Pa GOP Insider

Elsie Hillman Endorses a Democrat... Specter

2009-05-05T04:31:00.000-07:00

Statement By Elsie Hillman, Former Republican National Committeewoman on Senator Arlen Specter April 28, 2009


PITTSBURGH, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a statement today, Elsie Hillman said, "My relationship with Arlen Specter goes back forty years when Arlen Specter, then a young District Attorney for the City of Philadelphia, came to Pittsburgh in 1969 at my request to campaign for Republican Mayoral candidate John Taber. Arlen Specter's relationship with Pennsylvanians goes back even further when he ran for public office in Philadelphia in the mid 60's. While we were on opposite sides during many past campaigns -- in 1976 I was for John Heinz and in 1978 for Dick Thornburgh -- I always respected Arlen. In 1980 I was thrilled to support him in his successful Senate campaign and have been a strong supporter ever since. Today's announcement is disappointing to some, but should come as a surprise to none. While I am a Republican and will most likely be one for the rest of my life, I have seen our party move further to the right, leaving little room for those of us in the middle. In so doing the Republican Party runs the risk of becoming a minority party. Yesterday we had three moderate Republicans in the U.S. Senate -- today we have only two. During his twenty eight years in the Senate, Arlen Specter has done much to advance science and medicine through his leadership on the Labor Health and Human Services Committee. His leadership to increase funding for NIH has saved thousands of lives and continues to bring us closer to cures for Cancer, Alzheimer's, Diabetes, and many other terrible diseases. His position on the Judicial Committee and leadership in foreign affairs and crime prevention has been a real asset to our country and state. The words that best describe Arlen in my opinion are: Intelligent Courageous Honest Fair Incorruptible While I am saddened that Arlen has left the Republican Party, he does so as 200,000 other Pennsylvania Republicans did last year. I believe that he is the brightest member of the United States Senate and I will continue to support him and will vote for him in next year's general election."

SOURCE Elsie Hillman

Blood Splatters on Barletta - Campaign in Jeopardy

2008-09-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

With the murder of Luis Ramirez a Mexican Immigrant seen as the logical conclusion of the anti immigrant rhetoric of Hazleton Mayor Larry Barletta Republican insiders worried about congressional campaign. Did the verbal attacks of small town neo-fascist Larry Barletta drive teens to murder? Knowledgeable political operatives are concerned that Barletta is a one issue candidate and his one issue is rapidly going south.

4th Pa. teen charged in killing of immigrant

Sat Sep 6, 12:15 PM ET

POTTSVILLE, Pa. - Authorities in Pennsylvania say a fourth teenager has been charged in the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant.
Schuylkill County prosecutors charged the teen in juvenile court Friday with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. His name and age are not being released.

Three others are charged as adults in the July attack in the town of Shenandoah on 25-year-old factory worker Luis Ramirez.

Homicide charges are filed against 16-year-old Brandon Piekarsky and 17-year-old Colin Walsh. Eighteen-year-old Derrick Donchak faces aggravated assault and other charges.

A local school district has agreed to provide Piekarsky and Walsh with 12 hours of in-home education per week while the case against them is pending.

McCain's Secret Weapon

2008-09-04T22:26:00.001-07:00

Pro Gun, Pro Tobacco, Pro Alcohol, look at the image and tell me what you see. When was the last time you saw a possible VP in a shot like this.

Wow! They Spelled My Name Right

2008-09-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 04, 2008

It's an election year

So a few new political blogs have popped up.

The Really Pissed Off Republican

A place to blast liberals without using our handguns because we need no more gun control legislation out there.

The Empire of the Mind

The Empire of the Mind is a blog covering politics and news of all varieties. We hope to provide you, every day if all goes according to plan, fresh analysis of the day’s important news by a variety of contributors from diverse backgrounds. Empire’s contributors may be highly opinionated or attempt to be neutral; in any case, we will always try our best to provide insightful and thoughtful analysis. Most of all, we hope you’ll find our shenanigans informative and enjoyable to read. Stop by often and visit, we’ll be here!

Right Wing Wiz Kid

Opinionated, Hard-Hitting Right Wing Conservative News And Observations. If You Are A Left Wing Liberal You WILL Be Offended! If Your Are Looking For Politically Correct Observations, You Won’t Find Them Here. Political Commentary With No Spin, The Kind You Don’t Get From The Mainstream Media. Politics, Congress, Global Warming, Gun Control, The U.S. Military Are Just Some Of The Topics That Will Be Covered. With an Occasional Touch Of Humor To Relieve The Stress.

Pa GOP Insider

Written by former Republican Committeeman Barry O'Connell

Posted by Gort at 1:12 PM

Lou Barletta Linked to Cocaine Dealers

2008-08-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

Lou Barletta Linked to Cocaine Dealers

Barletta contributors questioned

By Borys Krawczeniuk

Published: Sunday, August 3, 2008 4:09 AM EDT

Staff Writer

The list of contributors to Republican congressional candidate Lou Barletta includes two brothers who were once entangled in a southern Luzerne County cocaine-distribution ring but are now prominent businessmen there.

Paul and Neal DeAngelo, the owners of DBiServices Inc., each gave Barletta $1,000 on March 28.

In 1994, Paul DeAngelo was sentenced to 18 months in jail for his role in the Empire drug ring, which operated in the late 1980s. He was released in 1995.
see also: http://gort42.blogspot.com/2008/08/huh.html

The Dirt on Corbett is Coming Out

2008-07-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

First the DeNaples money and now questions about State Staff versus Campaign Staff. Corbett is beginning to unravel. JBOC

AG strives to separate job, re-election

By RICHARD FELLINGER
Staff Writer

Lebanon Daily News

HARRISBURG — As he prosecutes the high-profile “Bonusgate” case accusing state officials of campaigning on the public dime, Attorney G eneral Tom Corbett is seeking re-election himself. And one man has played a key role in both the attorney general’s office and the=2 0Corbett campaign: Brian Nutt, the attorney general’s chief of staff, is now his campaign manager. Nutt went on unpaid leave last month from his state job to manage Corbett’s campaign in his race against Democrat John Morganelli. But Nutt also assisted at political events for Corbett throughout his first term in office, state records show. Nutt is one of several staffers who work closely with Corbett in the attorney general’s office and have done at least some political work for their boss during his first term, according to an analysis of campaign-finance records by the Lebanon Daily News. Kevin Harley, the attorney general’s director of communications, has also helped the Corbett campaign, along with both of Corbett’s executive assistants and two top aides in his office of legislative affairs, records show. Some attorney-general staffers traveled to political events and were reimbursed for lodging and meals. Some bought stamps or office supplies for the campaign. None of those staffers is accused of wrongdoing, and Harley said the attorney general makes it clear to employees that all campaign work must be “completely separate” from
their jobs. Campaign work on som eone’s own time without government compensation is perfectly legal. In Bonusgate, Corbett charged 12 Democrats in a far-reach ing case that claims House staffers regularly did campaign work in their state offices and top officials used a taxpayer-funded bonus scheme to=2 0reward aides for their political work. The situation in Corbett’s office reveals more about the culture of the Capitol, where certain government employees juggle state jobs with political activity for their boss. Some politick regularly; others do it only on occasion. Harrisburg activists say it illustrates the gray area that exists throughout state government between state work and campaign work. Some say that Corbett, a Republican and potential governor’s candidate in 2010, has set a bad example by tapping his chief of staff to run his campaign while pursuing Bonusgate. Activist Gene Stilp said Corbett could further undermine people’s confidence in state government after controversies such as the 2005 pay raise and scandals such as Bonusgate. “This is not showing good judgment,” Stilp said. “He has to be squeaky clean, and this isn’t squeaky clean.” “A right way to do this” Harley said only a handful of aides who hold executive-level jobs do campaign work in their spare time. The attorney general’s office has roughly 800 employees. In separate interviews, Harley and Nutt drew a sharp contrast between the allegations levied against House Democrats and the campaign work by certain attorney general staffers. “There’s20a right way to do this, and a legal way, and that is what’s being done (in the attorney general’s office),” Harley said. 0D He said the attorney general awards no bonuses or comp time and requires staffers who take leave to campaign to submit a letter promising they will use no state resources for political work. Staffers who are on leave, like Nutt, also don’t get state health or pension benefits. Nutt, who lives in Hummelstown, is an experienced political hand who also managed Corbett’s first campaign in 2004. He said he took over as campaign manager this year after beginning his unpaid leave. Nutt said many of the events for which he was reimbursed by the campaign in past years were dinners with political figures that should not have been billed to the taxpayers. One was a trip to Colorado with Corbett to a meeting with Republican attorneys general. “That’s not really campaigning. It’s the inevitable kind of thing that obviously takes place when you’re in elected office,” Nutt said. Activist Eric Epstein of RocktheCapital.org said Nutt’s leave of absence for the campaign underscores the need for an assessment of staffing levels across state government to determine how many positions aren t needed, Epstein said. “If you can take a leave from your job for six months, how much value do you bring to the job in the first place?” he said. Nutt disagreed, saying his absence does not hamper operations in the attorney ge neral’s office because others are working longer hours without extra pay to cover for him. His chief-of-staff duties are being spread out among several top aides, namely First Deputy Attorney General William Ryan Jr. “It is a relatively short amount of time, and for the greater cause of what Tom Corbett stands for myself and some other people are willing to make sacrifices,” Nutt said. Campaign checks Corbett’s office has been looking into illegal campaign activity in the Legislature since February 2007 after news reports appeared about secret bonuses to select staffers. A grand-jury report accompanying the Bonusgate charges traced the use of taxpayer-funded bonuses for campaign work to 2004 in the House Democratic caucus. Meanwhile, Nutt and other Corbett aides were helping their boss at political functions from time to time, records show. Corbett took office in January 2005, and since then Nutt received 14 checks from the campaign reimbursing him for expenses, records show. Nutt racked up $7,361 for meals, lodging, parking and other unspecified expenses for the Corbett campaign between January 2005 and February 2008. Rebekah Myers, an executive assistant to Corbett, was reimbursed by the campaign for buying office supplies and stamps, among other things. The Lancaster County resident re ceived seven reimbursement checks totaling $1,126 from the campaign during Corbett’s first term. Like Nutt, Myers has taken unpaid leave fro m her state job. She has been off the state payroll since April. Harley, also a Lancaster County resident, received four reimbursement checks from the campaign totaling $4,229 for lodging and unspecified expenses. He received all four between January 2005 and December 2007. Annmarie Kaiser of Harrisburg, director of legislative affairs for the attorney general, was reimbursed once this year for campaign travel. She received a check of $382 in March for lodging. Andrew Paris of Etters, York County, is a legislative liaison who works under Kaiser and received three checks totaling $402 for unspecified expenses between September 2005 and May 2007. Karen Mitchell, another executive assistant to the attorney general, received one reimbursement check from the campaign for $17.91. The Lemoyne resident received a check for unspecified expenses in September 2005. Calls left for Myers, Kaiser, Paris and Mitchell were not returned. StateBureau@gmail.com

Hackett is putting on a rather pathetic show.

2008-07-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

Desperate for a chance to register with the voters Hackett is putting on a rather pathetic show.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Desperate Hackett Begs for Debates

Hackett is so desperate for attention he has even proposed a debate on Immigration. Word is that he wants his former housekeeper an illegal immigrant herself to act as moderator. INS has yet to approve that

Hackett Challenges Carney to Eight Debates

Gort42: Who belongs to the Westmoreland Club?

2008-07-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Gort42: Who belongs to the Westmoreland Club?

McCain Snubs 10th Pa Voters

2008-07-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

The voters in the 10th congressional district picked Chris Hackett as the lesser of two evils. So what does McCain do? McCain sides with the loser (a veritable one man crime wave) to snub the Republican Congressional candidate.

Some people think McCain is deliberately bipartisan with his legislation. The truth is that most Republican legislators hate McCain so much it is easier to get Democrat Co-Sponsors.
Seen on Gort42:

"Who belongs to the Westmoreland Club?

Westmoreland Club site of $250/plate McCain event

Dan Meuser is bringing GOP Presidential candidate John McCain to Wilkes-Barre on July 23 and it's an invitation only event. "

Chris Hackett OpposesTax Dollars Spent in the 10th

2008-07-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

Chris Hackett Opposes Tax Dollars Spent in the 10th. Hackett wants our tax dollars spent in some other congressional district. In one of the dumbest moves since on Sherwood beat up his girl friend Hackett wants to decrease spending in the 10th congressional district. Pa. voters know more tax dollars are taxed in the district then spent here.

Chris Hackett for Congress, a damn fool post

Seen on http://gort42.blogspot.com/2008/01/chris-hackett-for-congress-guest-post.html

This was in the Times-Leader a few days ago but I'll take sloppy seconds. Any candidate for any office is welcome to post on my front page.

Rep. Carney's spending politics as usual
-Times Leader 1/24/2008

Recently, our local congressman, Chris Carney, was featured on the front page of USA Today. Why did he win such attention? Evidently, Carney received more spending earmarks than any other first year member of congress. He was proud of this dubious “achievement.” The taxpayers of northeast Pennsylvania shouldn’t be.

Here’s how the pork spending game works in Washington . Each congressman asks the Democratic leadership for “earmarked” money for projects back in their home district. Incumbents like Carney who expect tough reelection races get the most earmarks. Then each congressman can try to impress voters by bragging about the funding they “brought home.” Sounds good so far, but there’s a catch – and it’s a really big one.

In order to get that very modest level of funding for local projects, Carney had to vote in favor of projects everywhere else. Here’s a small sample of things Carney voted to waste our tax dollars on this year: rodent control in Alaska ; olive fruit fly research in France ; a bike trail in Minnesota ; a zoo in Illinois ; a post office museum in Las Vegas . Altogether there were some 9,000 earmarks in this year’s spending bills, and we ended up spending $28 billion more than in the President’s budget. While this pork spending game makes for nice press releases from Congressman Carney’s office, it’s a terrible rip-off for taxpayers.

In addition to spending Pennsylvania tax dollars on wasteful and unnecessary projects like the Mule and Packers Museum in California , Chris Carney’s approach to Washington deal making illustrates other fundamental problems with our nation’s finances. When there are 9,000 pork projects in the budget, and almost every congressman has a tiny piece of the action, the system creates all the wrong incentives. It’s set-up in a way that encourages accounting gimmicks, budget secrecy, and misallocation of resources. In short, it places special interests over the national interest, and it’s placing our children and grandchildren further into debt.

Unfortunately, the pork spending game is a bipartisan affair. When Republicans were in charge of Congress, they had a disgraceful record of funding things like the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska – a $200 million project that served a town of just fifty people. Several corruption scandals were linked directly to the earmarking process, and there are former congressmen who are now serving time in prison because of it.

In 2006, many Democrats, including Chris Carney, were elected based on promises to change the way Washington operated, and in particular to change the corrupt earmarking process. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi rams a massively bloated spending bill through the House with 9,000 earmarks in it, it’s obvious that nothing has changed.

Not all earmarks are wasteful, and not every project is tinged with corruption. But how can you tell which ones are which? For example, liberal Congressman Charlie Rangel from Harlem , the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has a $2 million earmark this year that names a building in honor of himself. That’s right – apparently once you’ve been in Washington long enough it no longer strikes you as arrogant to use tax dollars to name a building after yourself. Outrageously, Chris Carney voted in favor of this pork. What’s our congressman doing spending $2 million in tax dollars on the Charlie Rangel Building in Harlem ? Perhaps Carney thinks that’s a good use of Pennsylvania tax dollars. Perhaps it was a trade-off in exchange for Rangel’s support for Carney’s projects. Or maybe the fact that Rangel’s political committees gave $16,000 to Carney’s election campaign has something to do with it. To be clear, I’m not accusing Carney of corruption. I am saying that after only one year in Washington , Carney has become fully immersed in a system that corruptly and wastefully spends our tax dollars.

