Some of it could be filed in the "Well, d'uh!" folder and some should be most distressing to his constituents who believe in the rule of law.
First the "Well, duh!" stuff:
Now, Sheehan has learned a Murphy staffer who appeared in his story showed up for work Friday morning but was told to leave.Well, duh!
Jayne O'Shaughnessy doesn't call herself a whistle blower but she says she felt compelled to speak about goings on inside the Murphy office.
And she believes that may have cost her the job.
Now the "rule of law" stuff:
Evidence obtained by KDKA reportedly shows members of his staff are working his reelection campaign which is a direct violation of congressional ethics rules.What evidence, you might ask?
KDKA also spoke with a former staffer Emily Campbell who says she spent three days in the district office affixing "Murphy for Congress" stickers to the back of Christmas cards.Seems like a little thing - but look at the details. A non-campaign staffer was doing campaign work for three days. No matter what the work is (affixing a sticker to the back of a Christmas card seems innocous), it still's wrong for that to happen. Taxpayers are paying for the non-campaign staff. Contributors should foot the bill for campaign work.
She then sent them to 3,000 recipients -- most of whom were Murphy contributors.
"The ethics rules are pretty clear that some of these things should not be occurring and are considered political activities and anytime you get an elected official misusing funds it's a serious problem and should be examined," said Campbell.
Oh and one more for the "well, duh!" file:
Jayne O'Shaughnessy's future is uncertain but she believes her days working for the congressman are probably over.Ya think?
Tim The Dim.
ReplyDeleteMurphy is an egomaniacal loser. It was just amazingly stupid of him to grab that stuff from Sheehan! I mean, how close did he come to saying, "I'm taking my football and going home?" Ah, but that GOP arrogance runs long and deep.
Tim's problem is that he hasn't had to answer to anyone for a long time. He's a back-bencher who runs his office like a petty martinet, but who is rarely noticed on The Hill, 'cause well, he's a dope. NO ONE wants him in their reindeer games!
Depending on how this plays out, it will surely hurt him in the future. I'd still love to see Stan Savran run for this seat in '08, but time will tell whether he will or not. He certainly isn't shying away from politics, as a spirited campaign appearance for Jason Altmire showed last week.
Finally, I give you this. the Official New Murphy Campaign Slogan;
"He's not a child pyschologist, he's a pyschologist who acts like a child!"