Inside Tim Murphy's reign of terror

[babylonsister]

Inside Tim Murphy's reign of terror

The anti-abortion lawmaker's abortion scandal was just the tipping point. Former aides say abuse inside his office was rampant.

By RACHAEL BADE, JAKE SHERMAN and JOHN BRESNAHAN
10/05/2017 11:02 PM EDT
Just one day after announcing he would retire after the 2018 election, Tim Murphy reversed course and told Speaker Paul Ryan he was resigning effective Oct. 21. | Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call


Rep. Tim Murphy, a staunch anti-abortion advocate, thought he could withstand the media furor that engulfed him after reports that he’d encouraged his extramarital lover to end her apparent pregnancy.

He was wrong.

Just one day after announcing he would retire after the 2018 election, Murphy reversed course and told Speaker Paul Ryan he was resigning effective Oct. 21. Murphy’s abrupt decision ended a 15-year career on Capitol Hill in a shocking manner. The 65-year-old Pennsylvania Republican was so safe in his conservative district that Democrats hadn’t even fielded an opponent against him during the past two election cycles.

Ironically, Murphy’s swift collapse came not because of text messages he sent to a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair, encouraging her to have an abortion as first reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday. In fact, fears among senior Republicans about a potential wave of negative stories on how Murphy ran his congressional office were what ultimately pushed him out the door.

Multiple top House Republicans during the past 24 hours pressured Murphy to resign once it became clear that the House Ethics Committee might have to investigate allegations tied to his reported mistreatment of staffers. Numerous GOP sources were aware of systemic problems in Murphy’s office, including high staff turnover, which had been the topic of gossip and speculation for years.

The Post-Gazette had reported on a June 2017 memo in which Murphy’s longtime chief of staff, Susan Mosychuk, warned the Pennsylvania Republican that he was mistreating and “harassing” staff, causing 100 percent turnover.

more...

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/05/tim-murphy-abortion-scandal-office-staffers-243521

[riversedge]

1. Seems these reports of office abuse were going on for a long time and it was kept quiet!

[Scarsdale]

23. These creeps run on the gop ticket

knowing their comrades will protect them. Anyone with an (R) after their name will be protected.

[riversedge]

27. The office staff feared him for what could happen to their

future job prospects. Horrible that this went on for so long.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Family values, pro-birth, fine boss, true christian

principal built on lies............ a true republican

[sharedvalues]

5. +1

The whole party is built on lying to their base to get them to vote with GOP donors.

[spinbaby]

3. What's really horrifying

I keep remembering the guy used to be a child psychologist.

[WhiteTara]

31. Well, that's really disturbing!

Now those kids are going to need a lifetime of therapy!

[sharedvalues]

4. Ridiculous that quitting ends ethics inquiries

Chaffetz too resigned to avoid an inquiry into his release of Comey's letter.

[enough]

25. +1

[tanyev]

6. MAGA! Morons & Assholes Governing America.

[irisblue]

13. I'm stealing that. thanks

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Even better: Morons ATTEMPTING to Govern America

RepubliCons only con. They can't govern.

[tanyev]

18. True. So true.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

29. You provided the inspiration. Thanks!

[dalton99a]

20. +1

[malaise]

32. Most excellent

[Achilleaze]

7. republican "family values" suck cesspool scum

low - they are so freaking low in every moral and ethical category. republicans need to start living by American values, and piss off on their degenerate, greed-driven, deceitful, hypocritical so-called "republican family values."

[complain jane]

16. Republican "family values" is just a hollow marketing ploy.

[Butterflylady]

8. He was just another trump.

[OnDoutside]

9. A real Slick Timmy !!!

[Perseus]

10. What I don't understand

is why people take abuse from other people, and sit quiet about it? It should only take one instance to put them back in their place, or just quit the same day.

In a way I have to put some blame on people for putting up with it, you have to have the balls to quit and let them know why. Write a good letter and place them on notice that if they try to destroy your career you will expose them about their treatment of their employees...nothing scares them more than to have the press uncover their trash.

[Thor_MN]

11. Codependancy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codependency

[Ilsa]

12. Why do they take abuse? Maybe because they need their jobs,

and they need positive recommendations, and they don't want future employers finding out that they were "problem employees" for their former employer.

I had a friend who was treated grotesquely, but feared complaining would ruin her reputation and she would be "blackballed" in the real estate profession.

Try looking at it from the employees' point of view, and that their power may be limited or nonexistent.

[MrsCoffee]

14. I'm sorry but that sounds like a very privileged point of view.

"you have to have the balls to quit and let them know why". They already know why you want to quit. But some people need that fucking job to feed themselves or their family. And the employer knows that. Write a good letter and place them on notice? Most states are now right to work states and you can be fired for any reason they want. The employee almost always has zero power in the situation and running and screaming to the "press" isn't going to sound so appealing. And some employers still run with the idea that any press is good press. And of course the employee is wondering how they would get their next job and whether they just ruined their chances in the field they are in.

Just sayin..... I don't see what's so hard to understand.

[enough]

26. Seems like a simple answer. You need the job and can't burn bridges if you need the next job.

Easy to say you will get the press to destroy them, but that's a long battle with an unknown outcome. Most people aren't in such a secure place, backed by connections and resources, that they can easily walk away from their work.