It is critical to America ’s financial future that we get off Washington ’s wasteful spending track. The best thing to do is replace pork-spenders like Carney with fiscal conservatives in Congress. But short of that, there’s another thing taxpayers should insist upon. Most pork projects simply don’t pass the smell test. No congressman wants to be clearly on record voting for fruit fly research in France instead of funding for our troops or veterans. Part of Washington’s pork spending game is that the politicians roll together all the pork in one giant bill and tell freshman like Carney that he has to vote for the whole thing in order to get his local projects. If, instead, we switched to a merit-based system, and every pork project was voted on individually, most of them wouldn’t pass. If Chris Carney could achieve that one simple reform of the process, then he would not only deserve to be on the cover of USA Today, he would also deserve the taxpayers’ thanks

-- Chris Hackett is a Really Stupid candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania ’s 10th District

Meuser still lives in 11th District, not 10th, petitions show

2008-02-29T05:53:00.000-08:00

Meuser still lives in 11th District, not 10th, petitions show

BY BORYS KRAWCZENIUK
STAFF WRITER

02/13/2008

Dan Meuser, a Republican candidate for the 10th Congressional District seat, has filed nomination petitions that show he continues to live outside the district.

But in a statement, Meuser, who lives in Shavertown, Jackson Township, Luzerne County, said his fulfillment of plans to move into the district to a home in Harveys Lake is only being held up temporarily by renovations to the new home. Jackson Township is in the 11th Congressional District.

Meuser said he used his Jackson Township address on the petitions to comply with state law.

“After doing a little research, we learned that this address needed to reflect where my family spends the predominance of their time,” Meuser said. “Therefore, as my renovations are taking a little longer than expected at Harveys Lake, we decided to use the old address on the petition to fully comply both with the letter and the spirit of the law.”

Meuser said he hopes to move “in the near future” and would vote in Harveys Lake in the April 22 primary election.

When Meuser and his wife, Shelley, bought the home for $535,000 in September, he said they would move there shortly.

The U.S. Constitution requires congressmen to live within a state, but does not require residency within a district.

Meuser was one of three Republican candidates to file petitions to challenge Democratic Rep. Chris Carney, D-Dimock Township.

The others are Davis C. Haire of Meshoppen Borough in Wyoming County and Chris Hackett of Kingston Township in Luzerne County. No other Democrats filed petitions.

In a statement, Tom Whitehead, Haire’s campaign manager, said the residency issue symbolizes Meuser’s campaign.

“There aren’t too many people in this district who can afford a second house for half a million dollars, especially one purchased for the sole purpose of trying to legitimize a candidacy for Congress,” Whitehead said. “At the end of the day, Davis Haire is the only one who’s actually grown up in this district, the only rural conservative Republican in the race, and the only Republican candidate who can win the general election.”

Mark Harris, a spokesman for Hackett, said Hackett was surprised Meuser hasn’t moved, but declined to comment on the residency issue.

“We’re not going to get into telling the people of the district where Dan Meuser should live,” Harris said in a telephone interview.

In the other local congressional race, Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta and Democratic Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski were the only people to file to run for the 11th District seat Kanjorski has held since 1985. Political activist Kurt Shotko of Scranton has announced plans to run as an independent, but the petition filing deadline for third-party candidates isn’t until Aug. 1.

bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com

New York Times Quote, "Mr. Scranton is a weirdo!"

2008-02-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

The Nation

Recalling the Maharishi and Carville’s Killer Ad

The Carville Guru Ad _ LINK

By TOM FERRICK Jr.

Published: February 10, 2008

WITH his high-pitched giggle and his gentle ways, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is not someone you would expect to be used as a blunt-force weapon in a political campaign.

But, used he was, to great effectiveness, in Pennsylvania in 1986. The story is this.

The Maharishi, who died last Tuesday, was the man who introduced transcendental meditation to the West. The Beatles were his most famous disciples, but another was William W. Scranton 3d, who went to Europe in 1970 to study TM.

Mr. Scranton came from a wealthy and renowned Pennsylvania political family. He went to Yale where he used drugs “recreationally,” protested the Vietnam War, and sported long hair and a beard.

After meeting the Maharishi, Mr. Scranton became a life-long proponent and practitioner of transcendental meditation and returned home to pursue a more conventional career in politics, serving two terms as lieutenant governor.

Then Mr. Scranton ran for governor. He was a formidable candidate, a moderate Republican in the days before that was an insult.

His Democratic opponent was Robert P. Casey, the state’s former auditor general, who had run for governor three times before and lost.

Mr. Casey brought in James Carville to run his campaign and ramp up the aggression level. It was a big break for the “Ragin’ Cajun,” the most important campaign he had handled to date.

Mr. Carville was itching to make Scranton’s baby boomer habits an issue, but feared it could backfire — among boomers, for one.

In mid-October, Mr. Scranton scored a strategic coup. He announced that his campaign was pulling all negative ads, promised to run no more, and challenged Mr. Casey to do the same. Mr. Scranton took the lead in the polls.

The move flummoxed the Casey camp. Then the Scranton campaign made a fatal misstep. It sent a mass mailing to Republicans that featured a letter from the candidate’s father. A second brochure that harshly attacked Mr. Casey was also included.

Scranton aides said the piece was sent out by mistake, but a copy got into Mr. Carville’s hands. It gave him the opening to use what came to be known as the “guru ad.”

The TV spot featured sitar music, pictures of the young, long-haired Mr. Scranton, a mug-shot like photo of the long-haired, bearded Maharishi and a sneering mention of transcendental meditation. Though the exact words were never used, the message was clear: Mr. Scranton is a weirdo!

The ad was timed to air the Saturday before Election Day, too late for the Scranton camp to respond. Mr. Carville chose not to run it in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh media markets, fearing a backlash in the state’s two major urban areas. Instead, he made a big buy in central Pennsylvania, hoping to undercut Mr. Scranton’s support among that region’s conservative Republicans.

On Election Day, Scranton won in the state’s conservative heartland, but by a lower margin than expected.

Out of 3.3 million votes cast statewide, Casey defeated Scranton by a margin of 79,216. A victory of 2 percent.

The political consensus was that it was the “guru ad” that did Bill Scranton in.

Dem Money Men Looking at Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato

2007-11-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

Rendell allies look west for 2010 heir
Battle-wary fund-raisers put stock in Allegheny County's fiscal star.
By Thomas Fitzgerald
Inquirer Staff Writer
Some of Gov. Rendell's top Philadelphia-area fund-raisers are backing a Western Pennsylvanian for governor in 2010, hoping to avoid a protracted battle for the Democratic nomination.
While the governor has remained neutral, allies as close as David L. Cohen, once Rendell's mayoral chief of staff, will host a reception today for Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato.
Though Onorato is little-known in Southeastern Pennsylvania, state political figures credit him with a fiscal turnaround in his county, and he is seen as the best hope for keeping a Democrat in the governor's office when Rendell leaves office.
As many as 50 Rendell money people are expected at a reception for Onorato in the executive dining room at Citizens Bank Park. Onorato, 46, is coy about whether he will run, but the event is an early boost to any potential campaign for governor.
Along with Cohen, Mark Aronchick

West Branch Manufacturers: Swann fumbled

2006-05-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Williamsport Sun-Gazette: "West Branch Manufacturers: Swann fumbled

By LAUREN McLANE lmclane@sungazette.com
Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann canceled a keynote speech to the West Branch Manufacturers’ Association 11 days before its annual dinner, citing a conflicting campaign stop in Erie with former Gov. Tom Ridge.

The group canceled Tuesday’s event and will plan a dinner in the fall with a different speaker, according to Executive Director Michael J. Sharbaugh.

“His chief scheduler contacted William J. Metzger Sr. and said Swann was cancelling to go to Erie,” Sharbaugh said, adding Metzger was contacted Friday.

With more than 270 reservations for the event and more coming in Tuesday morning — another company called requesting a table for 10 — many were disappointed to hear the news, Sharbaugh said.

“I was going to vote for him but now I won’t,” Sharbaugh quoted several people as saying.

“It’s hard to understand,” he said. “It makes you wonder, if he were going to be governor, would he keep his commitments?”

Sharbaugh said the association would have understood if Swann had had to cancel for “a legitimate reason — like he had to have emergency surgery — but not just because he got a better offer.”

Meanwhile, plans must be canceled for a long-planned event.

“The Genetti has graciously agreed to let us out of our contract. We really do appreciate that. Bill Metzger is refunding funds raised,” he added.

Metzger, a member of the group’s board and this year’s dinner chairman, explained the process of coordinating a speaker with a dinner date.

“We started discussions with Mr. Swann’s chief scheduler Jan. 25. We sent a letter putting the request in writing. We left it open to two months for them to pick the date,” Metzger said.

“The dinner is generally held in May or June of each year. We float the date according to the keynote speaker. His camp picked the date.”

To get Swann as a speaker, the group had to agree to raise funds for his political campaign, Metzger said.

“Politicians running for office have a significant need to raise money for campaigns,” he said. “One way to get them to speak at events is to hold a fundraiser,” he said.

The campaign manager will usually suggest a figure that should be met by the fundraiser, Metzger said. In this case, the amount was $10,000.

“We raised in excess of $15,000,” he said.

Funds raised specifically for Swann’s campaign were made out to “Swann for Governor.”

“I returned those checks to each of the donors. It’s the donor’s choice now” whether to give the money to Swann’s campaign, he said.

The funds raised were through “a VIP reception in support of Lynn Swann,” which also was going to be Tuesday.

As of May 1, Swann reportedly raised $3.3 million statewide, compared with the $17.2 million raised by Gov. Ed Rendell.

Swann had other commitments in Pittsburgh in the morning on Tuesday, but “we had arranged for a private, two-engine plane to pick him up in Pittsburgh and bring him to Williamsport. We had arranged for a suite at the Genetti for him to freshen up,” Metzger said.

The VIP reception would be at the Ross Club, followed immediately by the group’s reception and dinner.

“He had asked and we had agreed that he would speak before the dinner so he could get home not too late,” he added.

Metzger said he was particularly angry that Swann had canceled not only so close to the deadline, but also that the association had already re-arranged its plans several times to accommodate Swann’s schedule.

“Originally, he had committed for May 30, he’d leave Pittsburgh mid-morning and we’d have a luncheon reception at the Williamsport Country Club. Then his campaign called and said that was not feasible. The real point is that we re-arranged several times to suit his needs, to be as conciliatory as we can reasonably be,” Metzger said.

When Swann’s campaign contacted Metzger, they offered an alternate speaker in the form of Swann’s running mate Jim Matthews, he said.

“I advised her that people had committed to this event to hear Lynn Swann speak on his opinions on the office he was running for, not Jim Matthews’. The only options were to rearrange or that he bring Ridge,” he continued.

“I was told that was not possible,” he said.

“The facts are the facts and people can draw their own conclusions,” Metzger said, regarding Swann’s receipt of a better campaigning offer.

“We regret the campaign’s need to postpone our long-awaited appearance before the association to a later date. We appreciate their understanding and we look forward to sharing our vision of change and reform for Williamsport as soon as possible,” Melissa Winters, spokeswoman for Swann’s campaign, said to the Sun-Gazette."

Voters Send Mike Long's Cronies Packing - Jubelier Brightbill and Zug bite the big one - Yahoo! News

2006-05-17T04:06:00.000-07:00

Voters Send Incumbents Packing - Yahoo! News: "Voters Send Incumbents Packing Wed May 17, 1:11 AM ET

Voters sent a very clear message to their lawmakers Tuesday, one that left incumbents tasting bitter defeat in a historic day at the polls.

It appears the pay raise of 2005 played a role in the defeat of major state Senate leaders, including Senate majority leader David Brightbill and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer.

Pay Raise Payback

In the Susquehanna Valley, only one lawmaker who voted for the pay raise survived the primary election, Rep. Adam Harris, of Adams County.

Sen. Brightbill, of Lebanon County, Rep. Stephen Maitland, of Adams and Franklin counties, Rep. Roy Baldwin, of Lancaster County, Rep. Pete Zug, of Lebanon County and Rep. Patrick Fleagle, of Franklin County all voted for the pay raise, and all were defeated Tuesday.

Rep. Gibson Armstrong of Lancaster County was also defeated. Although he didn't vote for the pay raise, critics pointed out that he did vote for the rules change that allowed the vote to happen."

Mcall.com: Mike Long Screwed Chip Brightbill and then covered

2006-05-17T03:59:00.000-07:00

Mcall.com: Capitol Ideas with John L. Micek : Dateline: Altoona.: "March 31, 2006
Dateline: Altoona.
Total People in Discussion: 0
Categories: Current Affairs

We're Just Back ...
... from two days of campaign travel in the wilds of Western Pennsylvania. It's always good to get out of the office for a while to find out what actual people who actually work for a living think about the goings-on here in the seat of power.
The only downside to leaving is the towering pile of paperwork and the dozen or so phone messages we had to wade through when we arrived at Capitol Ideas World Headquarters this morning

There's more on our trip after the jump.

We Started Our Swing ...
... in scenic Pittsburgh on Wednesday, where we attended the annual conference of the National Society of Black Engineers.
The group bills itself as the largest student-run organization of its kind in the country, and is specifically designed to encourage more black students to pursue careers in math and science.
To drop the cynical facade for a moment, it was pretty inspiring to see all these kids (from all over the country, no less) so jazzed up. That's doubly true when you consider that all this excitement was over math and science.
We have enough trouble balancing our checkbooks. Can't even imagine spending a week debating the finer points on the structural integrity of bridges and stuff..
But in the midst of all this hoopla, Gov. Ed had his own little Bush43/NAACP moment.
Either by accident or design, the Rendellies decided to give the conference's opening ceremonies a pass.
Carl Mack, NSBE's executive director (and a very tall man who we wouldn't want to have mad at us) wasted little time ripping the current occupant of the governor's office.
"For the governor of the state not to have an interest in 10,000 African-American students (in Pittsburgh) ... don't give me rhetoric about education reform. For him to skip was an insult."
This is also the place where we point out that Rendell's Republican rival, Lynn Swann, did manage to find his way over to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where NSBE held its conclave.
Bad move, Gov. We've seen your poll numbers out West.

Thursday Found Us ...
... in Altoona, where we (along with Capitolwire's Pete DeCoursey) spent the day tagging along with state Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer, R-Blair.
We spent the best part of the day in Hollidaysburg, Blair County, where Jubelirer spent about two hours knocking on doors in his first spring primary since 1974.
For those of you not in the know, Jubelirer faces a particularly tough primary challenge from Blair County Commissioner John Eichelberger, who is kind of the Joker/Riddler/Penguin to Jubelirer's Batman. There's not a lot in the way of lost love between these two guys.
Anyway, the reaction from voters was fairly genial, except for the one guy who decided to rip Jubelirer's face off over last year's legislative pay raise.
The guy wasn't much interested in explanations -- not even when Jubelirer tried to tell him that he'd voted to repeal the hated raises.
On Thursday night, former Gov. Tom Ridge swung in for a fund-raiser at a baquet hall in the shadows of the Altoona Curve's ballpark.
There, the former Commissar for Homeland Security offered his unqualified endorsement for his "good friend, Bob Jubelirer."
We've got to hand it to Ridge. He was looking about as tanned and rested as we've ever seen him,
Then again, if the biggest security threat you had to think about these days was how to handle a particularly difficult Par 4 at the Lake Shore Country Club in Erie, you'd probably look that good, too.
During a press conference before the fund-raiser, Ridge initially tripped over a question on whether he intended to offer an equally enthusiastic endorsement for another Senate GOP leader who's having some trouble these days: Senate Majority Leader David J.Brightbill, R-Lebanon.
"I haven't talked to Sen. Brightbill yet," Ridge said. "I'm here for Bob Jubelirer."
Later that evening, Ridge, at the urging of Senate GOP campaign czar/Brightbill brother-in-law Mike Long, clarified his remarks:
"I'll work with Chip, if I'm asked," Ridge said, likely to the relief of Long, who was no doubt contemplating six months worth of awkward Sunday dinners if he failed to deliver the former Guv for Brightbill.
"We just had so much trouble scheduling this. The people who helped me, I'm obligated to support. And he's one of them," Ridge concluded, thus also saving Long from the kids table at Thanksgiving.

One More Note On That Ridge Press Conference ...
After dealing with stunned silence from the local press when he asked if there were any questions, Ridge fielded one or two queries about his feelings on the ... er ... immigration reform fever that's sweeping Washington these days.
In short, he's not a fan.
"Right now, the decibel level is not conducive to a thoughtful approach," he said. "We have every right to defend our borders ... But the notion that you can send 11 million people back, these legislators have got to get a grip."
Instead, Ridge advocated a more sensible guest worker program to help accomodate the Mexicans and Central Americans who want to "lay asphalt in Phoenix in 120-degree weather," and do other jobs that most Gringos try hard (and shouldn't) to avoid.
And when he was asked about the lightly armed couch potatoes who now consider it their patriotic duty to play cop along the border, Ridge said, "I appreciate their interest, but if they really want to help, they can volunteer to do clerical and back office work so that customs and immigrations officers can do the enforcement."

