http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06301/733740-177.stmU.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, who is seeking his third term in Congress, has mixed campaign activities and official government work in a manner that present and former staffers consider unethical or in violation of House rules, according to interviews with a half-dozen of them.
Some of those interviewed described the practices as routine, others as sporadic, but all said they were disturbed by the conduct. The allegations primarily concern the use of taxpayer-funded congressional staff and resources to do work they viewed as part of Mr. Murphy's political campaign.
That can be a difficult charge to prove because workers are permitted to perform campaign tasks when on voluntary personal time, and there is no clock they punch to switch time. But it's clear that multiple staff members believed that what they were instructed to do crossed an ethical line.
"I see someone in a very high office taking advantage of people and situations, and it's wrong," said Jayne O'Shaughnessy, the scheduler in his Mt. Lebanon district office since April 2005. "He's someone who should know better."
When presented with the accusations yesterday, Mr. Murphy, 54, a Republican from Upper St. Clair, neither denied nor confirmed them. Instead, he vowed to seek a congressional investigation of his own conduct.