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Tim Murphy

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This is a profile of a U.S. Representative. (See the Pennsylvania portal for all incumbents, candidates and blogs.)
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Tim Murphy currently serves the 18th Congressional district of Pennsylvania

Timothy Murphy has been a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District, since 2003. (map)

Contents

Record and controversies

General information about important bills and votes for can be found in Congresspedia's articles on legislation. You can add information you find on how Tim Murphy voted by clicking the "[edit]" link to the right and typing it in. Remember to cite your sources!

Iraq War

For more information see the chart of U.S. House of Representatives votes on the Iraq War.

Environmental record

For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Federal investigation into use of legislative office for campaign work

Allegations by legislative staff members

Murphy was challenged for reelection in 2006 by Democrat Chad Kluko. During the campaign, Kluko’s former campaign manager, Marty Marks, informed the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of allegations that Murphy had been using his legislative staff in Pennsylvania to perform campaign activities, a violation of House ethics rules and federal law. Following the allegations, the paper interviewed six Murphy staffers. Each of the six acknowledged working on campaign activities and that they were disturbed by Murphy’s conduct. Among their allegations was that: [1] [2]

  • Murphy and his campaign staff frequently used his Mt. Lebanon, Pa. office for campaign strategy sessions, as well as equipment such as the office's fax, copier, camera and filing cabinets for campaign-related materials (rather than his separate campaign office a few miles away).
  • Members of his taxpayer-paid staff were expected to have campaign materials with them at all times when accompanying the congressman, in case he wished to provide them to constituents.
  • When congressional staff members, including unpaid interns, were sent to drop off official literature throughout the district in the summer of 2006, they were instructed to stop only at the homes of registered voters.
  • Multiple staff members from the district office were instructed in December 2005 to devote their time to labeling, stuffing and mailing greeting cards to individuals who were Murphy campaign contributors. The postage and materials were paid by his campaign fund, but several staffers said they performed the functions in the middle of the government workday, rather than on their own time. [3] [4]

In addition to these accusations, staff members also leaked several documents which indicated that they performed campaign-related activities. The leaked materials included:

Emily Campbell, a staff member from June 2003 to February 2006, said, “Congressman Murphy would very often say, 'Don't you people care about your jobs? If I'm not re-elected, you don't have jobs.'" Campbell said that in her view, the use of staff time for holiday cards to donors was the most questionable activity she knew of Murphy directing.

House ethics rules say that no campaign activities may take place in any congressional office, and use of office resources such as equipment, supplies or files is prohibited. The guidelines also say that staff may do campaign work on a volunteer basis, but only outside the congressional office. In addition, they may not be compelled to do such work. The use of taxpayer funded staff to perform campaign work also violates federal law. [9]

When presented with the accusations, Murphy neither confirmed nor denied them. Instead, he said he would seek a congressional investigation of his own conduct. [10] In early November 2006, KDKA News reporter Andy Sheehan confronted Murphy on camera with evidence of the accusations. [11] Murphy took some of the documents from Sheehan and refused to return them. According to the report, the confiscated documents revealed that Murphy's legislative office was doing campaign work. [12]

Murphy fires staffer

Following his reelection, Murphy fired Jayne O'Shaughnessy, a staffer who had reported the allegations and had allowed herself to be identified in the press. She was dismissed for disregarding a staff prohibition against speaking to the press. [13]

Federal investigation reported by Pittsburgh news station

In December 2006, KDKA-TV of Pittsburgh reported that federal authorities had begun to interview staff for an investigation related to the matter. Mark Carpenter, Murphy's press secretary, initially declined to comment on the report of an investigation, but acknowledged that the lawmaker had forwarded similar allegations to the House Ethics Committee for review. He stated that Murphy "welcomes a robust review of all claims." Bill Crowley, special agent for the FBI in Pittsburgh, would not comment on whether an investigation had begun. [14]

Bio

Background

Murphy was born September 12, 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at Wheeling Jesuit University, and received an MA from Cleveland State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Upon leaving school, he became a practicing psychologist and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He also made regular appearances on KDKA-TV television station in Pittsburgh from 1979 to 1995 as a health care expert.

Elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1996 from Upper St. Clair, Murphy served as chair of the Pennsylvania Committee on Aging and Youth and wrote the Pennsylvania Patient Bill of Rights. Despite his stance as a fiscal conservative, he pushed for increased public funding for medical research.

Congressional Career

Murphy ran for the newly redrawn 18th Congressional District in southwestern Pennsylvania in 2002. The district had previously been the 20th, represented by four-term Democrat Frank Mascara. However, the legislature drew the district in such a way that a large chunk of Mascara's territory ended up in the neighboring Johnstown-based 12th District, represented by 18-year incumbent John Murtha. Even though Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 70,000 registered voters, the district had a history of voting Republican. After a legal battle, the courts largely upheld Pennsylvania's redistricting plan after some minor modifications.

In 2002, Murphy ran against Democrat Jack Machek. Murphy, who had high name recognition as a State Senator and former KDKA consultant, outspent Machek by an 8 to 1 margin. Murphy ultimately beat Machek by 20 points. Murphy was reelected in 2004 by a similar margin over Democratic challenger Mark Boles.

2006 elections

In 2006, Democrats nominated Chad Kluko to face Murphy in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) [15] Murphy retained his seat.

Money in politics

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. <crpcontribdata>cid=N00024992&cycle=2006</crpcontribdata>

Links to more campaign contribution information for Tim Murphy
from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.
Fundraising profile: 2006 election cycle Career totals
Top contributors by organization/corporation: 2006 election cycle Career totals
Top contributors by industry: 2006 election cycle Career totals


Committees and Affiliations

Committees

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

More Background Data

Wikipedia also has an article on Tim Murphy. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.

Contact

DC Office:
322 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-2301
Fax: 202-225-1844
Web Email
Website

District Office - Greensburg:
2040 Fredrickson Place
Greensburg, PA 15601
Phone: 724-850-7312
Fax: 724-850-7315

District Office - Pittsburgh:
504 Washington Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
Phone: 412-344-5583
Fax: 412-429-5092

Articles and resources

Sources

External resources

Related SourceWatch articles

External articles

Local blogs and discussion sites

Corresponding article on Wikipedia and Cause Caller. (If Cause Caller link does not work, pick from its list of senators and representatives.)

Current Office: U.S. House of Representatives
111th Congress
Leadership Position:
 Committees Chaired:
 Committees,
Ranking Member On:
 Caucuses:
Committees:
110th Congress
Leadership Position:
None		 Committees Chaired:
 Committees,
Ranking Member On:
 Caucuses:
Committees: House Committee on Energy and Commerce, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Health, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Congressional Career
First Elected to Current Office:
November 5, 2002		 First Took Current Office:
January 7, 2003		 Next Election:
November 2, 2010		 Term Ends:
Freshman Member?
No		 Previous Political Work?
Pennsylvania Senate		 Other Party Membership:
District Offices:
1. 2040 Fredrickson Place, Greensburg, PA 15601
Phone: 724-850-7312 / Fax: 724-850-7315
2. 504 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15228
Phone: 412-344-5583 / Fax: 412-429-5092
Campaign Contact:

Website:
Webform Email: / Email:

Campaign Offices:

1.
Phone: / Fax:
Zip Code Affiliations:
Misc:

Date of Birth: September 12, 1952







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