MURTHA, ETHICS, AND THE DEMOCRATS.

I don't always agree with Kos, but he's right about this. The Democrats have got to stop hindering ethics investigations into their members if they want to retain the majority, and they definitely shouldn't let John Murtha continue to hold the chairmanship of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. The FBI is investigating Murtha, and if they find nothing, he can always have the chair back. But the more it seems that the FBI will bring back an indictment or damning evidence, the better it is for House Democrats to get ahead of the issue.

Typical political calculation in these instances seems to favor stonewalling by the leadership, to keep from getting distracted from legislative work, and to avoid giving ammunition to the other side. But letting this kind of thing fester is a recipe for Democrats to lose their majority and no deterrent for other members to stay out of this kind of trouble. Take away the chairmanship, let the ethics committee investigate, and make sure he has no hand in legislative sausage-making. If the Democratic leadership doesn't take those concrete steps in reaction to the appearance of corruption, they're going to have a hard time if an indictment does come down. The other issue is that Murtha is 76 and has been in the House of Representative since 1974. Democrats should be doing everything they can to get him to announce his retirement before 2010. Trying to avoid addressing this problem is a serious mistake; the results can only get worse the longer House Democrats delay in acting.

-- Tim Fernholz