During a FoxNews interview by Rich Lowry of Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) they first played a video of this exchange between the latter and Congressman John Murtha (D-PA):

REP. JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Our staff went over every one of these earmarks very carefully. And it’s not in our highest priority list, but I’m sure that the military is interested in this kind of research, because it’s so important to the military.

REP. JOHN CAMPBELL (R), CALIFORNIA: If I may inquire further, Mr. Chairman, you said you’re sure the military. So you’re not aware if, in fact, the military has asked for this kind of technology?

I guess the answer to that is no.

What investigations have been done to determine that this technology could actually even be effective? And I’m happy to yield to the gentleman?

MURTHA: We have a $459 billion bill. We look at every one. We attend — we ask the members to vet them. Our staff vets them. We go over every single earmark.

We don’t apologize for them, because we think the members know as much about what goes on in the district and what needs to be done for the Defense Department as the bureaucrats in the Defense Department.

CAMPBELL: Then I’m sure if the gentleman goes over every single one that he can answer the question. What investigations, what research has been done to determine that this technology could be effective and is worth $2 million of taxpayer funds?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Then Lowry and Campbell discussed the exchange:

LOWRY: There was also a great moment. We weren’t able to play in that clip, but where Congressman Murtha says to you, “Well, I don’t know what paint company you represent,” as though every congressman out there must have some paint company he’s trying to funnel congressional earmarks to.

CAMPBELL: I tell you what, that comment told me a lot. He assumed that the reason I didn’t want this money to go to Sherwin Williams Paint is because I want it to go to some paint company in my district.

I mean, I was shocked by the question. And I told him I don’t know of a paint company in my district or anywhere near me. That’s not why I’m questioning this. I’m questioning this because it’s $2 million that appears to me to be going to something that the Defense Department doesn’t want — technology we haven’t proven that hasn’t been shopped. We don’t know if this is the right supplier.

And in the end, even if it works, the taxpayer will have to pay for it again to buy it back from Sherwin Williams’ paint. So this is part of what’s driving this culture of spending that’s going on in Washington.

LOWRY: Yes. Also, Congressman, Democrats swept to power in November on the pledge to clean up Washington and to change business as usual. And it’s just been amazing how fast they’ve gone back to defending the old rotten practices.

CAMPBELL: This earmark culture is very much ingrained in D.C. and it has a lot of the problems — I mean, there are members of Congress in jail tonight because of earmarks. There are members of Congress being investigated today because of earmarks.

And yet the process continues and continues. And we spend billions of dollars. And it’s not just the money we spend on the earmarks, but it’s the culture of spending that it creates.

The Philadephia Inquirer weighed in yesterday:

The jury is still out on how serious congressional Democrats are about trimming pork from the federal budget.

When they took control of Congress in January, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and other leaders in her party promised to get tough with earmarks. That’s the name for special spending projects that lawmakers insert steathily into bills to benefit companies and institutions back home. Essentially earmarks are no-bid contracts, and taxpayers foot the bill.
…
“Transparency has had some effect,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. “But it remains to be seen. Certain members have, at best, a thinly veiled contempt for the whole process.”

Chief among that group is Rep. John Murtha (D., Pa.), chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee. He snared $163 million in pork-barrel projects, the highest total in Congress. It’s about twice as much as Murtha grabbed last year. Pelosi herself obtained about $63 million in earmarks, most of them for recipients in or near her home base of San Francisco.

Meanwhile, John Murtha remains silent about his defamation of Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt.