Back from vacation now, and what’s this we have here: a former contractor for the terrible congressman John Murtha has been charged with fraud in government contracting…

I knew the bastard was involved.

The pig was just too close to his pen.

Richard S. Ianieri of Doylestown, a contributor to Rep. Patrick Murphy’s campaign, was accused of soliciting and accepting $200,000 in kickbacks.

A felony corruption charge was filed Monday against the former CEO of a Doylestown defense contractor who donated to Congressman Patrick Murphy’s campaign and whose company received a $2.4 million earmark from the Democrat.

Murphy plans to donate to local charities $21,400 in campaign cash from Richard S. Ianieri and others – just as he did nearly $28,000 from The PMA Group, a defunct lobbying group under investigation for arranging illegal political contributions.

Ianieri of Doylestown was head of Coherent Systems International in January 2006 when he solicited and accepted $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor identified in charging documents only as “K.”

He was charged via a bill of information, which usually means a defendant is cooperating with prosecutors. District Court Judge Terrence F. McVerry had yet to set a date for the plea hearing Tuesday.

Checks for $102,832 and $97,013 “were provided for the purpose of improperly obtaining and rewarding favorable treatment in connection with K’s subcontract relating to a government prime contract,” according to court papers filed in Pittsburgh.

A 2006 press release from Congressman John Murtha’s office says Coherent worked “virtually as one” with a company in his district called Kuchera Defense Systems. The company, whose principals have given generously to Murphy as well as Murtha, was raided by the FBI in January.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan in Pittsburgh has confirmed the raids related to an investigation by her office, but would not say whether Murtha was part of the inquiry. Kuchera has since been blocked from doing business with the Navy, although it is appealing the decision.

Murphy declined through spokeswoman Kate Hansen to be interviewed for this story, but said in a statement via e-mail that he would donate to various charities campaign contributions from Ianieri, his wife, a Coherent employee and the employee’s wife as well as Kuchera’s principals.

Murphy said he will follow up with the Army to find out if Argon ST, which acquired Coherent in 2007, will continue to use its $2.4 million earmark to develop maritime domain awareness sensors and software.

“Due to the Army’s longtime support of the Joint Unified Maritime Protection System (JUMPS) project in Doylestown, I have sent a letter to the Army requesting the status of their continued involvement in this project, and to ensure that ArgonST is fulfilling their obligations under their contract with the Army,” Murphy said in his statement.

The company planned to deploy sensors in the Delaware River to monitor patterns and frequencies that can detect potential threats, Murphy’s office has said. About two-thirds of the money was intended to pay for six jobs and the rest would pay for services and equipment.

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“I secured money for the business in Doylestown, for a project that absolutely will increase our national security,” Murphy said in April. “Folks in the defense industry know that I’m a former soldier who fights for our brothers and sisters who wear the uniform.”

Murphy has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has repeatedly denied any improper connection between campaign donations and earmarks.

Coherent opened an office on South Main Street in the borough in January 2007, according to the occupancy permit – the same month Murphy took office.

Murphy has said the relocation had nothing to do with his election. Nonetheless, the company has kept a low profile. It is not a member of the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce and Bucks County commissioners have said they don’t recall ever encountering the company.

“Coherent and Windber’s Kuchera Defense Systems have garnered more than $30 million in 14 prime contracts for high-tech tools for war fighters,” according to the 2006 statement from Murtha’s office. “Coherent designs, develops and tests the products, and Kuchera manufactures all or parts of them.”

On March 6, 2008, four members of the Kuchera clan each gave Murphy the maximum donations allowed by campaign finance rules, for a total of $9,200.

In an April interview, Murphy said he didn’t know why people who don’t live in his district would donate to his campaign, except to cite a “common value system within our party.”

Ianieri has also been a reliable donor, giving Murphy’s campaign coffers $5,300.

Ianieri maxed out on donations to Murphy the same day as the Kucheras and gave another $3,000 in the two prior years. Calls The Associated Press placed to Ianieri’s Doylestown home were not returned.

The Web site Politico reports Ianieri gave more than $50,000 to Democrats, including $13,500 to Murtha’s campaign committees. Ianieri has also given to the campaigns of Pennsylvania Democrats Reps. Mike Doyle and Joe Sestak and Sen. Bob Casey, campaign finance records show.

Argon CEO Terry Collins said in a statement that the company cannot comment on the criminal allegations because the actions happened before Argon purchased most of Coherent’s assets. Though Ianieri continued working for Argon after the acquisition, he left that company in October, Collins said.

Dennis McGlynn, the Johnstown attorney who represents the Kucheras, told The Associated Press he didn’t know anything about the charge filed against Ianieri. A spokesman at Murtha’s office in Washington, D.C., also declined to comment on the charge.

Murphy up to his keister with Murtha’s corruption

A Venezuelan company (Bizta) incorporated with help from Chavez’ VP and ambassador to the US, given seed money by Chavez’ government in return for 28% of the profits, given a bribe-bought contract to turn a Chavez loss by a landslide according to exit polls into a 20% win after the computer codes “counted the votes”, containing Chavez’ electoral advisor on its board….. currently holds the code for the program responsible for counting votes and reporting the results in a third of our states – including many of the most populous.

The State of California commissioned a university program to try to manipulate results in a month-long test of the system’s security. They came up with multiple ways to do so, even without the code. Those who have the code have the passwords, etc and can do whatever they want.

