Austin Murphy

For the American author and journalist, see Austin Murphy (writer).

Austin Murphy
Official portrait, 1990
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Thomas Morgan
Succeeded by	Frank Mascara
Constituency	22nd district (1977–1993) 20th district (1993–1995)
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate from the 46th district
In office January 5, 1971 – January 4, 1977
Preceded by	William Lane
Succeeded by	Barry Stout
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
In office January 6, 1959 – November 30, 1968
Constituency	Washington County
In office January 7, 1969 – November 19, 1970
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Barry Stout
Constituency	48th district
Personal details
Born	Austin John Murphy (1927-06-17)June 17, 1927 North Charleroi, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	April 13, 2024(2024-04-13) (aged 96)
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Eileen Ramona McNamara ​ ​ (m. 1953; died 2016)​
Education	Duquesne University (BA) University of Pittsburgh (LLB)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1944–1946 (active) 1948–1951 (reserve)
Unit	United States Marine Corps Reserve

Austin John Murphy (June 17, 1927 – April 13, 2024) was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from 1977 to 1995.

Personal life

Born in North Charleroi, Pennsylvania to Austin John Murphy Sr. and the former Evelyn F. Spence, Murphy grew up in New London, Connecticut. He later returned to Charleroi and served in the United States Marine Corps from 1944 to 1946. He earned a B.A. at Duquesne University in 1949 and an LL.B. at the University of Pittsburgh in 1952 and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1953. He practiced law in Washington, Pennsylvania, and was an assistant district attorney for Washington County from 1956 to 1957.

Murphy married Elieen Ramona McNamara Murphy on March 1, 1953, and they had seven children, Colleen Arnowitz, Brian Murphy, Erin Sinko, Maureen Dineen, Holly Hayden, Patrick Murphy, and Sheila Luchansky (died April 4, 2015), 19 grandchildren, including Sean Arnowitz (died February 28, 1984, aged one month) and Joseph Luchansky (died February 8, 2014), and Sean Emerick Kalie (died from drugs on March 4, 2020) and 17 great-grandchildren, including Payton Kalie who died February 4, 2008. Mona Murphy died March 1, 2016 in Nevada. Murphy died on April 13, 2024, at age 96. He was survived by six of his seven children, 16 of his 19 grandchildren, and 16 of his 17 great-grandchildren.

Political career

Murphy started his political career as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he served from 1959 to 1971. He then served in the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1971 to 1977. In 1976, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, replacing longtime incumbent Thomas E. Morgan. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1984 and 1988.

Scandals

Murphy was reprimanded by the 100th Congress in December 1987 for ghost voting and misusing House funds. He diverted government resources to his former law firm, had a ghost employee on his House payroll and had someone else cast votes for him in the House. The scandal ultimately led to his decision not to seek reelection in 1994.

In May, 1999, Murphy was indicted by a Fayette County grand jury of engaging in voter fraud. He was charged with forgery, conspiracy and tampering with public records. Murphy insisted that he was only trying to help elderly nursing home residents fill out paperwork that accompanied an absentee ballot. According to the grand jury, Murphy and two others forged absentee ballots for residents of the nursing home and then added Murphy's wife, Eileen Murphy, as a write-in candidate for township election judge. The next month, following closed-door negotiations, all but one of the voter fraud charges were dropped. Following the hearing, he left the building by a back door to avoid an angry crowd outside. He was sentenced to six months probation and fifty hours of community service.

See also

• List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
• List of federal political scandals in the United States
• List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded

References

• "Murphy arraigned on vote-fraud charges". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 25, 1999.
• "Most charges against austin murphy dismissed". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 22, 1999.

External links

• United States Congress. "Austin Murphy (id: M001088)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-15
• Appearances on C-SPAN