[Nitram]

17. Shared on Facebook.

[PA Democrat]

19. Murphy has always been a corrupt sleazeball.

There were allegations made by staffers that he forced them to do campaign work which is a violation of ethics rules. He also made staff (on our taxpayers' dime) do research into the background of constituents who dared to criticize him in letters to the local papers.

In early November 2006, KDKA News reporter Andy Sheehan confronted the Congressman on camera with evidence of the accusations.[6] The Congressman took some of the documents from Mr. Sheehan claiming that they had been illegally removed from his office. The documents confiscated by the Congressman seemed to indicate that the Congressman's District Office was doing illegal campaign work. The Congressman blamed his staff. The documents at issue were:
a document that shows “background research” performed by staff members on constituents who wrote letters to the editor.[7]
documents that indicate campaign work being handled through Murphy's District Office[8]
a document showing a planned teleconference with John Braebender, a media consultant for Rick Santorum[9]

Following his reelection, Murphy fired the staffer who had initially reported the alleged violations. Jayne O'Shaughnessy was dismissed for disregarding a staff prohibition against speaking to the press without the consent of the office after she allowed herself to be identified in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article detailing the allegations. [10]

Pittsburgh City Paper has also reported that Murphy's background check on the constituents' authoring negative letters to the editor about him returned information including the constituents "addresses, phone numbers, voting record, religion, stances on gun control and abortion, place of business, and supposed support for Democrat Bob Casey."[11] This was also alleged to be done with taxpayers' money.

On December 14, 2006, KDKA-TV reported that federal agents had begun interviewing former Murphy staffers on whether they did political work for the congressman on government time.[12]

http://www.thefullwiki.org/Tim_Murphy_(congressman)

[blue neen]

35. It's disgusting that Murphy got away with his despicable behavior for so long.

On OUR dime. Wow.

[paleotn]

21. Lets use a wide brush here, because I think it's appropriate....

For the most part, Republicans, in Washington, state capitals, local GOP ops and the card carrying, Republican voting base now represent the absolute worst in our society. The dregs. People you wouldn't personally associate with if you had a choice. ...Psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissistic assholes, religious cult members and other deeply propagandized robots. Tim Murphy and his toady are simply a case in point.

Use to be you'd find these people in roughly equal measure in both parties. Now, they seem to have clustered to the right. A narcissistic dickhead in the Democratic party? A few, but they're the exceptions. Amongs't Republicans, they're the rule.

[Scarsdale]

24. So true.

What's more, they seem to revel in the sleaze. Look at what they look up to as president!! A democratic politician with HIS credentials would never get very far. He is a disgrace to the human race, let alone the gop.

[Delphinus]

22. Wow.

What a read.

[spanone]

28. scott dejarlais...same thing...and got re-elected...republicans don't do hypocrisy

Congressman who advised ex-wife to seek abortion votes for late-term abortion ban

https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=

A Tennessee congressman who supported his ex-wife’s decision to have two abortions, voted this week for a bill that would ban late-term abortions, according to news reports.

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R), a anti-abortion conservative and former physician from Jasper, Tenn., joined 241 fellow House members who voted Wednesday to pass the bill that bans abortions from the 20th week of pregnancy onward, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

“Congressman DesJarlais was proud to vote in favor of this legislation,” said his spokesman Robert Jameson, told the Free Press, noting that DesJarlais has maintained a “100 percent pro-life voting record” during his time in Congress and “has always advocated for pro-life values.”

Jameson declined to tell the paper whether DesJarlais’ ex-wife had abortions after the 20-week cutoff.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/05/16/congressman-who-advised-ex-wife-to-seek-abortion-votes-for-late-term-abortion-ban/?utm_term=.391c406ecd1e

[ProfessorGAC]

30. An Assistant And Campaign Staffer Makes A Quarter Million?

Are you kidding me? One staffer from one district's office makes a quarter million? It's not like they're running a big business. It's just one congressional district. How much work can there be, and how much value can one person provide to make 5x the median household income?

And there are people who don't agree that there's too much money in politics.

[Qutzupalotl]

33. This part makes me furious, and it's on us:

"The 65-year-old Pennsylvania Republican was so safe in his conservative district that Democrats hadn’t even fielded an opponent against him during the past two election cycles."

Why the hell aren't we fielding a candidate in every race? Just a filing fee, a name on the ballot, is enough to have a Democrat ready when a Republican implodes. Not being there makes us look chickenshit. Dean was right on this. We must be everywhere.

[gratuitous]

34. Agreed

I hope there's someone in the district ready to run in the special. No candidate = Democrats don't care about you. It's not true, but how can we deny the simple equation that's far too easily stated?

[blue neen]

36. Things that make you go "Hmmm".

Did Mosychuk write her memo to get back at Murphy after he had his affair with Shannon Edwards?

"A number of former Murphy staffers told POLITICO that it was Mosychuk’s behavior that drove them to leave Murphy's office. And these ex-aides said the combination of Murphy and Mosychuk — who had a close personal relationship, according to GOP lawmakers and staffers — made the situation intolerable. Mosychuk was promoted to Murphy’s chief of staff in 2004, just a year after becoming his legislative director."