Murphy
Former congressman Patrick Murphy, a Parkwood native, last week was sworn in as the 32nd Under Secretary of the Army.
The Feb. 24 ceremony took place at the Pentagon.
Murphy was confirmed on Dec. 18 of last year, three days after a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
On Jan. 7, President Barack Obama appointed Murphy to serve as the Acting Secretary of the Army.
Murphy, 42, who attended St. Anselm Elementary School and Archbishop Ryan High School, was the first Iraq War veteran to serve in Congress.
A Democrat, he defeated Republican Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick in 2006 in the 8th Congressional District, which at the time included the Far Northeast, all of Bucks County and a small portion of Montgomery County. He was re-elected in 2008, the same year he endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton, but lost to Fitzpatrick in 2010.
A lawyer, he ran for attorney general in 2012, but lost the primary to Kathleen Kane. He went on to host a show on MSNBC from 2013–15.
On May 12, 2015, he was a passenger on the Amtrak train that crashed in Port Richmond, killing eight people.
Murphy lives in Bristol Township with his wife and two children.
John McHugh resigned as Army secretary on Nov. 1, 2015. Obama named Eric Fanning to replace him.
However, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts has placed a hold on Fanning’s nomination. He wants a guarantee from Obama that, if he closes the Guantanamo Bay military detention camp in Cuba, no prisoners will be relocated to the Army installation at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. ••