Of Course, There Was Other Stuff ...
... going on whilst we were gallivanting across the state. Here's a quick look at what's left:

We Wish We Knew This Yesterday Dept.
The Tribune Review's Brad Bumsted and Deb Erdley hit one out of the park this morning, revealing that a political action committee controlled by the famously anti-gambling Jubelirer, and run by aide Long, was largely financed by a leading contender for a slots license in Scranton.

State Rep. Mike Diven, R-Pittsburgh ...
... has spoken out on the forged signatures that forced him to withdraw fromf the spring ballot this week.
Diven said he didn't circulate the bad petition, and that "we believe someone sat down and wrote (the petition) out from a street list."
Diven won't say who in his camp ciruclated the document. He also apologized for including dead people on his petitions.
What?
We used to live in Chicago.
Just because they're dead doesn't mean they can't vote, Mike.

Hordes of Young Conservatives ...
... descend on a Hilton in suburban Harrisburg this afternoon for the annual Pennsylvania Leadership Conference.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann gets things started at 2 p.m. Our Rick is the dinner speaker at 6 p.m. MSNBC screeching head Joe Scarborough is also slated to speak.

In The Blogosphere:
Keystone Politics on the red-hot 6th Congressional District race; GrassrootsPA is all over that Jubelirer/PAC story; Young Philly Politics reminds readers that the state House is slated to vote next week on the gay marriage amendment; A Smoke-Filled Room has a daily media round-up; Above Average Jane has some things to do; What is the sound of one mouth talking? Bill Bostic interviews Gene Stilp; Tony Phyrillas says Berks County is scraping the bottom of the legislative barrel; PennPatriot isn't a big fan of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board; If you look hard enough for media bias, you'll find it anywhere (sigh), and we wrap up with Wonkette's daily briefing.

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning:
To help combat the lingering fatigue we're feeling from all that PA Turnpike travel, we've got The Replacements' messy, but still tons of fun, 1982 EP Stink blasting at a paralyzingly loud volume right now.

Friday's Final Gratuitous Soccer Link:
In which we close out the week with The Guardian confirming what the rest of the world knows already: the comically behind-schedule Wembley Stadium will not open until 2007.
And more good news for fans in the Bernabeu, David Beckham has decided he wants to stay at Real Madrid.

That's it for this week. See you all on Monday."

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/07/2006 | Mike Long Cost Jubelirer His Seat with O'Berry's Help

2006-05-17T03:53:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/07/2006 | Group alleges legislature, court colluded: "Posted on Tue, Feb. 07, 2006email thisprint thisreprint or license thisGroup alleges legislature, court colludedBy Mario F. Cattabiani and Angela Couloumbis
Inquirer Staff Writers
HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania's leading watchdog group alleged in a lawsuit yesterday that the highest ranks of the legislature traded millions in state aid to the courts for favorable decisions dating to 1999 - and possibly culminating last summer in generous pay raises for more than 1,000 judges.

A state Supreme Court spokesman called the accusations "preposterous."

The allegations were laid out in a revised federal court challenge in Harrisburg to last summer's legislative pay raise, in which Common Cause of Pennsylvania contends that there has been political "back scratching" between top House and Senate members and the state Supreme Court for years.

At the heart of the new allegations is the contention that, seven years ago, legislative leaders negotiated with the high court to fund the state's judiciary, fearing that if they did not, the justices would rule against them on two suits involving constitutional challenges.

Given that history, Common Cause alleges it is more than likely that last summer's unpopular pay raises were the result of a similar deal between Chief Justice Ralph Cappy and legislative leaders.

"What we are telling the court is that this may not be a unique instance, that this may have been going on at various levels for quite a few years," said Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause. "We are asking the [federal] court to get to the bottom of it. If it is going on, it needs to be stopped and the federal courts need to put the hammer down."

Speaking on behalf of Cappy, Tom Darr, deputy court administrator of Pennsylvania, said: "It is regrettable that an organization like Common Cause, which has always stood for the principles of good government, would file such a frivolous lawsuit."

He added: "A preliminary reading shows the allegations to be preposterous, baseless and reckless and the relief sought ridiculous."

The suit provides as evidence conversations held behind closed doors between Republican members of the House in June 1999.

During that internal caucus meeting, then-Majority Leader John M. Perzel (R., Phila.), now speaker of the House, allegedly told colleagues that they were moving ahead with the court funding because "we cannot afford to have the courts rule against us" on the two suits. One suit involved workers compensation, the other an increase in the state tax on gasoline for highway-improvement projects.

Perzel's comments came after members of the caucus complained that the legislature should not give in to "blackmail" by the court, the suit contends.

Former Rep. Ed Krebs, who was at the meeting, attested to the allegation in an affidavit filed with the amended suit. In it, he also alleges that then-Speaker Matt Ryan told fellow Republicans that another member, J. Scot Chadwick, had acted as a negotiator with the Supreme Court on the matter.

In an interview yesterday from his Lebanon County home, Krebs said, "To me, it meant that if we didn't give them the money for the courts, we would lose the cases. It was a quid pro quo."

Krebs retired from the House in 2002 after serving 12 years.

Chadwick, a former Republican representative from Bradford County, told the Associated Press that he did consult with court officials over the 1999 legislation, but that the meeting was informational, not a quid pro quo negotiation.

"I think that would be very wrong," he said. "I am an attorney by training and that would raise a red flag with me immediately."

The high court wound up ruling in favor of the legislature in both cases.

That wasn't the only instance of possible collusion, according to the suit.

Last summer, the suit alleges, Cappy lobbied the legislature hard to implement the pay raise, which increased legislative salaries as well as those for judges and other state officials. It was rescinded in November by a contrite legislature that had been whipped in public-opinion polls.

The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to both the pay raise and the legislature's move to overturn it. Cappy has recused himself from hearing the case.

That lawsuit quotes an August e-mail about the pay raise that was allegedly written by Republican Senate employee Suzanne O'Berry to Matthew Brouillette, head of the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank.

"I watched the formulation of all this up close with my 'special connections' to certain offices, and it was much more unsavory than a lot know," O'Berry wrote, according to the suit. "... I will say that family dining debate has become much more exciting."

O'Berry is married to Mike Long, a top aide to Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer (R., Blair). Jubelirer is among the defendants named in Common Cause's suit.

O'Berry told the Associated Press that she does not recall the e-mail and had no other immediate comment.

Just last week, Perzel asked Cappy and the court for guidance in crafting a lobbying disclosure bill that would withstand legal scrutiny.

Attempts to reach Perzel and Jubelirer were unsuccessful yesterday.

The Common Cause lawsuit asks the federal court to declare unconstitutional private conversations between judges and members of the executive or legislative branches about legislation that might come before them.

Joining in the lawsuit with Common Cause are the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and state Rep. Greg Vitali (D., Delaware) among others. The defendants include top legislative leaders of both parties in the House and Senate, as well as Gov. Rendell and state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Mario F. Cattabiani at 717-787-5990 or mcattabiani@phillynews.com."

Slime Politics By Lambro the hack in The Washington Times, Rev Moon's Newspaper

2006-03-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

Lead projected to slip for pro-life Democrat�-�Nation/Politics�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "Lead projected to slip for pro-life Democrat
By Donald Lambro
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 10, 2006

Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the Republican Party's most vulnerable incumbent, trails state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. by 10 to 15 percentage points, but the race will tighten when Democrats learn more about Mr. Casey's pro-life views, pollsters and campaign advisers said yesterday.
Mr. Casey's pro-life position has angered pro-choice Democratic activists and could bring into the race Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Should that happen, it would split the Democrats and turn the November election into a competitive contest, independent polls indicate.
"If there were a third-party candidate on the ballot who is pro-choice, that candidate could draw heavily from Casey backers among liberal Democrats, enough to make it a close race," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, whose surveys show that Mr. Casey is vulnerable on the abortion issue with pro-choice Democrats.
"If Michelman gets in, I think you would see Casey's support drop," Mr. Richards said.
Both Mr. Santorum and Mr. Casey are pro-life. The big difference is that the two-term senator receives strong support on his position from the Republican Party base, while Mr. Casey represents a party that is overwhelmingly pro-choice in a state that has some of the most conservative abortion laws in the nation.
An earlier Quinnipiac poll found that when voters were told about Mr. Casey's pro-life position, many Democrats reacted negatively to his candidacy. Such a development could spell trouble for Mr. Casey when the race heats up later this year.
"A significant number of Casey supporters still do not know that Casey is opposed to abortion. There are a significant number of pro-choice voters whose entire opinion swings on that one issue, and unlike other single-issue voters, they will use their vote on just that one issue, even it if hurts the candidate they are otherwise philosophically attuned with," Mr. Richards said.
Other developments angered pro-choice Democrats and complicated the party's campaign to unseat Mr. Santorum.
Gov. Edward G. Rendell, a Democrat, and Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, pressured pro-choice candidate Barbara Hafer to drop out of the race to clear the way for Mr. Casey's nomination in the May 16 party primary.
Also, Mr. Casey said he would have voted to confirm Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s nomination to the Supreme Court. The announcement further alienated Democrats who opposed the pro-life jurist.
"For me and for many people across the country who care about women's rights, that was the straw that broke the camel's back," Ms. Michelman said, hinting that she may enter the contest. "I have become a vehicle for people who feel they have to take action at a time of crisis."
Until now, the Santorum campaign has been unable to draw out Mr. Casey on the issues in what Republicans call a Democratic "stealth campaign."
"When people start to find out what Casey believes, it will affect his support," said Santorum campaign spokeswoman Virginia Davis.
Casey campaign officials declined to talk about Democratic reaction to his pro-choice views or about Ms. Michelman's political aspirations. "I'll leave that to the pundits. We'll wait and see if she gets in the race," said Casey spokesman Larry Smar."

The Sentinel Online - Editorial - Casey scores in pay grab lawsuit

2006-03-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

The Sentinel Online - Editorial: "Casey scores in pay grab lawsuit

By The Sentinel, March 08, 2006

Nobody likes being sued. Anytime a person is called upon to respond to a lawsuit, he can be expected to file the most thorough argument he can muster in hopes the suit will be dismissed.

State Treasurer Bob Casey was named as a defendant in the lawsuit filed by anti-pay grab activist Gene Stilp, who is trying to head off arguments of several state judges that the now-repealed pay grab bill must be reinstated. They argue the state’s constitution specifically prohibits the reduction of any judge’s pay while in office, and that means the pay raise can’t be repealed.

Casey’s response to the lawsuit was released this week — and it looked an awful lot like Stilp’s lawsuit. Casey’s brief asserted the Legislature “repeatedly violated Article III of the state Constitution” in passing the pay-grab bill, and since the bill was unconstitutional on its face, the judges’ salary raise never really existed.

And that neatly cuts the legs out from under the various judge-filed lawsuits to reinstate the pay grab — if the state Supreme Court concurs with that reasoning.

Now we happened to notice that there’s a U.S. Senate election in Pennsylvania this year — and that Casey is the leading Democratic challenger in that race. So we’re alert to the notion that Casey responded when opportunity knocked.

Certainly this has occurred to Republicans, who claim Casey had plenty of time before this to register any objections he might have had to the pay grab.

That Casey has suddenly gotten religion as his Senate campaign ramps up is a point worthy of debate. He might have gotten away with simply ignoring the issue on the grounds that a court case was already proceeding.

But the need to file a response to Stilp’s lawsuit forced him to take a stand. He could have, like Gov. Ed Rendell did previously, simply assert that the constitutional violations took place outside his field of influence.

Instead, Casey took a course that puts him in opposition to the much-derided Legislature and in line with majority thought on the pay grab. And it puts him way out front of the guy he’s challenging, Sen. Rick Santorum, who previously asserted that statewide issues don’t affect his candidacy.

We’ll see if Santorum is eventually proved right. For now, Casey takes the point."

Santorum's charity spends 60 percent on overhead, Santorum's Staff Personally Benefited!

2006-02-27T07:15:00.000-08:00

Senator's charity spends 60 percent on overhead, some to campaign aides: "Senator's charity spends 60 percent on overhead, some to campaign aides

WASHINGTON A charity run by Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is supposed to promote "compassionate conservatism" by giving grants to small non-profit groups, including religious groups.

But the charity has actually donated just 40 percent of the one and a-quarter (m) million dollars it spent during a four-year period. The rest went for overhead. And some of that overhead money went to Santorum campaign aides who were on the charity's payroll.

The 40-percent donation rate is well below the standards of the Better Business Bureau, which advises giving to charitable organizations that spend at least 65 percent of their total expenses on program activities.

The treasurer for Operation Good Neighbor defends its spending practices. She says the charity doesn't have the same ability as the Salvation Army or the Red Cross "to raise money without spending much money to do so."

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed."

Casey Could Defeat Santorum in Pennsylvania: Angus Reid Consultants

2006-02-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

Casey Could Defeat Santorum in Pennsylvania: Angus Reid Consultants: "Angus Reid Global Scan : Polls & Research
Casey Could Defeat Santorum in Pennsylvania
February 16, 2006
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey maintains the upper hand in the United States Senate election, according to a poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. 51 per cent of respondents in the Keystone State would support the Democrat in a head-to-head contest against Republican incumbent Rick Santorum.

Casey has been Pennsylvania’s state treasurer since January 2005, and previously served as the state auditor general for eight years. Casey is the son of former Keystone State governor Robert P. Casey, and lost the 2002 Democratic primary to current governor Ed Rendell.

Santorum was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, and earned a second term in 2000, defeating Democrat Ron Klink with 53 per cent of all cast ballots. He had previously served for two consecutive terms in the House of Representatives.

Support for Casey fell by one point since October, while backing for Santorum increased by two points to 36 per cent. The U.S. Senate election is scheduled for Nov. 7.

In a state in which one in five residents is over 60 years old, Medicare is expected to become a major campaign issue. Virginia Davis, a spokesman for Santorum’s office, said in a statement to Bloomberg.com that "it is senator Santorum’s priority that Pennsylvania’s seniors have access to quality, affordable prescription drugs."

Polling Data

If the 2006 election for senator were being held today, and the candidates were Bob Casey Jr. the Democrat and Rick Santorum the Republican for whom would you vote?

Feb. 2006
Oct. 2005
Jul. 2005

Bob Casey Jr. (D)
51%
52%
50%

Rick Santorum (R)
36%
34%
39%

Someone else
1%
1%
--

Would not vote
2%
2%
1%

Not sure
10%
11%
11%

Source: Quinnipiac University Polling Institute
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,661 Pennsylvania voters, conducted from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, 2006. Margin of error is 2.4 per cent."

Santorum wants to have his cake and eat it, too. - Christianity Today Magazine

2006-02-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

How Not to Influence People - Christianity Today Magazine: "Home > Christianity Today Magazine > Culture & Technology > Books

Christianity Today, February 2006

Bookmarks
How Not to Influence People
Rick Santorum's It Takes a Family is an example of how not to fight the culture wars.
by John Wilson | posted 02/16/2006 09:15 a.m.

IT TAKES A FAMILY:
Conservatism and
the Common Good
by Rick Santorum
464 pp.; $25

Every Christian on the front lines of the culture wars should read this book—as an example of how not to go about it. Santorum, a two-term Republican senator from Pennsylvania currently engaged in a tough battle for reelection, is a devout Roman Catholic who was named by Time magazine as one of "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America." As one of the strongest conservative voices in the Senate, he has taken leadership on a number of key issues, including abortion.

We urgently need leaders who unapologetically defend traditional family values in the context of the common good. At times, It Takes a Family achieves this goal, with well-reasoned policy recommendations and telling anecdotes. But from the start, this book has a divided heart. Santorum's contemptuous references to "liberals," "village elders," and "the Bigs" (this from a candidate who boasts Wal-Mart as a major donor) are pitched to the right-wing choir. One moment sneering in full talk-radio mode, the next moment sanctimoniously quoting Tocqueville, Santorum wants to have his cake and eat it, too.

