John Boccieri is accepting more money from corrupt political figures who love to make slanderous statements about American troops. Last week, he received campaign donations from Charlie Rangel's birthday gala. Rangel is currently under investigation for ethics violations and is perhaps most notorious for saying, "If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq."
This week, he's at it again.
Today, Bocceiri is holding a fundraiser with Rep. John Murtha in Cleveland Heights. Youngstown Congressman Tim Ryan will also be headlining the fundraiser. Boccieri is trying to join Ryan as the junior Congressman from Youngstown (I mean Alliance...how's the rental?).
Over the last two decades, Murtha's name has become synonymous with corruption and backroom dealing. Questions have been raised about him trading earmarks for campaign contributions, stonewalling ethics investigations, and abusing his power as the ranking Democrat on the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee. Murtha was even named as an "unindicted co-conspirator" by the FBI in the notorious ABSCAM scandal.
Not long ago Murtha was taken to task for falsely calling U.S. Marines war criminals. When eight U.S. Marines were accused of massacring civilians, Murtha proceeded to call them war criminals the day the story broke - without seeing the evidence or waiting for the trial. Murtha said, "Marines over-reacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Six of the Marines in question have had the charges against them dismissed, the seventh was found not guilty, and the court martial of the eighth has been delayed indefinitely. Murtha still refuses to apologize for his remarks.
Why does John Boccieri continue to associate himself with and take money from corrupt political figures?
