The Associated Press is reporting that Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt has been exonerated in an ethics probe of his connections with defense lobbying firm PMA and its clients.

The probe found no violations by Tiahrt or five other members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. The late John Murtha (D-Pa.) topped the list of who received large donations from PMA Group and its clients and steered earmarks to PMA clients.

The other congressmen are Reps. Norman Dicks, D-Wash.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Peter Visclosky, D-Ind. and C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla.

Tiahrt’s office issued the following statement Friday morning:

U.S. Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) today received vindication by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct that voted unanimously to dismiss a negative referral made against Tiahrt by the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) – a shadow committee established by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The Standards Committee released a report confirming Tiahrt had cooperated with the OCE and that no complaint, allegation or negative fact even existed to justify OCE’s initial review.

After their exhaustive review, Democrats and Republicans on the Standards Committee all concluded Tiahrt had not violated “any law, regulation, rule or other applicable standard of conduct.”

“Today I received absolute vindication,” said Tiahrt. “This comes as no surprise because there was never anything to justify a review in the first place. The process referenced in the report reflects the same professional and objective procedures followed in my office for reviewing and requesting defense-related projects for Boeing and other reputable Kansas-based companies that employ thousands of Kansas workers in my district.”

The report found that Tiahrt’s defense project requests were evaluated based upon criteria such as “the number of jobs created in the Member’s district or the value to the taxpayer or the U.S. military.”

Tiahrt said, “What’s more important than my vindication is that we have prevented political smear attempts from slowing us down as we fight for Kansas jobs. So today, just like every other day, we will keep doing the right thing and will keep on fighting for Kansas families. There are too many important problems facing our country to waste time being distracted by unscrupulous organizations that have no regard for justice or any interest in making our country better. My hope is that those who have engaged in spreading the political slurs of Washington will find better things to do.”

The Standards Committee report concluded:

• Tiahrt “cooperated with OCE, providing detailed responses to OCE’s requests for documents.”
• The Standards Committee by a unanimous vote dismissed the OCE matter against Tiahrt.
• Tiahrt did not violate “any law, regulation, rule or other applicable standard of conduct.”
• The evidence showed that Tiahrt’s defense project requests were evaluated based upon criteria such as “the number of jobs created in the Member’s district or the value to the taxpayer or the U.S. military.”
• OCE applied a different standard for reviewing Tiahrt than it did with other members of Congress even though Tiahrt had cooperated with the OCE and answered all its questions.

Click here to read the Committee on Standards report.