Austin John Murphy Jr. (June 17, 1927 – April 13, 2024) was an American politician from Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1959 to 1968 and again from 1969 to 1970, a member of the Pennsylvania Senate from 1971 to 1977, and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1995.
Murphy married Eileen Ramona McNamara Murphy on March 1, 1953, and they had seven children, 19 grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren. Mona died on March 1, 2016 in while visiting their daughter's family in Nevada. Austin died on April 13, 2024, at age 96.[1][2]
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.[6]
In May 1999, Murphy was indicted by a Fayette Countygrand jury of engaging in voter fraud. He was charged with forgery, criminal 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.[7]
