There’s plenty of questions to answer. The firm was led by Paul Magliocchetti, a former appropriations staffer and Murtha protégé who wined and dined his former bosses and comrades with abandon. These raucous dinners and big expense-account tabs should be vetted for ethics violations.

Of course, it didn’t stop with steaks and fine wines. PMA funneled more than $40 million in donations to members of Congress since 1998, including $2.4 million to Mr. Murtha and $7.8 million to members of his committee. Congress, in turn, rewarded PMA clients with rarely debated earmarks. Last year, the firm was able to marshal more than 100 lawmakers to earmark $300 million in contracts for the lobbyist’s clients.

Ms. Pelosi cannot ignore this sorry churn of taxpayer money. Newcomers and moderates are right in warning that if the House majority doesn’t police itself, it will lose credibility all the way to the next election.