One of my favorite parts of the sports page has always been the list of "Transactions," as in which players have been signed, cut, traded and more.

Last Friday, we had two notable items, one from each party, which would have gone into the agate type of a Legislative Transactions list.

First, Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Indiana) revealed that he was subpoenaed by federal investigators in a probe of a defense contractor linked to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania.)

"It is my intention to fully cooperate," said Visclosky said in a written statement.

"I am confident that at the end of this process, no one will conclude that I have done anything wrong or harmed my constituents in any way," he added.

Visclosky and Murtha have been under scrutiny because of links between campaign contributions from the PMA Group, a defense lobbying firm, and earmarks that the lawmakers put in defense spending bills that ultimately became law.

Murtha got a fresh dose of scrutiny on Friday at a defense contractors trade show in his district, when the military announced it was blocking a Pennsylvania firm from getting new Navy contracts.

The company, Kuchera Defense Systems has given $60,000 to Murtha and his political action committee in the last seven years.  Murtha has delivered $14.7 million in earmarks to Kuchera.

In his district, that's good business.  Outside, it looks like something criminal to some.

Our other transaction comes from Oklahoma, via Rancho Mirage, California and the Betty Ford Clinic, as GOP Rep. John Sullivan checked himself in for alcohol treatment.

Sullivan checked himself in last Thursday night, and then his office released a statement late Friday afternoon.

"To ensure my success in this fight, I've decided to take a temporary leave of absence from Congress," the Congressman said in a written statement.

I've covered Sullivan since he was elected in 2002, and I'll say that I haven't noticed anything about his demeanor, actions, etc.

There was a red flag when I checked his voting record so far this year and saw that he has missed 9% of the votes in the House, far more than any other lawmaker from Oklahoma.

Overall, that's about the 30th worst voting record in the House in 2009.

How long Sullivan will be gone is not clear, but the Betty Ford website talks about "90 days" as being the new "gold standard" for getting things in order.

So there are a few "transactions" from last week. We'll check the traps today in the Capitol to find some more.