New Republic's Jason Zengerle has a cover story in the magazine's latest issue, exploring the paradoxes of Rep. John Murtha's D-Pa., one-man "industrial policy" for his hometown of Johnstown, Pa. Zengerle adds rare context to the tales of pork and shady associates that have swirled around Murtha, showing how the former Marine used his chairmanship of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Defense to reinvent the economic base of a flood ravaged and depressed former steel town. But Zengerle also makes clear that the federal largesse comes with its own risks -- not only to the federal Treasury and ethical government, but to Johnstown itself. "All major corporations have succession plans, and, if you want to think about this as a business model, if Jack is the CEO of the area, what is our succession plan here?" former Johnstown mayor Donato Zucco tells Zengerle. "I don't think we have one, and I don't know that people are even thinking about it."
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