide into corruption should be expelled. pukes and dems.

[MiniMe]

5. For the dems, I think this will hit Murtha the hardest

Especially on Faux Noise. When he spoke out for withdrawl of the troops, Fox went after him about Abscam, I'm sure that will come up again. And of course, we probably won't hear anything about Duncan Hunter.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Let's Find Out Why They Were Summoned

Just because you get a subpoena, it doesn't mean you're either under indictment or the target of an investigation. Some of these people could also have been witnesses to either the acused crime or innocence. It depends on who calls these witnesses. Murtha and Skelton were minority chairmen of the committees where Cunningham (and I suspect Lewis) did their dirty work and their testimony may be needed to show how little influence Democrats had in both the allocation and earmarking of legislation during the reign of DeLay.

For those who've followed the MZB mess, it's been a strictly Repugnican operation, including political donations and the spreading of cash around many parts of Capitol Hill. If Murtha and Skelton or other Democrats were cut in on the spoils, we will find out and they should be convicted, they should be roundly condemned by all for their profiteering. But just citing names is what the right wing spin machine would love to see happen...since one Democrat in a scandal is equivelent in the corporate media to a dozen Repugnicans. As Kos puts it IOKIYAR.

[Olney Blue]

8. Makes sense..

:thumbsup: