Politico reports: John Hugya, Chief of staff for Representative John Murtha (D, PA), threatened his Congressman’s last (and future) electoral opponent on at least two occasions.

John Murtha opponent says aide threatened him

The Republican who challenged Rep. John Murtha in 2008 says a top aide to the embattled Pennsylvania Democrat threatened to have him recalled to active duty in the U.S. Army so he could be court-martialed for engaging in politics while serving in the armed forces.

Bill Russell — who challenged Murtha in 2008 and intends to do so again in 2010 — said Murtha chief of staff John Hugya made the threat during a National Rifle Association event in mid-March.

Ret. Col. Gregory Ritch, a former Army Reserve officer
who served as Russell’s commanding officer, said he heard Hugya make a similar threat in January.

Hugya, who has a bit of a nasty mouth to him – not surprising, given that he works for a politician who likes to call Marines ‘murderers‘ – is probably safe enough from actually being fired and/or censured. This is partially because the comments themselves are the sort of thing that you can get away with saying once, and often twice: as they say, politics ain’t beanbag. More importantly, Murtha is an integral part of Speaker Pelosi’s House machine. She’ll do nothing about this, of course.

You can, though.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.