Burns to hit Critz on earmarks

You could have seen this one coming: Politico says the next round of Tim Burns ads in the 12th District special will attack Mark Critz for his campaign ties to defense firms that got earmarks from late boss Jack Murtha, based on this WashPost story yesterday.

Democrat Barbara Hafer previewed the same attack line during her brief bid for the party's nod in March -- though the House ethics committee cleared Murtha of wrongdoing in February.

As inevitable as the criticism is, it could still be risky and/or ineffectual: Murtha won reelection by 16 points over Bill Russell in 2008 in the midst of the same allegations, and in a race in which he called his own constituents racists.

Murtha apologized for that crack, but not for the earmarks and the 12 District jobs that came with them. "If I'm corrupt, it's because I take care of my district," Murtha famously said to the P-G's Dennis Roddy a few months after that 2008 race.