Entries for November 15, 2006

Why is Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi backing the ethically challenged John Murtha for House majority leader? For background on Murtha's ethics record, see these tough columns by the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus, the Wall Street Journal's John Fund, and Ralph Kinney Bennett in Tech Central Station Daily. For background on Pelosi's longstanding alliance with Murtha, see my blog post from November 2005. My understanding is that Pelosi's closeness to Murtha goes back to her early years in the House. She won a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sala Burton, the widow of Phil Burton, who held the seat until his death in 1983. One of Phil Burton's legacies was a provision that when the military base at San Francisco's Presidio was closed, it would become part of the national park system. But this required hefty funding. From my Almanac of American Politics 1998: