7 members of house subcommittee on defense under scrutiny for ethics violations

Nearly half the members of a powerful House subcommittee in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, who have trained their lens on the relationships between seven panel members and an influential lobbying firm founded by a former Capitol Hill aide.

Under investigation:

• John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) 
• Peter J. Visclosky (D-Ind.)
• James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.),
• Norm Dicks (D-Wash.),  
• Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) , 
• C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.)
•  Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.).

Together, the seven legislators have personally steered more than $200 million in earmarks to clients of the PMA Group in the past two years