It didn't surprise me when (on page 296) Santorum came to the obligatory reference to Andres Serrano's Piss Christ—"a piece of 'artwork,' funded by the National Endowment of the Arts"—that he referred to Serrano as "José." Santorum and his researchers can't even be bothered to get the name of one of their favorite villains right. We expect more than this from one who styles himself a champion of the common good.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
February 2006, Vol. 50, No. 2, Page 99"

Santorum's Goons Use Dirty Politics to Attack Casey

2006-02-17T10:52:00.000-08:00

Casey's Abramoff-linked donations draw flak from GOP, Santorum: "Casey's Abramoff-linked donations draw flak from GOP, Santorum
Thursday, February 16, 2006

By Maeve Reston, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WASHINGTON -- Republican officials and Sen. Rick Santorum's campaign yesterday accused Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate candidate, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., of hypocrisy because Mr. Casey's campaign does not plan to return contributions from two former associates of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The controversy is part of the struggle between Washington's Democrats and Republicans to avoid the taint of the Abramoff scandal after the ex-lobbyist pleaded guilty last month to tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy to bribe public officials resulting from a federal investigation into his activities promoting Indian tribes.

As Democrats have tried to brand the GOP as a corrupt party because of Mr. Abramoff's dealings with prominent Republicans including former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Republicans have retaliated by scouring Federal Election Commission records to find contributions to Democrats from Mr. Abramoff's associates or the tribes for which he lobbied.

That exercise this week has turned up two contributions to Mr. Casey from lobbyists who worked closely with Mr. Abramoff while he was at the firm of Greenberg Traurig LLP. Officials of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and at Mr. Santorum's campaign are making an issue of $5,500 that the Democratic challenger received last year from two former employees of that law firm: Michael Smith and Edward Ayoob.

Even though the contributions by both men were made more than a year after Mr. Abramoff was pressured to resign by Greenberg Traurig and at a time when both were working for new firms, the Republican campaign committee and Mr. Santorum's campaign yesterday said Mr. Casey was applying a double standard for contributions to his campaign and those to the senator's.

Earlier this year, Mr. Casey's campaign pounded Mr. Santorum for not immediately returning contributions from several of Mr. Abramoff's tribal clients. Within the week of Mr. Abramoff's guilty plea, Mr. Santorum decided that he would donate the tribal contributions to charity because his campaign said it was virtually impossible to determine whether the money was related to Mr. Abramoff's lobbying activities.

"[Mr. Casey] is basically saying one thing and doing another," said Santorum campaign spokeswoman Virginia Davis. "Both of these gentlemen were part of Abramoff's team, and there are reports of their close connections with Abramoff. ... For Casey to not contribute these contributions to charity or return them is completely hypocritical."

Mr. Smith, who gave Mr. Casey $4,000 last June and is now a lobbyist at Cornerstone Government Affairs, declined to comment yesterday.

Mr. Ayoob also declined to comment, other than to say he was frustrated that contributions he made more than a year after he last spoke with Mr. Abramoff were being used for what he views as obvious political purposes. Mr. Ayoob, who donated a total of $1,500 on June 29 and Sept. 19 of last year, is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and the Duquesne University law school who worked with Mr. Abramoff after his time as a senior aide for current Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Mr. Ayoob now works for the firm of Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

Mr. Casey?s spokesman Larry Smar emphasized that neither Mr. Ayoob or Mr. Smith had been accused of wrongdoing and said the back and forth was "nothing more than a smokescreen by Santorum to try to cover up his ethical problems with the K Street project and his weekly meetings with lobbyists."

(Maeve Reston can be reached at 202-488-3479 mreston@post-gazette.com.)"

Patriot-News: Casey adds to lead over Santorum, poll shows - Santorum Tanking

2006-02-14T15:09:00.000-08:00

Casey adds to lead over Santorum, poll shows: "Casey adds to lead over Santorum, poll shows
CASEY
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
BY BRETT LIEBERMAN
Of The Patriot-News
WASHINGTON - A new poll could diminish Republicans' confidence that the U.S. Senate election is narrowing.

Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr. widened his lead over U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., by 3 percentage points, to 51 percent to 36 percent, over the last two months, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released yesterday.

The poll of 1,661 Pennsylvania voters shows that one Republican in five labels Santorum's views "extreme," and the same proportion says that he does not deserve to be re-elected.

"Sen. Santorum opens the election year a solid 15 points behind Bob Casey and facing serious opposition from a significant number of members of his own party," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The poll was conducted from Jan. 31 through Feb. 6 and has a 2.4-percentage- point margin of error. A Patriot-News/WGAL-TV Keystone Poll released last week that was conducted over nearly the same period showed Casey leading Santorum by 11 points.

Forty-three percent of voters approve of Santorum's job performance, but 42 percent disapprove. Only 15 percent said they don't know enough.

While Casey's unfavorable ratings are at 6 percent, 38 percent say they don't know enough about the state treasurer to make up their mind, more than those who have a favorable opinion (34 percent).

The bottom line for Santorum is that 44 percent still say he does not deserve to be re-elected, compared with 41 percent who say he does.

Casey, who is expected to win the Democratic nomination, is favored by 70 percent of Democratic voters surveyed.

BRETT LIEBERMAN: (202) 383-7833 or blieberman@patriot-news.com"

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/13/2006 | Casey Raising More Money Than Anticipated - Santorum Losing "Incumbent's Edge"

2006-02-13T16:59:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/13/2006 | For Santorum and Casey, fund-raising is constant: "Posted on Mon, Feb. 13, 2006
For Santorum and Casey, fund-raising is constant Each must juggle his duties with the scramble for money in what analysts consider the year's premier Senate race.By Carrie BudoffInquirer Staff WriterIn December, State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. went into the office just seven days.
With a crucial fund-raising deadline looming, the Democratic Senate candidate swept through Los Angeles, Atlanta and St. Louis and spent as many days in Philadelphia - raising money and working on his campaign - as he did in the treasurer's office in Harrisburg.
Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum stayed closer to home, attending 11 fund-raisers in 15 days across Pennsylvania and in New York and Washington. After missing four votes, and the possibility of a fifth on the Patriot Act, Santorum cut short a trip to Texas and Arizona.
That December snapshot highlights the intense pace of fund-raising in what political analysts consider this year's premier U.S. Senate race. With the candidates preparing to battle not only each other but special-interest groups, the need to bank millions of dollars won't relent until Election Day.
Santorum is the Senate Republicans' No. 3 leader, but he is the Democrats' No. 1 target - for his conservative politics as much as for his Senate leadership position and his potential presidential aspirations. Democrats, hungry for a high-profile win, have funneled $6 million to Casey. Republicans have countered with $10 million for Santorum in the last year.
The money pressures have led Casey to spend the majority of his time on 91.5 of 211 workdays on his campaign from March through December, according to an abridged schedule provided by the treasurer's office. Casey, who entered the Senate race six weeks after being sworn in as treasurer, spent more than half of June, September and December out of the office. The common thread: Each month preceded a quarterly fund-raising deadline, a pivotal benchmark that shapes perceptions about a candidate's ability to win.
Santorum did make 96 percent of his Senate votes between March and December - the key indicator for determining a senator's whereabouts. But that tells only part of the story.
Santorum spent a portion of 97 of 211 work days at fund-raisers, weaving 154 events throughout his Senate schedule, routinely juggling floor votes with donor luncheons at Washington restaurants, according to a list provided by his campaign. The mixing of public business and fund-raising has come under scrutiny since lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty plea in a bribery investigation that magnified the clubby relationships between lawmakers and lobbyists.
Although much attention is paid to the amount that candidates raise, less is known about the methods and time that fund-raising demands. The schedules, which are not public records, were provided at The Inquirer's request, offering a more complex view of fund-raising in a cash-infused race.
Santorum and Casey say their official duties remain their priority; fund-raising is secondary.
Still, Barry Kauffman, executive director of Pennsylvania Common Cause, a government watchdog group, called the campaign interference "a huge, huge problem."
"When public officials are distracted from their jobs because they have to raise enormous amounts of money, and they spend four or five hours a day dialing for dollars with wealthy people, they don't have time to talk to the regular people," Kauffman said.
"It all comes down to, Who is going to own the election?"
By all accounts, Casey had never thought much about the Senate. The governorship was his ambition.
That all changed when he won the treasurer's office in 2004 with more votes than any other candidate in any race in state history, and in areas where Democrats usually fared poorly. The national party came calling.
When Casey entered the Senate race on March 4, political observers asked: Would the party's big liberal funders invest heavily in this antiabortion, anti-gun-control Democrat?
Eleven months later, Casey has overcome much of the skepticism by crisscrossing the state and the nation, making contacts and collecting checks - mostly behind closed doors.
Casey left the East Coast for the first time to raise money in June. But his first stop wasn't a liberal money capital like Los Angeles or San Francisco.
It was Dallas.
After flying on a private jet owned by the law firm of Baron & Budd, Casey dined with donors at the Crescent Club, a private club at a five-star hotel. He also was host at a cocktail reception for younger professionals in the Uptown district.
"He hasn't been a national politician," said Frederick M. Baron, a prominent Dallas lawyer who served as chairman of Democrat John Kerry's joint fund-raising committee for his presidential campaign in 2004. "It was really important for him to go around and start introducing himself and start networking."
Baron said he met Casey through Austin, Texas, native Paul Begala, an adviser to former President Bill Clinton who helped propel Casey's father into the Pennsylvania governor's office in the late '80s.
As a past president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Baron said, he has since asked his national network of lawyers to raise money for Casey, which they have done in San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles. For them, Santorum's defeat ranks at the top of the political to-do list.
Unlike Casey, Santorum favors limiting jury awards in malpractice cases and establishing a federal asbestos trust fund. In a 2002 interview with the Financial Times of London, Baron vowed a "jihad" against lawmakers who worked to restrict tort cases.
Casey flew out of Dallas with more than $71,000, including $28,000 from Baron & Budd employees.
He returned to Texas in September as part of a money-raising sprint that kept him from the office on 16 of 21 workdays.
For the month, he cleared $1.5 million, or roughly $50,000 a day, exceeding analysts' expectations. The month's highlights: Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) helped raise $500,000 at a Philadelphia luncheon, and a former ambassador to Portugal, Elizabeth F. Bagley, feted the state treasurer in her Georgetown home in Washington.
The demands of a statewide campaign - this is Casey's third in four years - have not gone unnoticed in Harrisburg.
Within days of Casey's entering the race, Republicans sensed a political soft spot. They began portraying him as a political opportunist, flitting from office to office and using his family name to advance.
At a budget hearing in March, Casey told state lawmakers he could handle the dual responsibility. "I am confident in the system we have in place and the team we have in place."
The treasurer, who earns $134,140 a year, serves as custodian of $100 billion in state-agency and public-pension funds. The office cuts checks, audits spending, administers the state's college savings plan, and oversees $12 billion in investments.
While he might be out of the office, Casey remains in "constant contact," Treasury spokeswoman Karen Walsh said.
She said he has gone beyond his job description by creating new loan programs - $20 million for energy loans to homeowners, and $50 million for hospital improvements. He performed a "top-to-bottom review" of state Treasury contracts for cost savings, expanded fraud investigations, and hired Moody's to rate the college savings plan for the first time to encourage more investment, Walsh said.
"I can't stress enough that he is running this department," Walsh said.
The pressure to raise mounds of cash stems, in large part, from Santorum.
The two-term senator estimated a year ago that he would collect $25 million, or an average of $1 million a month, putting him on track to break the Senate record in Pennsylvania of $21 million, set by Republican Sen. Arlen Specter in 2004.
Observers didn't question the goal. Santorum, who earns $162,000 a year, has established himself as a prolific fund-raiser.
His schedule reflects that reality. He has traveled to more than a dozen states, once holding five events between Georgia and Texas in one day.
A Georgia fund-raiser netted $12,750 from 15 doctors with Resurgens, an orthopedic practice. Workers and executives of Alcon Laboratories, a Texas eye-products company, poured $17,600 into his campaign.
A July weekend trip to Colorado coincided with more than $25,000 in contributions from prominent conservatives, such as billionaire financier Philip Anschutz and retired cable executive John V. Saeman Jr., who said he supports Santorum's "pro-family, pro-life values." Like Casey on his Texas trip, Santorum got there by corporate jet - this one from BellSouth.
"We all recognize that Rick is a marked man," said Saeman, who, along with his wife, gave the maximum donation of $4,200. "The Republicans were able to unseat Tom Daschle, and this is the Democrats' hot-button designated seat for payback."
Consider Santorum's long Veterans' Day weekend.
On Nov. 10, a Thursday, he attended two fund-raisers and cast two votes in Washington. Later that day, he traveled to Ohio for a third fund-raiser, missing three votes. Over the next three days, he jumped from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, delivering speeches and federal funds for local programs. He was back in Philadelphia that Monday, leading a town-hall meeting and hitting two more fund-raisers before a 5:25 p.m. vote in Washington.
"There is a real incumbent advantage, because the line between campaigning and Senate duties is very thin," said Larry Noble, president of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington.
Nowhere is this more apparent than Washington.
Santorum has held more than a third of his fund-raisers there, more than in any other city and, on several occasions, has held as many as three in a day.
Moving among votes, hearings and constituent meetings, Santorum drops by a donor breakfast or luncheon, typically for half an hour. The events are built around his official duties, said Virginia Davis, his campaign spokeswoman.
"Sen. Santorum is committed to carrying out the responsibilities associated with his official role as a U.S. senator," Davis said. "His remaining time is balanced with the priorities of his family and the challenge of running statewide."
Those commitments "often limit his ability to travel outside of D.C. for fund-raising," she added.
Newt Gingrich, the Republican former House speaker, has called it unnecessary. "Too many politicians are scheduling the people's business around their fund-raising opportunities," Gingrich, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, said in a commentary last month on National Public Radio. "There is no good reason to raise money in Washington, D.C., and this practice should be banned. Period."
Unlikely to happen, political observers say. For Santorum and Casey, the amount of money from Washington area donors is second only to that from Pennsylvanians.
"The members can't afford it," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "The people who are most interested in their campaigns are people with interests in Washington."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Carrie Budoff at 610-313-8211 or cbudoff@phillynews.com.
How this article was reported
Work schedules are not covered by Pennsylvania's public-records law, but the state Treasury Department provided an abridged version of Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr.'s whereabouts on workdays at the Inquirer's request.
It included city location by date and whether the Democratic candidate spent the majority of the day on Treasury business or on his campaign - a determination made by the Treasury's communications director. The schedule did not detail his daily meetings or activities after work hours or on the weekends.
His work schedule was then matched against his campaign-finance reports to determine where he was and from whom he raised money as he traveled. The Casey campaign would not provide a list of his fund-raisers by date and city.
Republican Sen. Rick Santorum's campaign did provide a list telling where and when he held fund-raisers.
Santorum's schedule was initially pieced together through his roll-call votes, public events, and a review of his campaign-finance filings. The fund-raising list compiled by his campaign, which detailed the number of events he held in each city, filled in the gaps.
The review covered 10 months last year, from March 1 through Dec. 31. Casey entered the race March 4, and Dec. 31 was the end of the most recent campaign reporting cycle.

Carrie Budoff"

Analysts ponder dynamics of campaign teams

2006-02-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

Analysts ponder dynamics of campaign teams: "
ELECTION 2006
Analysts ponder dynamics of campaign teams
Friday, February 10, 2006
BY BRETT LIEBERMAN
Of Our Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - There's East vs. West, Democrat vs. Republican, Black vs. White. And, of course, Steelers fans vs. Eagles fans.

But the Republican Party's expected endorsement of Lynn Swann for governor tomorrow morning sets the stage for what might prove to be one of the most interesting pairings in state politics.

The teaming of Swann and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., against Gov. Ed Rendell and state Treasurer Robert P. Casey, Santorum's expected opponent, creates a match-up of big names with big regional bases that might prove key to their running mates.

If Swann, who is black, can draw support from black voters who have traditionally eluded Republican candidates, it could be the edge Santorum needs to nick away at Casey.

"I don't know about the political dynamics of those things," Santorum said.

"But I do think we make a good team, we've got a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm," he said. "I think we'd make a pretty good quarterback, wide receiver pair. I've been working on my arm. I figure I might have to throw some long passes to him."

Or Casey, who is running much stronger than Rendell in parts of the state such as Allegheny County, could help the governor overcome his administration's inability to win over voters west of Valley Forge.

"There are certain positions and values that Bob Casey has stated that definitely appeal to the West," said Penny Lee, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association and a Rendell confidante.

It remains uncertain, however, how helpful Swann and Santorum will be for each other -- or Rendell and Casey, whose different positions on abortion and gun control might lead to a lot of ticket splitting.

"I don't think this election hinges on a coalition ticket being able to ratchet up the vote for both partners," said pollster G. Terry Madonna of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.

Republicans, however, are hoping to turn conventional wisdom on its head.

By reaching out to black candidates such as Swann, they hope to draw more support from minorities. Santorum has had some success drawing support from Philadelphia blacks by aggressively reaching out to them since his 1994 election, but the impact has mostly been marginal, party leaders said.

They hope Swann can deliver a few more black votes for Republicans, including Santorum.

History is against them.

"We've yet to see an African-American Republican candidate take a whole lot more of the African-American vote than they would normally get. It just doesn't happen that way," said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst with the Cook Political Report, a respected non-partisan publication that tracks elections across the country.

"I'm not a believer that Lynn Swann will be able to attract those votes, and then I don't believe there will be any tangential effect of Rick Santorum being able to attract those votes," agreed one Republican operative.

But some good news for Santorum in the latest Keystone Poll is that he is running close to Casey in southeastern Pennsylvania, where both have struggled to attract support from moderate voters who frequently support abortion rights and gun control.

Even if he doesn't turn out black voters for Republicans, Swann could energize Republicans, particularly if they sense a tight race against Rendell as the latest Patriot-News/WGAL-TV Keystone Poll suggests.

Swann might also bring in casual voters, said Ray Zaborney, Swann's campaign manager.

BRETT LIEBERMAN: (202) 383-7833 or blieberman@patriot-news.com"

American Prospect Online - The Keystone Race

2006-02-10T18:42:00.000-08:00

American Prospect Online - The Keystone Race: "The Keystone Race
The Pennsylvania Senate race could again pave the way for a Clinton presidency.
By Terence Samuel
Web Exclusive: 02.10.06

Anger management consultant Ken Mehlman, who moonlights as chairman of the Republican National Committee, was in Southeastern Pennsylvania Wednesday talking about how frustrated some African Americans with being taken for granted by Democrats, and how much Hispanics wanted the country to deal with immigration issue.

He hung out at Lincoln University, the historically black university which counts among its alumni, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall and Kwame Nkrumah. Then Mehlman did an event in Kennett Square described by one reporter as a pep rally with Hispanic leaders. Both events were in Chester County, in Philadelphia’s western suburbs, which has seen a boom in its immigrant population partly to retain its title as "mushroom capital of the world." “One thing I hear a lot from people is that a lot of folks think that Democrats take the African-American vote for granted,” Mehlman told The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Ben Lowe. The chairman also allowed this observation: “What I picked up at the Latino event is that people recognize the importance and need of fixing the immigration system.”

But Mehlman, who earlier in the week had described Hillary Clinton as too angry to be elected president, may be having a little emotional crisis of his own. His mere presence was a huge show of anxiety about what will happen in November, because the real reason Mehlman was in the Brandywine Valley is what Republicans are picking up in the polls. In the particular case of Pennsylvania, their two-term incumbent senator and onetime wunderkind, Rick Santorum, is trailing badly in the polls, down by a double-digit margin to State Treasurer Bob Casey, Jr., whose fervent pro-life position dismays a lot of Democrats, but completely robs Santorum of the issue he has used most often to separate himself from the opposition.

Elected to the Senate in 1994 at age 34, Santorum is the absolute embodiment of the modern conservative movement and its hold on the GOP. Casey is the son of the late governor, Bob Casey Sr., whose anti-abortion stand is often blamed for the controversial decision by Bill Clinton to deny him a speaking role at the 1992 Democratic convention. And even now the younger Casey is likely to take as much heat from some in his own party as he does from the GOP, but the great debate about where Casey fits in as a Democrat, is the essential interior debate that Democrats are having with themselves these days.

What all of this adds up to, is that the Pennsylvania Senate race will headline the contest for control of the Senate this fall, and for now, Mehlman can’t like what he’s picking up there, or anywhere else for that matter: In the three big three industrial swing states --Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- GOP incumbents are trailing or in tight races, suffering at the hands of poor approval ratings for their president.

But Pennsylvania is a special problem because over the last four presidential elections it has become increasingly Democratic, which will make it difficult for Santorum to rely on President Bush to help get him over the top. Mehlman says that the RNC will have 20 full-time staff in the state working on the Santorum race and the contest for governor, which is shaping up as a face-off between former Pittsburgh Steeler wide-receiver Lynn Swann and the incumbent Democrat, and former DNC chair, Ed Rendell.

For Republicans to have any chance of winning statewide in Pennsylvania, they have to offset the huge deficit they face in Philadelphia. Bush lost Pennsylvania in 2004 by 144,000 votes out of 5.7 million cast. He lost Philadelphia by 412,000.

The way Republicans have traditionally offset the Philadelphia Effect is to focus on the Philly suburbs, particularly the Republican strongholds like Chester and Bucks counties. The problem is that a lot of the GOP’s suburban support was driven by an anti-Philadelphia grievance that is no longer as intense as it once was.

Rendell was so popular as a reform mayor of Philadelphia, even in the ‘burbs, that he managed to overcome the intense statewide antipathy to the big, troubled city to win the governor’s race in 2002, one of the only things Democrats had to cheer about that year. So having Rendell on the ballot this November, even though he’s been in trouble with voters for some tax initiatives, is not going to aid the GOP strategy in the western suburbs. Which means Santorum is running uphill the whole way, and that is hard to do from behind.

And the last time a Republican senate candidate faced such restless electorate in Pennsylvania was in 1991, when President George H.W. Bush’s attorney general, Dick Thornburgh, resigned the Justice post to take on Senator Harris Wofford, appointed by the elder Casey after the death of John Heinz.

Wofford talked about healthcare as his main issue and thumped the better-known Thornburgh. And many believe, set the stage for the Clinton win over Bush 1992, if only because James Carville and Paul Begala managed that campaign.

What if another GOP Senate loss in Pennsylvania paves the way for yet another Clinton presidency? Angry will probably not even begin to describe Mehlman then.

Terence Samuel is a political writer in Washington, D.C.

© 2006 by The American Prospect, Inc."

York Dispatch - Liberal Republican Bemoan Scranton's Withdrawl

2006-02-09T05:31:00.000-08:00

York Dispatch - York Today: "Article Last Updated: 02/08/2006 11:05:00 AM

Swann stands alone
Scranton ends his campaign for governor
EYANA ADAH MCMILLAN The York Dispatch

Bill Scranton dropped out of the governor's race yesterday, four days before state Republican leaders were expected to endorse former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann in the GOP primary.
In a statement, Scranton said he determined his chances of success were minimal.

"While I am confident in our hopeful message of reform and renewal, I am less convinced in our ability to win with the all-important precinct-by-precinct battles against the operational resources of the state party," he said. "Our campaign is
strong, but not strong enough to defeat a candidate who has received the near unanimous backing of state and national party leaders."

Scranton also said he is committed to support the nominee who emerges in the May 16 primary.

"I think that I'm not surprised," said Rep. Stan Saylor, R-Windsor Township. "I thought (Scranton's withdrawal) would happen when the Republican committee decided on the endorsement. I think this is good because it would unify the party behind Lynn Swann.

"Now we can get behind one dynamic candidate instead of trying to decide between two dynamic can-didates."

Scranton's exit leaves Swann uncontested for the Republican State Committee's endorsement. Another Republican candidate, Jim Panyard, is not competing for the party's backing. Also seeking the governorship is York attorney and Green Party candidate Marakay Rogers.

Disappointment: Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus, said he is more disappointed in Scranton's withdrawal than surprised. Though it was clear that Swann would get the endorsement, he said, Scranton's campaign could have helped keep the Republican candidates' names in the forefront.

"Whenever you're trying to garner a race against an incumbent, you need to get name recognition," Miller said. "Having a primary race would have helped the challenger keep his name in front of the voters. It gives more reason for the media to cover them.

"(Swann) will have to work harder to get his message out there."

However, Rep. Bev Mackereth, R-Spring Grove, said she did not expect Scranton to call it quits. She said the last she heard was that Scranton wouldn't end his campaign.

"I thought he was a very good candidate," she said. "He's a very bright man, and he does know the issues. With property tax reform, he knows how it affects different regions and what's needed to be done to correct it. He also knew about the business climate and the economy."

Rep. Keith Gillespie said he didn't recall that Scranton or Swann had presented a solution to property tax issues. However, he said Scranton was an articulate candidate who was abreast of some of the issues.

"I guess maybe he thought it wasn't his time," Gillespie said. "It sounds like the table has been set for Mr. Swann. This would be an opportunity for him to unite all the committee people and move forward."

Formidable: Scranton would have been a "very formidable opponent" for incumbent Gov. Ed Rendell, said Rep. Steve Stetler, D-York City. He said he was surprised that Scranton quit, considering the Republican candidate's political history.

Scranton, the son of a former state governor, served two terms as Gov. Dick Thornburgh's lieutenant governor, from 1979 to 1986.

"He's a moderate Republican, and I truly believe that the Republicans need some moderates," Stetler said. "He brings a lot of experience and talent. I think that any challenger to the governor has an uphill battle."

Last month, Scranton held a town hall meeting in Dallastown, where he discussed his "Road to Reform" policy agenda, including his plans for property taxes, economic and small business growth, and education reform.

The event marked the beginning of Scranton's campaign's statewide town hall meeting tour.

Campaign trouble: His campaign ran into trouble two weeks ago when he fired his campaign manager for saying Swann is "the rich white guy in this campaign."

Scranton, who is white, fired James Seif -- an old friend who was a member of former Gov. Tom Ridge's cabinet -- shortly after Seif made the comment on a televised call-in show.

Scranton has tremendous courage and clarity of convictions, two qualities needed for running for statewide office, said Republican State Committee Chair Eileen Melvin in a news release.

"His dedication to the people of Pennsylvania and his commitment to improving life in this state were beyond reproach," she said.

Scranton is an honorable man who ran an admirable campaign, said U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum in a news release.

"I believe that his message of reform not only resonated with many Pennsylvanians, but will also have a positive impact on our state for many years to come," he said.

Santorum also said he looks forward to campaigning with Swann.

The state representatives said they are eager to hear more from Swann about his plans for the state.

Saylor said Swann -- who was criticized by Scranton for declining to participate in a debate prior to the Republican endorsement meeting Saturday -- now has an opportunity to develop his policy initiatives on various legislative issues. Both Gillespie and Mackereth said they're interested in Swann's ideas for property tax reform.

"We hope to work with him and educate him about the issues affecting our area, York County," Mackereth said. "He's from Allegheny County, and different areas are affected in different ways."

-- Reach Eyana Adah McMillan at 854-1575 or emcmillan@yorkdispatch.com.

The Associated Press con tributed to this report."

Santorum's US Senate staff mucking with Wikipedia entries | Betterhumans > News

2006-02-09T05:28:00.000-08:00

US Senate staff mucking with Wikipedia entries | Betterhumans > News: "US Senate staff mucking with Wikipedia entries
Rating: None/5 | Comments: 1
Print 02.08.2006 @01:37 PM
Contributed by Simon
Edited by Simon

US Senate staff members have edited Wikipedia entries, including removing facts, according to a Wikinews-led investigation examining IP addresses.

Wikinews reports:

Using the public history of edits on Wikipedia, Wikinews reporters collected every Senate IP which had ever edited on Wikipedia as of February 3 and examined where the IPs came from, what they edited, and of what those edits consisted. IP, or Internet Protocol, addresses are unique numbers electronic devices use to communicate with each other on an individual basis.

The Wikinews report examines several instances where Senate staff appeared to have painted Senators in a more favorable light. It notes:

Wikinews reporters also discovered that a handful of miscellaneous vandalism edits had been made to some Senators' articles. Vandalized articles included those of Tom Coburn and Harry Reid. The edits to Reid's were made three times, while the Coburn vandalism was made two times, after it had been restored to a prior version. An edit to an article about a controversy over Senator Rick Santorum's statements about Constitutional rights to privacy with regards to sexual acts, seemingly coming from Rick Santorum's staff members, removed a reference to an effort to redefine Santorum's last name as a neologism meaning "the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.""

Swann Close to GOP Endorsement for Gov. - Yahoo! News

2006-02-02T12:28:00.000-08:00

Swann Close to GOP Endorsement for Gov. - Yahoo! News: "Swann Close to GOP Endorsement for Gov. By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press Writer
Wed Feb 1, 10:39 AM ET

MONROEVILLE, Pa. - Former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann appears to have locked up enough support to win the Republican Party nomination for Pennsylvania governor.

In the last regional GOP meeting before state Republicans meet to endorse a candidate, the NFL Hall of Famer on Tuesday picked up 33 unofficial commitments from party representatives. If they all follow through, he will have just over the 180 votes needed to win the party's official endorsement on Feb. 11.

Swann, 53, is seeking to become Pennsylvania's first black governor. Though he has revealed little about his political philosophy, he has said the Democratic Party has "taken the African-American vote for granted."

Supporters say his high profile and charisma make him the best candidate to take on Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who is expected to seek a second term.

Swann's leading opponent for the GOP nomination, former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton, 58, has sharply criticized Swann's qualifications and promised to stay in the race through the May 16 primary with or without the party's backing.

Scranton's deputy campaign manager, Mike DeVanney, sought to downplay the significance of the straw voting Tuesday. "This was a divided caucus. There's not clear support for Lynn Swann's candidacy," he said.

Swann was a wide receiver for the Steelers from 1974-83 and led his team to four Super Bowl victories. After retiring from football, he worked as a commentator for ABC Sports."

Philadelphia Daily News | 01/31/2006 | Rizzo's not joining Rick's ethnic battle

2006-01-31T15:03:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Daily News | 01/31/2006 | Rizzo's not joining Rick's ethnic battle: "Posted on Tue, Jan. 31, 2006
Rizzo's not joining Rick's ethnic battleRefuses to send letter blasting Sen. ReidBy CATHERINE LUCEYluceyc@phillynews.com 215-854-4172U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's efforts to demonize Sen. Harry Reid for making what his camp calls "anti-Italian-American" statements hit a bit of a snag in Philly last week when Santorum came up against another Italian-American Republican.
None other than City Councilman Frank Rizzo Jr.
The controversy began two weeks ago when Reid, D-Nev., Senate minority leader, interviewed on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," said:
"Having Senator Santorum talk about reform is like having John Gotti talk about doing something about organized crime," Redi said.
Santorum quickly lashed out, accusing Reid of ethnic slurs and demanding an apology.
He even got his dad to write a letter to supporters condemning the remark.
And as they rallied support last week, Santorum's camp reached out to Rizzo.
The campaign gave him a pre-written statement filled with lines like:
"It is inexcusable to compare a prominent Italian-American like Senator Santorum to a criminal, murderous Mafioso."
They asked Rizzo to send it out in his name.
But Rizzo wouldn't sign off on it. He said that Reid had not actually compared Santorum to the late Gotti but that he had made a poor analogy.
"They were trying to suggest that Santorum was being compared with John Gotti. That's not what's said here," Rizzo said.
"I think he stepped over the line, but not that far."
So Rizzo released his own, milder statement. "Senator Reid suffered a failure of judgment in choosing an Italian-American crime figure for an analogy applied to an Italian-American political figure," it said.
He also asked Reid to retract the statement and apologize.
So far, Reid has not apologized.
The Democratic Sentatorial Campaign Committee, which had a statement on its Web site calling Santorum "the Godfather," has removed it.
Reid's spokeswoman, Rebecca Kirszner, said that Reid's comments were about K Street - which refers the culture of lobbying in Washington, D.C. - not to Santorum's background.
"Rick Santorum's association with the K Street Project has nothing to do with his ethnicity and everything to do with the culture of corruption that Republicans have brought to Washington," she said."

The Scranton Campaign Racist Attack On Lynn Swann

2006-01-27T17:07:00.000-08:00

Transcript of exchange that led to firing of top Scranton aide: "Transcript of exchange that led to firing of top Scranton aide
Friday, January 27, 2006

By The Associated Press

Excerpt of the discussion Wednesday on the Pennsylvania Cable Network call-in show in which James Seif, chairman of Bill Scranton's gubernatorial campaign, made a racially charged remark that got him fired from the campaign.

The comment came after a caller, "Peter from Lancaster," criticized Scranton for defying the Republican State Committee and calling for an open primary instead of one in which a candidate will carry the GOP's official endorsement.

Representing candidate Lynn Swann was Ray Zaborney, executive director of Swann's campaign.

CALLER: Does Mr. Scranton have any principles that don't eventually give way to his own political expediency?

SEIF: I gotta hand it to you, Ray -- you got all your callers on tonight. All these calls from Lancaster are a pretty good indication.

ZABORNEY: Our campaign isn't the one that sent out an e-mail saying to call in, so.

SEIF: Bill Scranton has -- and I've known him for 30 years now -- as much integrity as any person I've ever known. And that means intellectual integrity as well. His decision on the primary was made after a great deal of thought, a great deal of anger that one of the candidates had been captured by Senate leadership, by the party, by others, and directed into pretending he had the victory sewn up and pretending that he was the outsider. In fact, the rich white guy in this campaign is Lynn Swann. He's the one that hangs around the, uh.

ZABORNEY: That's one of the most ridiculous and insulting things that I think I've heard in politics. You're two-for-two tonight -- two of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard in politics. Lynn Swann is the outsider, and Bill Scranton's the guy who's been in Harrisburg before, who's been around the trouble before. He's the guy whose administration supported two pay raises. He's the guy whose administration supported a bigger PIT (personal income tax) increase than (Democratic Gov.) Ed Rendell. He's the insider. Lynn Swann's the outsider."

Scranton Draws only 2 Dozen At Major Campaign Event - Stick a fork in him, He is done

2006-01-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

Scranton looks to regain momentum after firing aide for Swann remark: "Scranton looks to regain momentum after firing aide for Swann remark
Candidate apologizes for campaign manager's racially insensitive comment
Friday, January 27, 2006

By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

KITTANNING, Pa. -- Bill Scranton, his gubernatorial campaign woozy from weeks of bad news, was in Dizzy Lizzie's restaurant yesterday trying to find his political balance.

A day after firing his campaign manager over a racially insensitive remark about his rival, Mr. Scranton was chasing the momentum that appears to have shifted away from his campaign since Lynn Swann's official entry into the GOP race three weeks ago.

James Seif, Mr. Scranton's second campaign manager, was banished after stating on a PCN television call-in show the previous evening that "the rich white guy in this campaign is Lynn Swann.''

In a year of unprecedented grass-roots unrest over the Harrisburg establishment, Mr. Seif's remark came in the context of the two campaigns' running argument over who can legitimately claim the title of political outsider.

Mr. Scranton almost immediately called for his associate's ouster while issuing a statement apologizing to his opponent. Mr. Scranton said he had also tried to call Mr. Swann to apologize personally, but hadn't yet been able to reach him.

The embarrassing distraction was one in a series of setbacks for the former lieutenant governor.

Mr. Swann's entry into the race in the first week of the new year attracted publicity that far surpassed the attention to Mr. Scranton's official debut months earlier. Then, Mr. Swann scored quick victories in two regional caucuses of the state committee members who are scheduled to endorse a candidate next month, a designation considered a significant asset in the primary campaign.

The positive early news for Mr. Swann continued with the release of a series of public polls showing the former Steelers wide receiver in a virtual tie with the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Ed Rendell. Each of those surveys showed Mr. Scranton trailing Mr. Rendell.

Then, in what was seen as a tacit admission that he was trailing in the state committee arena, Mr. Scranton called for an open primary, asking GOP leaders to forgo an endorsement vote.

Mr. Scranton anticipates some good news in the next few days as the schedule of caucus votes shifts to his home ground. Tomorrow, caucuses in the northeast and northeast/ central sections of the state are expected to vote on the race. Next Tuesday, state committee members from the southwest, including Allegheny County, will vote.

"It's home; we should do well in the caucuses this weekend," Mr. Scranton said after greeting supporters in Kittanning. "It remains to be seen whether they will support an open primary. We're still trying to figure that out.

"I'm pretty sure the northeast caucus will. We'll see about the north central, and I know there's support in the southwest for an open primary. We'll wait and see how strong it is.''

Speaking to an audience of about two dozen in Dizzy Lizzie's, a restaurant in the shadow of the Armstrong County Courthouse, Mr. Scranton renewed his criticism of Mr. Swann for avoiding formal debates before the state committee meeting and suggested that the positive response to his rival's candidacy wouldn't survive prolonged scrutiny.

While praising Mr. Swann's record as a football player, he said, "Celebrity is very powerful in our culture, but celebrity also has its downside. If there isn't something more substantial under that, it will fade in the glare of the sunshine. ... I have challenged him to a debate before the Republican Party endorsement and he has refused. My belief is that if we make a mistake in choosing a candidate, we will lose this once-in-a-generation opportunity to change Harrisburg."

The two candidates have appeared before the same audiences in several forums over the months that they have been campaigning, but Mr. Swann declined to take part in a debate that had been scheduled for this week in Harrisburg. His campaign has said that there will be time for debates before the primary.

In addition to Mr. Swann and Mr. Scranton, James Panyard, a former executive of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, is seeking the GOP nomination, although he has never been a contender for the party endorsement.

In a statement released yesterday, Mr. Panyard called Mr. Seif's remark "stunningly ill-advised."

"It is apparent, given this incident, and Bill Scranton's recent call for an open GOP primary ... that Mr. Swann will [win the endorsement]," Mr. Panyard said.

"It also seems that the 'wheels are coming off' the Scranton campaign wagon," he said.

Ray Zaborney, Mr. Swann's campaign manager, issued a terse statement saying that the campaign intended to remain focused on issues.

Mr. Scranton dismissed the long-term significance of his aide's departure.

"This thing that happened last night, no one could have predicted it," he said. "These things happen in campaigns. You just deal with it; you move on and you just keep going ... surprises always come in a campaign and one of the things it does is test you."

At least for the time being, Mike DeVanney, the deputy campaign manager, presides over the Scranton team.

"We've got depth. We've got a plan and we'll continue to carry it out," a smiling Mr. Scranton said.

According to a running compilation of state committee strength by Capitolwire, the Internet news service, Mr. Swann is rapidly approaching a majority in the endorsement sweepstakes.

While continuing to hold out hope that the party will choose an open primary, Mr. Scranton said he was determined to remain in the race through the primary.

(Politics Editor James O'Toole can be reached at jotoole@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1562.)"

::.Angus Reid Consultants.::Casey Keeps Edge Over Santorum in Pennsylvania

2006-01-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

::.Angus Reid Consultants.::: "January 27, 2006
Casey Keeps Edge Over Santorum in Pennsylvania

latest news and polls

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Democrat Bob Casey is still the top senatorial contender in the Keystone State, according to a poll by Strategic Vision. 50 per cent of respondents in Pennsylvania would support Casey in a head-to-head contest against Republican incumbent Rick Santorum.

Casey has been Pennsylvania’s state treasurer since January 2005, and previously served as the state auditor general for eight years. Casey is the son of former Pennsylvania governor Robert P. Casey, and lost the 2002 Democratic primary to current governor Ed Rendell.

Support for Santorum is at 40 per cent. One per cent of respondents would vote for other contenders, and nine per cent are undecided.

Santorum was first elected to the United States Senate in 1994, and earned a second term in 2000, defeating Democrat Ron Klink with 53 per cent of all cast ballots. He had previously served for two consecutive terms in the House of Representatives.

On Jan. 24, Casey said he supported the confirmation of Samuel Alito to serve in the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision has drawn criticism from several abortion rights groups, which usually support the Democrats.

The Democratic Party has not elected a Pennsylvanian to a full term in the U.S. Senate since 1962. The election is scheduled for Nov. 7.

Polling Data

If the election for United States Senate were held today, and the choice was between Bob Casey, Jr., the Democrat and Rick Santorum, the Republican, whom would you vote for?

Jan. 2006
Dec. 2005
Nov. 2005

Bob Casey, Jr. (D)
50%
50%
51%

Rick Santorum (R)
40%
39%
36%

Other
1%
1%
3%

Undecided
9%
10%
10%

Source: Strategic Vision
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,200 registered Pennsylvania voters, conducted from Jan. 20 to Jan. 22, 2006. Margin of error is 3 per cent."

Racist Undercurrent Explodes to the Surface in Scranton's Failing Campaign

2006-01-26T15:16:00.000-08:00

PennLive.com: NewsFlash - Bill Scranton fires manager for calling Swann 'rich white guy': "Bill Scranton fires manager for calling Swann 'rich white guy'
1/26/2006, 4:49 p.m. ET
By PETER JACKSON
The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Scranton fired his campaign manager for saying his opponent Lynn Swann is "the rich white guy in this campaign."

Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star, is seeking to become Pennsylvania's first black governor.

Scranton fired James Seif, an old friend who was a member of former Gov. Tom Ridge's cabinet, shortly after Seif made the comment on a televised call-in show Wednesday night. He said Seif's remarks "in no way whatsoever reflect my views or those of my campaign."

Scranton, who is white, comes from the wealthy family that gave its name to the state's sixth largest city. He served two terms as lieutenant governor in former Gov. Dick Thornburgh's administration and his father was governor from 1963 to 1967.

In a brief statement Swann said he was "disappointed" by Seif's comment.

"It is important this campaign be waged on a higher level of dignity and character," Swann said. "We will continue to move forward with our positive message for Pennsylvania."

Seif made the comment while trying to portray Scranton as the outsider in the race and Swann, a sports celebrity with no experience in public service, as the choice of the GOP establishment.

The one-hour show on the Pennsylvania Cable Network also featured Ray Zaborney, a top official in the Swann campaign. Zaborney interrupted Seif and called the remark "ridiculous and insulting."

"Last night, I attempted to reach Lynn Swann to apologize to him, his family and supporters and PCN viewers for inappropriate and irresponsible comments made by my campaign manager, Jim Seif," Scranton said Thursday at a news conference on another subject in Erie on Thursday.

Seif commended Scranton for acting "quickly, decisively and correctly," and said "that's one of the reasons he'll be a great governor."

Scranton declined to be interviewed and his campaign aides refused to elaborate on his statement.

In recent weeks, both candidates had been vying for support among the more than 350 members of the Republican State Committee, whose endorsement can be a crucial stepping stone toward the nomination.

Swann, a pro football Hall of Famer, has built momentum in informal voting among some state committee members, and Swann's aides say they expect he will win the endorsement.

"Scranton didn't need this kind of flap," said Thomas Baldino, a political science professor at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre.

On Monday, Scranton said he would stay in the campaign through the primary election on May 16, regardless of who wins the Republican State Committee endorsement. He called on the state committee to endorse an open primary.

Scranton seized the offensive after Swann made it clear that he would not debate Scranton and a third candidate, Jim Panyard, until after the endorsement vote.

Seif, who also held key positions in Thornburgh's administration, quit his job as a vice president of Allentown-based PPL Corp. to lead Scranton's campaign. He served as the state's environmental protection secretary under Ridge.

Wednesday night's exchange was ignited by a caller who asked whether Scranton has "any principles that don't eventually give way to his own political expediency."

Seif said Scranton has "as much integrity as any person I've ever known." Scranton decided to call for an open primary because he was angry that party leaders had directed Swann "into pretending he had the victory sewn up and pretending that he was the outsider," Seif said.

"In fact, the rich white guy in this campaign is Lynn Swann," Seif said.

Zaborney cut him off.

"That's one of the most ridiculous and insulting things that I think I've heard in politics," Zaborney said. "Lynn Swann is the outsider, and Bill Scranton's the guy who's been in Harrisburg before, who's been around the trouble before."

Panyard, the retired head of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association, said the incident is an indication that Swann will capture the party endorsement and that "the wheels are coming off the Scranton campaign wagon."

Panyard, who said he was not invited to participate in the PCN program, said he has never heard either Seif or Scranton say anything that was "even remotely racist in nature," but that Seif's comment was "stunningly ill-advised."

___

On the Net:

Scranton 2006: http://www.pacomeback.com/

Lynn Swann for Gov.: http://www.swannforgovernor.com/

Panyard4Gov: http://www.panyard4gov.com/"

Scranton Campaign Makes Racist Attak on Swann on TV - Yahoo! News

2006-01-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

Pa. Gubernatorial Candidate Fires Manager - Yahoo! News: "Pa. Gubernatorial Candidate Fires Manager By PETER JACKSON, Associated Press Writer

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A gubernatorial candidate challenging pro football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann in the Republican primary fired his campaign manager after the man told a televised call-in show: "The rich white guy in this campaign is Lynn Swann."

Bill Scranton, a former lieutenant governor who is white and comes from a wealthy family, also issued an apology to Swann after his campaign manager's comments Wednesday.

The remarks by James Seif "in no way whatsoever reflect my views or those of my campaign," Scranton said. "I want to apologize to Lynn Swann, his family, supporters and PCN viewers for the offensive and disturbing comments made on my behalf."

Swann, a former Pittsburgh Steelers star, is seeking to become Pennsylvania's first black governor.

His campaign spokeswoman, Melissa Walters, declined to comment about the remarks Thursday morning.

Seif, who is white and previously served in Gov. Tom Ridge's cabinet, made the comment while trying to portray Scranton as a political outsider and Swann as the candidate favored by the GOP establishment. He did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Swann campaign official Ray Zaborney also appeared on the show and called Seif's comment "one of the most ridiculous and insulting things I've ever heard in politics."

Swann was a wide receiver for the Steelers from 1974-1983 and led his team to four Super Bowl victories. He spent several years as a sports commentator for ABC and serves on the boards of the H.J. Heinz Co., Wyndham International Inc., and Hershey Entertainment and Resorts.

Scranton was lieutenant governor for two terms under former Gov. Dick Thornburgh. Seif quit his job as a vice president of energy company PPL Corp. to lead Scranton's campaign.

The primary is May 16."

Philadelphia Daily News Links Santorum To The K Street Scandal

2006-01-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Daily News | 01/23/2006 | Abramoff & K Street, Santorum and Casey: "Abramoff & K Street, Santorum and Casey What lobbying scandal means to you By CATHERINE LUCEYluceyc@phillynews.com 215-854-4172

Scandal, corruption, dirty-dealings - it's just a regular day in our nation's capital, right?

Still, you might have noticed that the reports of skulduggery have been heating up lately, with D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleading guilty to bilking his clients, bribing at least one congressman and evading the law.
This case now has people buzzing about how the Republican Party and lobbyists are entwined in Washington. It's likely to be an issue in the campaign battle between U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Democrat Bob Casey Jr. this year.
Here's a primer on Jack Abramoff and the current Washington lobbyist scandals:
Q. Who is Jack Abramoff?
A. Abramoff was a high-flying Washington lobbyist, who owned a restaurant for entertaining clients.
Q. What did he do wrong?
A. Earlier this month he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion. Abramoff admitted to giving perks to politicians, including boxes at sporting events and trips to Scotland, in an attempt to curry favor for his clients. He also copped to making off with client money, misusing charities and lying on his income taxes.
Q. What politicians are affected by Abramoff?
A.So far the two in the hottest water are Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Tex., and Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio.
Ney - who has stepped down as chair of the House Administration Committee - is accused of taking a golf trip to Scotland, dinners and other favors in exchange for supporting Abramoff's American-Indian tribe clients in Texas. He says he has done nothing wrong.
DeLay - who has stepped down as House Majority Leader - is accused of taking a trip to Scotland and of using Abramoff's skybox at a Washington arena. He's also already in trouble for a conspiracy to violate campaign finance law in Texas.
Q. Did Santorum get any favors from Abramoff?
A.No. In fact, his spokeswoman told the Lebanon Daily News that he did not know Abramoff. Santorum did receive $11,000 in contributions from Abramoff clients, which he has donated to charity.
Q. Was Santorum involved in this K Street thing I keep hearing about? What's K Street?
A.K Street is the street where many Washington lobbying firms are located. The K Street Project was an operation launched by DeLay and neo-conservative activist Grover Norquist in 1994 to push lobbying firms seeking access to hire Republicans.
Q. What was Santorum's involvement?
A. Santorum apparently was brought into the K Street effort in 2000 after the GOP gained the White House. According to the Washington Monthly, he held regular meetings with lobbyists to discuss corporate and trade association jobs for Republicans.
Q. I don't understand. Would corporations get in trouble if they didn't hire Republicans?
A. It seems that way. The Motion Picture Association of America got punished with they hired a former Clinton cabinet member as its new boss, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The House retaliated by removing $1.5 billion in motion picture industry tax cuts from an upcoming bill.
Q. What does Santorum say about all this?
A.He admits to having held meetings, but says they were above- board, calling them a "good-government thing."
Q. Is K Street going to get in trouble?
A.There is a corruption investigation under way, which Abramoff is cooperating with. GOP leaders have also said they plan to to pass legislation that would further reign in lawmakers by banning lobbyist gifts and favored travel to politicos. Santorum is leading the GOP reform effort, which has Bob Casey Jr. crying foul.
Q. What does Casey have to say?
A.Casey is asking supporters to sign a petition on his Web site asking that the K Street Project be shut down and that Santorum not supervise reforms. But Santorum's camp insists that he has been involved in no wrongdoing and that he's the man for the job.
Q. What's going to happen next?
A.The hubbub over K Street sure isn't going away. And with a Senate election in November, you're going to hear a lot more from Casey and Santorum about it."