The State of NJ asked Princeton (?) researchers to test the system and were told by Smartmatic (the company which bought Bizta, owned by the same people as Bizta) that if anyone accessed the code and/or reported on its vulnerabilities it would be a violation of the contract and they would be sued, because Smartmatic retained the intellectual property rights of the code.

Smartmatic is doing the same thing with its code that Obama is doing with his birth certificate: to have the job they’re supposed to have to prove their qualifications. But they hide behind laws giving them the only right to authorize inspection of the information needed to qualify themselves.

They’re playing “chicken”. Unless and until we tell them that if they’re going to hide their eligibility/qualifications then they can’t have the job, we’re screwed.

We can talk about poll numbers and how the voters will throw out the bad guys, etc…. but the reality right now is, we can’t. Period. Hugo Chavez and his buddies decide who wins the presidency and a large part of Congress, including California, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

Obama had to side with the Iranian regime because if people get the idea that we know better than the official tallies what the sentiment of the nation is, then we might question results like that of Murtha – where he was way down in polls immediately before but still won by 13%.

And he had to side with Chavez over Honduras because Chavez decides who is president in 2012.

He also had to side against the legitimate Honduran government because if people get the idea that a Constitution can be enforced even if the minute details of who is supposed to do it and how aren’t spelled out in the Constitution, then we might have the guts to do it here too.

This stuff is all connected. It’s a python looped around our neck and if we don’t realize it right now and do something about it right now, all our talk of using the electoral process is just a waste of time. The free martket, the rule of law, Constitutional checks and balances and separation of powers, the electoral process… it’s all history now. The processes that make us America are no longer in place.

Apparently their conviction only goes so far as they see falling wages, rising prices and unemployment, and promise after promise broken.
PatriotPete on July 8, 2009

You have to remember just how many brainwashed leftists that are kept uninformed there are in this country…and the numbers are growing with every graduating class.

Take California for example. The state is in ruins; but do you think they will ever vote in people who are not of the chosen class? The same applies to the northeast. You can write off those sections of our nation as a lost cause.

Hell, the productive people are leaving those areas to spread their brand of income confiscating/coruption ridden/fascist PC imposing/statist policies to our beloved south and southwest.

There is a special level in hell for these people.

I do take heart, at least here in the Northeast, I am seeing people surreptitiously removing all their Obama and yes we can bumper stickers. Apparently their conviction only goes so far as they see falling wages, rising prices and unemployment, and promise after promise broken.

PatriotPete on July 8, 2009 at 10:02 AM

Hell for people like Murtha, or Frank, or Dodd is not being in power.

It’s interesting, in this area I’m beginning to see more Kerry/Edwards stickers than Obama stickers. The Obama stickers are invariably on cars driven by blacks or those in there very early 20s. That is to say there aren’t any white middle-aged guys out there proud of voting Obama into office.

I do take heart, at least here in the Northeast, I am seeing people surreptitiously removing all their Obama and yes we can bumper stickers. Apparently their conviction only goes so far as they see falling wages, rising prices and unemployment, and promise after promise broken.

In other words, keep the popcorn handy.

If you don’t think that this will all go quietly away, you are kidding yourself. Check the party ID. It’s a “Get Out of Jail Free” card each and every day in DC.

Unreal that he won this last election.. PEOPLE ARE SO STUPID..
reshas1 on July 7

…and that was after he called people in his district rednecks who probably wouldn’t vote for a black president.

I actually think that was a calculated move. Liberals LOVE it when whitey is demonized as racists….especially white liberals. It’s more of that unfounded guilt complex they have. Just like when Murtha accused Marines in Iraq of being cold blooded killers. Nothing brings a liberal more glee than seeing the military, America, and anglos being spit upon. The gulit is probably tied to their support for infanticide somehow.

Liberal logic 101:
If you hadn’t opposed me, I wouldn’t have had to attack you.
Therefore everything that happened to you is your fault.

MarkTheGreat on July 8, 2009 at 8:50 AM

You forgot the final line… And you owe me an apology for forcing me to attack you.

As Andrew Sullivan said about Palin today: “I sure hope her family recovers from what she has done to them.” Given all the mud he has flung, Sully deserves to burn in hell for that comment.

Mr. Joe on July 7, 2009 at 6:29 PM

Liberal logic 101:
If you hadn’t opposed me, I wouldn’t have had to attack you.
Therefore everything that happened to you is your fault.

Goodeye_Closed on July 7, 2009

Don’t forget Charles Whitman.
This is not an indictment of the Marines. Their percentage of psychos is probably less than other branches of service because of their ability to weed out most of the unfit. It’s just that they turn out excellent marksmen and a tiny percentage of those are or become psychos. Murtha’s not a psycho, just scum.

reshas1 on July 7, 2009

Just fills you with confidence for 2010, doesn’t it?
His constituents has a chance to elect a good and honest man and they voted for a pork sandwich instead. Yeah,…lots and lots of confidence.

It is impossible to find dirt on Democrats. Not because it isn’t there but because Obama is President.

This will get swept under the rug with everything else.

petunia on July 8, 2009 at 1:07 AM

Correct conclusion but wrong source. This is going to get swept under the rug because Pelosi is running the House. Just like the fact that nobody is investigating John Conyers after his wife pled guilty to corruption. Just as William Jefferson was never investigated for having thousands of marked FBI money in his freezer. It all comes down to the fact that Democrats run Congress and the skank from California isn’t going to cause them any discomfort.

A for effort?

blatantblue on July 7, 2009 at 6:42 PM

“E” is for “effort”
’cause “effort starts with “E”!