Ethics committee finds no violation in probe of lawmakers who got pet projects for donors

Ethics committee ends probe of lawmaker ‘earmarks’

WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee has ended an investigation of five lawmakers who steered government money and contracts to favored companies and also got campaign contributions from them. The panel says it found no violation of House rules.

A copy of the letters and an accompanying report were obtained by The Associated Press. All five members — four Democrats and one Republican — are or were senior members of the House Appropriations Committee.

The most prominent of the five was late Congressman John Murtha, the former chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee who died earlier this month. The other four lawmakers who were investigated are Reps. Norman Dicks, D-Wash.; Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., and C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla.