House Reprimands Murphy Over Ethics

The House on Friday reprimanded Rep. Austin J. Murphy (D-Pa.) for ethics violations, but the lawmaker charged that he had been made a scapegoat and that his office had been burglarized during the inquiry.

Murphy, a five-term congressman, is the first member of the House to be disciplined in three years. The vote was 324 to 68.

The representative from a steel and coal district near Pittsburgh was cited for hiring a “no-show” employee, misusing congressional property and twice having someone cast electronic votes for him on the House floor.

A reprimand was the least severe penalty of the options available to the House. Murphy could have faced censure, loss of seniority or expulsion. He later said he intends to seek reelection next year.

Murphy lashed out at the House Ethics Committee, which he said sought to make an example of him to demonstrate its might in the face of criticism by Republicans and watchdog groups that it has been too lax. The panel, known officially as the Committee on Official Standards of Conduct, had recommended Murphy’s reprimand.

“I believe the committee has often been under such intense pressure that once they commenced an inquiry, they felt they could not stop it,” he said.