Philadelphia Daily News | At Last, Some Hack (John Baer) Writes a Pro-Scranton Article

2006-01-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Daily News | 01/19/2006 | John Baer | Why is Swann ducking a Scranton debate?: "Posted on Thu, Jan. 19, 2006
John Baer | Why is Swann ducking a Scranton debate?LET ME MAKE this as plain as possible.
It is wrong for Lynn Swann not to debate Bill Scranton prior to the state Republican Party endorsement Feb. 11.
And it is wrong for the state Republican Party not to encourage, promote or sponsor such a debate.
The biggest question about Swann is whether he knows anything.
By declining to appear at a scheduled Harrisburg debate next Wednesday with Scranton and businessman Jim Panyard (a GOP candidate not seeking party backing), he doesn't answer the question.
Instead he says one, two or three things:
1. I have more momentum than Scranton, maybe even sewed up the endorsement, and don't want to screw the pooch now.
2. I've gotten this far on glitter, grip and grin, so no need to change game plans.
3. Everyone's right, I know nothing, but I know enough not to show it.
As one insider put it, "Better for folks to see an empty chair than to see an empty suit."
Scranton campaign manager Jim Seif says, "It's a Rose Bowl - I mean a Rose Garden strategy."
He's right. Swann (who played in two Rose Bowls) is acting like an incumbent with a lead rather than a challenger with a question mark.
He offers little but football stories and his own celebrity with a few bromides about "making all of Pennsylvania better."
He should offer more. He should demonstrate substance.
True, he proposes three debates after the endorsement, but that's like saying I'll take the test after you give me my grade.
His position is defenseless and invites assumptions that he's clueless.
GOP members have a right to see Swann in action before they commit to his candidacy.
That commitment (unlike that of the state Democratic Party) means actual resources that are invaluable in a primary election and is worth too much to be given without full and fair appraisal.
Why isn't that happening?
When I ask state GOP executive director Scott Migli why the party doesn't push a debate, he says, "There's no precedent."
Well, now's the time to set one.
It seems to me Republican State Committee leadership is bowing to Republican National Committee efforts to extend appeal to minority voters by embracing an African-American candidate for major office.
Such national efforts are understandable, even laudable - they just shouldn't be determinative in selecting state candidates.
And I say all this despite the fact (even though I worked for Scranton when he lost the '86 race to the real Bob Casey) I think Swann is the more interesting challenger to Ed Rendell this year.
But Swann serves neither his cause nor his party by ducking a debate. If he isn't ready for Scranton now - after a year on the campaign trail - how will he ever be ready for Eddie?
Swann shows charisma, leadership qualities, intelligence and, from what I've seen, is pretty good on his feet. There's no need for handlers to shelter him.
There's still time for a debate before the endorsement. Swann should make that happen. To take a pass is a disservice to the 354 members of the GOP state committee and an insult to Republican voters."

AP Wire | Erie (Pa.) Times-News calls Santorum Campaign "absurd"

2006-01-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

AP Wire | 01/18/2006 | Editorial roundup: "Jan. 17
Erie (Pa.) Times-News, on Sen. Santorum and reporting in Iraq:
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum faces a difficult re-election campaign. The Pennsylvania Republican shouldn't make it harder by making it absurd. In a speech Thursday, he attacked the media for reporting the "tragic consequences" of the war in Iraq. Focusing on them was "helping Islamic fascism win the battle."
Please.
Of course, the media report far more than tragedy. They report about military operations in the field; American efforts to establish a new Iraqi army; the trial of Saddam Hussein, including how many of its participants are murdered or threatened; political developments, for example the recent Iraqi constitution and elections; Iraqi religious factions; the speeches, interviews and press conferences on the war back home by the president, vice president, the military and gasbag commentators; and, of course, terrorist attacks. Americans aren't blind -- they notice explosions.
But do not report war's "tragic consequences"? Report its nice ones instead? Does Santorum want the American media to forget the bravery and sacrifices of U.S. troops on the ground? The media cannot report them without also reporting "tragic consequences."
Imagine the outcry of grieving families if suddenly those sacrifices were deliberately, cynically forgotten.
We know what Santorum means. Some American politicians and commentators criticize the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war. Some Americans -- it seems a growing number -- look at standard news reports and question the administration's competence.
Santorum wants no questions.
He asks for the moon, and expects the American media to stick their collective head in the sand."

35 WSEE - Scranton Loses Northwest by more than 1 to 3 - Campaign Turning Into A Joke

2006-01-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

35 WSEE: "Swann Wins Republican G.O.P. Nomination

The Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania was nominated this past weekend after Northwest Pennsylvania Republican Caucus voted, and their final choice was Lynn Swann. Swann ended up with a vast majority of the 29 votes, he won 22, while Bill Scranton III came out with 7. Next month the complete Republican State Committee will convene to discuss and vote on its future endorsement. The primary election is scheduled for May 16th, and that winner will move on to face Governor Ed Rendell in the upcoming fall election. "

Action News 24 - Swan Takes the Vote from the Northwest P republican Caucasus

2006-01-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

Action News 24: "Saturday, January 14, 2006
Swan Takes the Vote
REPUBLICAN LEADERS FROM NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA MADE THEIR CHOICE FOR GOVERNOR TODAY, AND FORMER FOOTBALL GREAT LYNN SWAN GOT THE NOD.
29 CAUCUS MEMBERS FROM 10 COUNTIES CAST THEIR VOTES TODAY IN CLARION.
REPUBLICANS LYNN SWANN AND BILL SCRANTON THE THIRD ADDRESSED THE GROUP SEPARATELY.
CAUCUS MEMBERS CHOSE SWANN BY A 22-TO-7 VOTE.
SWANN HAD ALREADY RECEIVED THE ENDORSEMENT FROM REPUBLICAN LEADERS IN CENTRAL PENNSYLANIA.
THE REPUBLICAN STATE COMMITTEE WILL MAKE ITS CHOICE ON FEBRUARY 11TH.
ERIE COUNTY REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN JOHN MIZNER SAYS THE MOMENTUM IS CLEARLY IN SWANN`S FAVOR HEADING INTO THAT VOTE."

Swann Leaves Scranton in the Dust at the state farm show

2006-01-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

Swann out-sprints Fast Eddie at the state farm show - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Swann out-sprints Fast Eddie at the state farm show

Sunday, January 15, 2006
Not a bad weekend at all last week for Lynn Swann, the Steelers Hall-of-Famer and GOP gubernatorial candidate.
Swann not only triumphed in a Republican party caucus vote, easily besting former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton. He also reportedly got Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell hopping mad at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.

Seems two TV cameras that were following Rendell around the farm show abruptly left the governor to begin taping a Swann campaign kegger at the event. Rendell's campaign staff is rumored to have felt the governor's full wrath over Swann stealing the show.

Swann also benefited from Republican state Sen. Jeff Piccola dropping out of the governor's race because the former Steeler should pick up Piccola's anti-abortion supporters. Scranton is pro-choice.

About the only negative for Swann was Allegheny County Republican Committee Chairman Bob Glancy and a host of other local committee members deciding to support Scranton."

More clues on Santorum's plot to get state Rep. Jeff Habay of Shaler

2006-01-15T16:33:00.000-08:00

Swann out-sprints Fast Eddie at the state farm show - PittsburghLIVE.com: "ANOTHER HABAY CHALLENGER. Retired Shaler police officer Randy Vulakovich officially announced last week he will run against embattled state Rep. Jeff Habay of Shaler.

Vulakovich, 55, joins Shaler funeral director Frank Perman and Mike Dolan of O'Hara, former political director of the Allegheny County Republican Committee, as those interested in unseating Habay in the GOP primary -- provided Habay is still in office.

Habay is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 30 after being convicted in December of using his staff to work on his re-election campaign on public time. Habay also faces trial next month on 21 other charges -- including witness intimidation, making false reports to police and harassment.

The race for Habay's seat could make for some interesting conversation -- and divided loyalties -- in Sen. Rick Santorum's office.

Vulakovich's son, also named Randy, is a Santorum aide. Dolan's family founded the mutual fund giant Federated Investors, whose executives haven't been shy over the years about helping fill Santorum's campaign coffers."

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/14/2006 | Casey and Swann not rushing to meet Lesser Candidates in debates

2006-01-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/14/2006 | Casey and Swann not rushing to meet rivals in debates: "Posted on Sat, Jan. 14, 2006
Casey and Swann not rushing to meet rivals in debatesLesser-known candidates for Senate and governor accepted dates before the party endorsements.By Peter JacksonAssociated PressHARRISBURG - Attempts to organize debates among would-be challengers to U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and Gov. Rendell before the party endorsements are running into resistance from two of the best-known candidates.
State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., picked by Democratic leaders in the Senate to take on Santorum, will sit out a Jan. 23 debate in Harrisburg, reducing it to a face-off between lesser-known Democrats Chuck Pennacchio and Alan Sandals.
Campaign manager Jay Reiff said Casey intended to debate his rivals after each had gathered the 2,000 signatures needed by March 7 to qualify for the May 16 primary.
"Bob has made it clear that he will debate whoever is on the ballot" at least once, Reiff said yesterday.
Lynn Swann, a former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver who declared his candidacy for governor this month, has not committed to a Jan. 25 Republican debate in Harrisburg that former Lt. Gov. William Scranton III and retired business advocate Jim Panyard have agreed to attend.
Swann remains willing to debate his rivals before the Republican State Committee issues its endorsement Feb. 11, campaign spokeswoman Melissa Walters said. "We just have yet to come to a decision" about the Harrisburg event, she said.
"We are the only debate prior to the Republican endorsement," said Paula Harris, president of a Harrisburg educational-services company that is the debate's lead sponsor. "If I was a political candidate, I would at least give a yes or a no."
If Swann decides not to participate, Scranton may pull out, said Tim Kelly, a Scranton campaign spokesman.
The Democratic State Committee is to make its endorsements on March 25.
Pennacchio, a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, accused Casey of avoiding public discussion about his positions, such as his opposition to abortion rights, that are similar to Santorum's.
"He can't reveal his true politics," he said.
Santorum, who trails Casey in independent polling, last fall challenged Casey to 10 debates. But Santorum declined the League of Women Voters' invitation to an early debate against his only known primary challenger, John Featherman, until Featherman has qualified for the ballot.
"Rick Santorum is doing what is ultimately best for his campaign," Featherman, a Philadelphia real estate broker, said yesterday. "We want to make the case that we are the [Republicans'] best chance to beat Bob Casey.""

Disappointing withdrawal (Piccola was way better than Bill Scranton)

2006-01-13T15:48:00.000-08:00

Disappointing withdrawal: "Disappointing withdrawal
Thursday, January 12, 2006
State Sen. Jeff Piccola's run at the governorship was always a long shot, considering his limited name recognition and the fact that he hailed from a region with far less voting power than Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

But despite one's views on the issues -- and we have differed with the Dauphin County Republican's positions on more than one occasion -- it's unfortunate that the candidate among the GOP field with the most political experience and clearly the best grasp of the issues was forced out of the race so quickly.

Aware that he wasn't going to gain even a native son endorsement from the central Pennsylvania Republican caucus, and facing polls showing him well behind front-runners Lynn Swann, a Pittsburgh Steelers hall of famer, and former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton, Piccola withdrew last weekend.

Swann, as evidenced by admiring crowds and autograph seekers during a visit to the Pennsylvania State Farm Show, has star power, but his post-playing days have been spent, well, on football as a sideline reporter on college football telecasts. Scranton, meanwhile, has virtually vanished from Harrisburg for most of the past two decades.

This is not to say that neither Swann nor Scranton is gubernatorial timber, and a case can be made for having someone from outside state government and the political skirmishes of recent years bringing a fresh perspective to the table.

But neither has yet to elaborate on the issues, and it is here that we think Piccola would have played an important role in the debate. His knowledge and experience likely would have forced the two front-runners into specific positions and would have given voters an indication of how they would govern.

We understand, however, the political and financial challengesthat Piccola faced and we respect his decision, as well as his passion for wanting a better Pennsylvania."

CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL - Forward Newspaper Online

2006-01-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL - Forward Newspaper Online: "Sunday Swipe: Senator Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican running for re-election this year, declared at an evangelical Christian rally Sunday that liberal judges are "destroying traditional morality, creating a new moral code and prohibiting any dissent."

At the Justice Sunday III rally, held by a consortium of Christian conservative groups at a Philadelphia megachurch, Santorum said, "The only way to restore this republic our founders envisioned is to elevate honorable jurists like Samuel Alito."

The event drew the participation of the leader of Focus on the Family, James Dobson; the director of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins; and the founder of the Moral Majority Coalition, Jerry Falwell, who last year urged Americans to "vote Christian."

Falwell's presence at the event, much noted in the Philadelphia press, drew a swipe from the campaign of Santorum's opponent, Democratic State Treasurer Robert Casey Jr.

"It's no surprise that Rick Santorum is spending time with Jerry Falwell since they have both made a career of supporting divisive ideology rather than commonsense solutions," said a Casey spokesman, Larry Smar. "After all, Falwell has said that he would vote for Santorum for president."

Smar was referring to a television interview Falwell gave to MSNBC last August in which he declared, "I'd vote for [Santorum] for president today. And put that in the bank. I like Rick. He`s a bright, young star.""

Swann overwhelmingly won the PA GOP Central Caucus 77-31 over Scranton

2006-01-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

Hotline On Call: Still Wants To Be A Player: "January 10, 2006
Still Wants To Be A Player
Ex-Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann might not familiar to PA political establishment like ex-LG Bill Scranton. After all, he has to compete with Scranton, who has a city named after him. (Not really.)

So maybe his campaign is trying to put him in a very familiar light. If this "Property Taxes" spot seems familiar, maybe that's because it's similar to the NFL pre-game spots announcing the starting line-up.

Note the white background, fade in/out bright spot lighting and how he crosses his arms and looks up at the end.

It's part of a larger theme: it seems his campaign wants build on his athletic/broadcaster reputation to combat his lack of juice within
PA GOP establishment.

So far it's worked: Swann overwhelmingly won the PA GOP Central Caucus 77-31 over Scranton. As Franklin and Marshall prof G. Terry Madonna told The Hotline: "This is what's giving him entree into the political community. When he travels and speaks, he gets larger audiences . . . why not embrace it and turn it into a positive?"

But Madonna is also quick to note that what works in Schwarzenegger's CA or Ventura's MN, might not for "meat and potatoes" PA, which has never had an athlete or celebrity run for office, despite, he says, GOP attempts to woo PSU coach Joe Paterno and Golf Legend Arnold Palmer. Madonna: "He's not a Hollywood celebrity type...He played for a blue collar team. I think he's trying to make a connection with a lot of working people. It's a very smart tactical move on the part of his campaign." [SHIRA R. TOEPLITZ]
"

Republicans Choosing Conservative Christian Swann Over Heathen Abortion Boy Scranton

2006-01-11T14:26:00.000-08:00

Where's Swann's beef? - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Where's Swann's beef?

Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Star power and hokily throwing a real hat into the political ring will carry Lynn Swann only so far.
Sooner or later, Mr. Swann, now formally seeking the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor, will have to ditch the broad brush and paint some fine details on his proposed policies. Thus far we've seen lots of platitudes; where's the beef?

It was with slobbering national media attention that the Pittsburgh Steelers' Hall of Fame wide receiver announced his candidacy last week. In short order he handily secured the endorsement of the GOP's Central Caucus in Harrisburg. Favorite son Jeff Piccola quit beforehand to avoid chagrin.

The full Republican State Committee holds its endorsement vote on Feb. 11. Former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton appears to have the solid support of at least two other regional caucuses. Next month's vote should be close. But Mr. Scranton says he'll stay in the race without the full committee's endorsement. Jim Panyard, former president of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association, isn't seeking the endorsement; he's in for the long haul.

