Rule 17 of the new Code of Conduct requires that all earmarks be disclosed in writing to the chairman and ranking member of the governing committee.

On May 10, Hoekstra complained on the House floor that “The process that was used for the earmarks on this bill did not follow all of the rules that we had agreed up in the committee and perhaps inconsistent with the rules of the House.”

The House resolution voted on May 22 did not contain any references to this ethics violation.

Speaker Pelosi defended Murtha on the May 20 edition of ABC’s This Week. “Congressman Murtha enjoys an excellent reputation in the Congress on both sides of the aisle," she said. "He writes the defense appropriation bill in a bipartisan way each year and with the complete involvement of the Republicans as to who gets what on the Republican side.”

Murtha was Pelosi’s first pick to become Majority Leader after Democrats won the midterm election, but Rep. Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) was elected to the post over Murtha.

Hoyer was not as supportive as Pelosi in a session with reporters yesterday morning. “Mr. Murtha will have to determine what he believes will be appropriate,” Hoyer said. “There has been an assertion made and that remains to be seen if [Murtha] said what is alleged he said. I’ve said all along the Ethics Committee needs to take this into consideration.”

When asked to compare Murtha’s behavior to the way former Majority Leader Tom Delay (R.-Tex.) used financial incentives to push reluctant Republicans into voting for the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill, Hoyer said, “I’ve said all on this subject that I’m going to say.”

Murtha also recently browbeat Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R.-Kans.), an Intelligence Committee member who also sits on appropriations subcommittee Murtha chairs, for opposing the NDIC earmark in a private appropriations vote. According to The Hill, Murtha "vented his anger against Tiahrt for voting last Wednesday to kill the center in Johnstown, Pa., by unleashing a loud, finger-jabbing, spittle-spraying piece of his mind.”

This outburst was captured by CSPAN cameras on the House floor and was later aired as part of a segment on Fox News. You can access the video here.

In a May 21 op-ed, Rogers, a former FBI special agent, likened Murtha’s actions to a character on the HBO dramatic series about a mob family. After explaining how Murtha threatened him, Rogers wrote, “The House floor is not the place for an episode of The Sopranos and protecting the public’s tax dollars is a basic duty of all Members of Congress.”