Nearly half the members of a House panel in control of Pentagon spending are facing a probe by Congressional ethics investigators, the Washington Post reported.
The revelations came in a cyber-hacked confidential report leaked to the newspaper and reported in its Web site.
Two House ethics offices are probing whether Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, and six other lawmakers funneled millions in federal funds to clients of an influential lobbying firm in exchange for campaign contributions, the paper reported.
The lobbying outfit, PMA Group, founded by a former Capitol Hill aide, has been under criminal investigation by the Justice Department, the newspaper said.
Details of the House ethics probes were contained in a confidential House report prepared in July that indicated more than 30 lawmakers and several aides are under scrutiny in probes of defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling.
Members of the ethics committee and their staffs sign oaths not to disclose details of past or present investigations. But the 22-page report was accidentally released by a low-level staffer who was working from home via a file-sharing network, committee chairman Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Cal.) told The Post.
The staff member was fired, Lofgren said.
"No inference to any misconduct can be made from the fact that a matter is simply before the committee," Lofgren said.
Besides Murtha, two lawmakers previously identified in the inquiry, Reps. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and James Moran (D-Va.), were named in the report.
Also named were: Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Marcy Kaptur, (D-Ohio), C.W. (Bill) Young (R-Fla.), and Todd Tiahrt, (R-Kan.). The committee has not issued a formal announcement that they are under investigation.
The committee, which announces when it begins a formal investigation, said it is probing whether Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Cal.) used her influence to help a bank in which her husband owned stock.
Separately, the panel is also investigating whether Rep. Laura Richardson failed to disclose required information on her financial disclosure forms and received special treatment from a lender.
Waters, third highest ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee and chairwoman of its subcommittee on housing, came under scrutiny after former Treasury Department officials said she helped arrange a meeting between regulators and executives at One United Bank last year without mentioning husband Sidney William's financial ties to the institution.
Williams, holds at least $250,000 in the bank's stock and previously had served on its board. Waters' spokesman, Michael Levin, said Williams was no longer on the board when the meeting was arranged.
The committee's probe of Richardson will determine if she violated House rules by failing to disclose property, income and liabilities on her financial disclosure forms.
The committee is also looking into whether she received an impermissible gift or preferential treatment from a lender, "relating to the foreclosure, recession of the foreclosure sale or loan modification agreement" for her property in Sacramento.
Richardson said she has been subjected to "premature judgments, speculation and baseless distractions that will finally be addressed in a fair, unbiased, bipartisan evaluation of the facts."
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