Should Swann not win the state committee nod, it will be interesting to see if he stays in the race; his campaign says a contested primary would be a bad thing given the deep coffers of incumbent Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell.

So, Swann is running. Whether real ideas run with him remains to be seen."

01/08/2006 - Scranton Looking Weak in MontCo Swann Gaining Strength - Asher/Lewis Fight a Factor

2006-01-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

Reporter online.com - News - 01/08/2006 - Republicans not taking sides: "Republicans not taking sides
JACOB FENTON, Staff Writer01/08/2006

Top Republican contenders for governor are making in-roads into Montgomery County‚ home to some of the state’s most influential donors. But with a state committee endorsement meeting slated for February‚ local party leaders aren’t yet saying publicly who they’ll support.

Both leading Republican candidates – former Steelers pro-bowler Lynn Swann and former Lieutenant Governor Bill Scranton – have ties to the county. Swann has endorsed County Commissioner Jim Matthews for lieutenant governor‚ and on Thursday‚ Scranton announced that PPL Vice President Jim Seif‚ of Blue Bell‚ would be his campaign manager.

Dauphin County State Sen. Jeffrey Piccola – who endorsed Matthews before Swann did – and former Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association director Jim Panyard are also in the race.

The party’s endorsement carries a particularly heavy weight; unendorsed Republican challengers traditionally bow out out of the race.

That’s one reason getting in touch with state committee members – as well as donors – is important early on in the race.

Raising money early in the race “sends a signal of the candidates’ strength; it’s the same as early season endorsements‚” said Seif.

Republican National Committeeman Bob Asher‚ owner of Asher’s Chocolates in Franconia‚ is one the area’s most influential fundraisers.

Seif said he’d been friendly with Asher since 1978.

“I’ve known him since then and respected him for all of that time‚ if you get my drift – all of it‚” he said.

Asher spent a year in prison on federal corruption charges in the early 1990s.

Drew Lewis‚ who served as transportation secretary under President Ronald Reagan‚ also lives in the Indian Valley. Lewis and his wife gave Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. more than $600‚000 in his doomed 2004 primary run for state Attorney General.

Asher backed Castors’ opponent in a divisive and negative campaign that’s left some insiders assuming the two will back opposing candidates this year.

“We’re kind of like family – we fight like cats and dogs behind closed doors but when we come out we’re usually together‚” said Nancy Becker‚ state committeewoman for the North Penn area.

For now at least‚ Seif said both Asher and county Republican committee Chairman Ken Davis were staying neutral on the governor’s race.

Having Matthews in the race may help unite the often fractious county GOP‚ Becker said.

If local Republican leaders are mum on their favorite candidate for Governor‚ they’re enthusiastic about Matthews for second-in-command.

“I think our main focus right now is to get behind Jim Matthews‚ who is our favorite son‚” said Becker.

Matthews gave up his chairmanship of the county commissioners this week to spend more time on the campaign trail. Last week‚ Matthews and campaign manager Josh Wilson put 1‚200 miles on a leased Ford Explorer criss-crossing the state to meet with Republican chieftains.

Having Matthews on the ticket may swing 20‚000 votes to the Republican candidate‚ he said.

And the region’s votes on the Republican state committee could be seriously helpful to either Swann or Scranton‚ though they may not go in a single block.

Both Becker and Ted Poatsy‚ a state committeeman from Upper Salford‚ said they didn’t have a preference in the race.

“We’re keeping our powder dry‚” said Poatsy.

Staying above the fray – at least for now – should increase Montgomery County’s relative clout in picking the Republican nominee‚ Poatsy said.

“We’re not going to make a commitment until February. It gives the whole Montgomery County a little more power‚” he said.

The Chester County Republican Committee has endorsed Lynn Swann‚ who waited until this week to officially announce his long-rumored candidacy.

But even as Republican gubernatorial campaigns get into gear across the state‚ some point out that Gov. Ed Rendell will be the favorite.

Incumbent governors are so often reelected to a second term there’s even a name for it: “the rule of eight.”

©Reporter online.com 2006"

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/07/2006 | Santorum Took Thousands and Thousands From Confessed Criminal Jack Abramoff

2006-01-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/07/2006 | Santorum donating Abramoff money: "Posted on Sat, Jan. 07, 2006
Santorum donating Abramoff moneyThe Pa. senator, seeking to "set an example," will give away contributions received from the lobbyist.By Carrie BudoffInquirer Staff WriterU.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) will shed the remaining $9,000 of his contributions from tribes connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff - a decision that Santorum's campaign said was prompted by his plans to take a lead in tightening lobbying rules.
"He wanted to set an example by donating all the contributions to charity," Virginia Davis, Santorum's campaign spokeswoman, said yesterday.
Santorum's move to return the money and put forward lobbying bills underscores the potential potency of ethics issues in the 2006 campaigns here and across the country.
Within hours of Abramoff's guilty plea Tuesday in a federal influence-peddling case, dozens of Republican and Democratic lawmakers started giving away campaign donations tied to the Washington lobbyist.
At first, Santorum returned only $2,000 from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, a former Abramoff client, because the tribe was specifically mentioned in Abramoff's plea agreement.
"Because we are having difficulty determining the role Jack Abramoff may or may not have had in these contributions, we are going to err on the side of caution," Davis said yesterday of the remaining $9,000, which came from two other tribes.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist asked Santorum, the No. 3 Republican Senate leader, in November to write legislation that could address some of the excesses exposed by the Abramoff case. For years, Abramoff showered lawmakers with trips, entertainment and millions of dollars in contributions.
"It is a very real possibility" Santorum could work on an agreement with Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), who already has drafted lobbying legislation, said Robert L. Traynham II, Santorum's Senate spokesman.
By involving himself in the ethics debate at a time when incumbents seem vulnerable on the issue, Santorum "can insulate himself and say he is ahead of the curve," said Berwood Yost, a Franklin and Marshall College pollster.
But already, Santorum's leading Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., is questioning the senator's standing on the issue.
Larry Smar, Casey's spokesman, said Santorum should first sever his ties with the K Street Project, an effort led by Santorum and other GOP lawmakers to build strong ties with the lobbying community and persuade those firms to hire Republican job applicants. K Street is a Washington address favored by lobbyists.
"If you talk about lobbying reform, that is a pretty good first place to start," Smar said. "Until he ends his association with the K Street Project, he has no credibility."
Traynham said the senator would continue the gatherings, which occur as many as 10 to 15 times a year. "He has no intention to stop meeting with, bouncing ideas off of or seeking advice from strategists based in D.C. that can further advance the agenda of moving this economy forward, protecting our homeland, and helping Pennsylvania's interests," Traynham said.
It was at one of those gatherings in 2001 that Santorum apparently encountered Abramoff, according to articles that year in National Journal and Roll Call that reference a meeting between the senator and more than a half-dozen lobbyists and lawmakers.
However, Davis said Santorum, who meets with hundreds of people every week, "does not recall being personally introduced or meeting Jack Abramoff.""

Santorum's Support For Bush Policy Crumblimg

2006-01-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

Santorum Calls for Commission on Iraq: "Santorum Calls for Commission on Iraq

Friday, January 6, 11:23 a.m.
Senator Rick Santorum, (R) PA, is calling on President George Bush to establish a commission or a panel of experts to study the progress being made in Iraq and to then, report to the American people.

Santorum is chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. In his letter to the president, Santorum said the commission should look at the current military operations in Iraq and the need to better assess and communicate how the effort to establish a stable democracy in the Middle East is progressing.

The senator said the American people deserve to know how both military and civil operations are going.

Senator Santorum has been a staunch supporter of President Bush.

Santorum's opponent in the U.S. Senate race is Pennsylvania Treasurer Robert Casey, Jr. A spokesperson with the Casey campaign, Larry Smar, said of the proposal, "Before anyone would believe that Senator Santorum has asked any serious questions about Bush's Iraq policy, Senator Santorum would have to first apologize for saying the media has been over-reporting the body count.""

Newtown Advance - Bob Casey Jr. fights to bring funding back to Pennsylvania

2006-01-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Newtown Advance - News - 01/04/2006 - To serve and protect: "Community News
To serve and protect
By: BRIDGET BRIER 01/04/2006

Bob Casey Jr. fights to bring funding back to Pennsylvania
The 2006 Senatorial race between Republican incumbent Rick Santorum and the current Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Democratic challenger Bob Casey Jr., has been touted as one of the most anticipated political races of the year.
Yet despite the daily increase of national media attention, Casey took time before the 2005 holiday season to explain his intent focus is on the daily issues of the people of Pennsylvania.
Of the issues especially affecting the people of Bucks County is the current hardships of the small businessmen and women. Casey sees the lack of federal funding for health care as a direct blow to small businesses and is determined to make federal funds more accessible to the Pennsylvania people who own, operate and work for, a small business.
"One of the major challenges of any small business in Pennsylvania is the cost of health care. I think it's crippling many small businesses in our state and I've talked to business people across the state about this. I think that the answer from Washington has been just total abdication of responsibility by the federal government to do something, anything about the cost of healthcare," Casey said.
It is a priority of Casey's to force Washington's attention back to those business owners who live off of their monthly revenue. He wants to allow small businesses access to a purchasing pool of health care, thereby making it more possible for them to provide for their own families and those families who work for them.
"One thing that a lot of people in Washington have talked about but haven't done anything about it is creating a broad purchasing pool for small businesses - just like federal employees have. They have a broad purchasing pool that allows costs to stay down. And a lot of small businesses want to see that," Casey said.
Casey went on to speak earnestly of such government organizations as the SBA, which critics maintain has not seen its fair share of federal funding in the past several years.
"One agency in the federal government that's had a tremendous effect in a very positive way for small businesses is the [United States] Small Business Administrations and the SBA has been cut by a third just in the last couple of years. Under the Republican leadership in Washington, supported 98 percent of the time at least by Senator Santorum, they have supported time and again cuts for the SBA - that's wrong." Casey said.
"I think the federal government's approach to helping small businesses is central to our economic plan, my economic plan, but it's also central to the concerns that a lot of people in Pennsylvania have."
Bob Casey Jr., the son of the late Pennsylvania governor Robert Casey, can easily be referred to as a "people person." Though Casey has spent the last decade in politics (serving as Auditor General before being elected as State Treasurer), he was once a teacher and a basketball coach, and Casey clearly enjoys the one-on-one contact of meeting the people of Pennsylvania and listening to their concerns about providing for themselves, their parents, and their children.
His previous positions have made him intimately aware of Pennsylvania's fiscal past and present and now Casey wants to insure the state's financial future as well.
Especially important for Casey, is providing an adequate and accessible education. "I think the federal government has to do more that we're doing right now to invest in early learning and to take what was a good goal and a laudable objective, 'No Child Left Behind,' and actually fully fund it. Or at least begin the process of funding it in a way that's fair. Pennsylvania is hundreds of millions of dollars behind in what we should be getting under No child Left Behind, "Casey said earnestly.
"Because frankly if we don't do the job of investing in a child at a very young age, literally in the early days and weeks and months of that child's life, no education program ten or fifteen years later can save them." Casey said.
In addition, Casey wants to make higher education another top priority. "Pennsylvania is having trouble keeping up payments in investments in higher education. Our families are struggling with that. The federal government has been changing the eligibility for the PELL grant and making it harder for families and students in Pennsylvania to afford the cost of college. This is going in the wrong direction when what we need is more help not less from the federal government," Casey said.
Casey believes that the people of Pennsylvania are earnest for a change and want leadership that has their best interests at heart. "People are going to vote in 2006 for a new direction, a different path, a more helpful road, which is a road where we come together in a bipartisan way to work on the question of health care and reducing the cost and to work on reducing the deficit. We will work together on priorities like education, like early learning. We work on the challenge that we have with retirement security where more and more we are faced with with challenge of more and more American's facing retirement with no health care.
"Economic security for a lot of people is a real worry. People are frustrated, people want a change and they want Washington to reflect some of our shared values. We will try our best to lessen or reduce or somehow mitigate the economic insecurities that people feel. We're going to work very hard to earn people's vote by addressing these problems." "

Analysts See Democrats Gaining in 2006 Races - December 29, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper

2005-12-29T15:12:00.000-08:00

Analysts See Democrats Gaining in 2006 Races - December 29, 2005 - The New York Sun - NY Newspaper: "December 29, 2005 Edition > Section: National

Analysts See Democrats Gaining in 2006 Races
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
December 29, 2005
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/25076

WASHINGTON - A Maryland politician who could become the first black Republican senator in nearly three decades, a business executive credited with bringing one of Washington state's biggest insurance companies back from the brink, and a state senator who is the son of one of New Jersey's most popular governors are among the Republican Party's best prospects to gain Senate seats in next year's election.

Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping that a young African-American congressman will make history by winning a Senate race in Tennessee, and that in Pennsylvania the son of another famous governor can oust Senator Santorum, who looks vulnerable.

Several political analysts interviewed by The New York Sun this week said they expect Democrats to narrow the Republican advantage in both houses of Congress next year. But they said Democrats are likely to fall short of winning a majority in either chamber.

The experts cautioned that many races may turn on hard-to-predict factors such as the military situation in Iraq and the vitality of the American economy. One pollster held out the possibility that the Republicans could increase their majorities if the economy grows quickly and large numbers of troops begin returning from Iraq.

"It's a pretty safe bet that 2006 will be a Democratic year. It may be a mild Democratic year, a moderate Democratic year, or a bonanza," a professor of politics at the University of Virginia, Larry Sabato, said.

An analyst of Senate races for the non-partisan Cook Political Report, Jennifer Duffy, predicted that Democrats will pick up between two and four Senate seats, leaving the GOP with a razor-thin majority that has little power under Senate rules. "If the Republicans have trouble with 55 seats, it's not going to be any easier with 53 seats or 51 seats," she said.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen said surveys taken in contested Senate races in October and November suggested "a very bleak outlook" for Republicans. "The polls we've done in the last couple of weeks are less grim, but they're not anything to be enthusiastic about," he said.

While many consider it too early to ponder elections that are still more than 10 months away, some candidates say their bids are already in full swing.

"This is the phase of organizing, fund raising, and preparing," said Michael McGavick, a Republican who is seeking to unseat Senator Cantwell of Washington, a first-term Democrat. Mr. McGavick, 47, who is stepping down this week as CEO of a Seattle-based insurance firm, Safeco, said he is unconcerned about polls that showed an erosion of confidence in President Bush. "Voters, especially here in the Northwest, are very independent of those national trends," said Mr. McGavick, who also worked as chief of staff to a former senator from Washington, Slade Gorton. "Public sentiment shifts fast," the challenger said.

Ms. Cantwell, 47, who used a dot-com fortune to defeat Mr. Gorton five years ago, is in no financial position to make a similar contribution this time. The value of her holdings in an Internet firm she once worked for, Real Networks, dropped sharply after the tech bubble burst.

An aide to Mr. McGavick, Julie Sund, said he may also benefit from the perception that Maria Cantwell has largely been overshadowed by Senator Murray, another Democratic woman senator from Washington state. "People don't really have an issue they associate with Maria," she said.

Another Republican hopeful, the lieutenant governor of Maryland, Michael Steele, is taking a more restrained approach to the early phases of his campaign to fill a seat vacated by the retirement of Senator Sarbanes, a Democrat. A spokesman for Mr. Steele, Leonardo Alcivar, said the candidate intends to keep focused on his state duties at least through the spring.

Republican leaders hope Mr. Steele, who is African-American, can pick up support from black voters, who have generally been loyal to Democrats. "They'll now, have for the first time in a generation in Maryland, a real choice and they haven't had that," Mr. Alcivar said. Democrats may frustrate Mr. Steele's efforts by fielding a former congressman and ex-president of the NAACP, Kweisi Mfume, though he must first face a primary contest with Rep. Benjamin Cardin.

In New Jersey, a Republican state senator, Thomas Kean Jr., appears well positioned for a bid for the seat currently occupied by Senator Corzine,a Democrat who will soon leave federal office to assume the governor's job. The Senate candidate is a son of Thomas Kean, a former governor of New Jersey, who gained national prominence as chairman of the commission that investigated the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Mr. Corzine's handpicked successor, Rep. Robert Menendez, who will be sworn in next month to serve out the departing senator's term, is planning to mount a campaign for the seat. He may face primary challengers as well.

The chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, Senator Schumer, said Tuesday that he believes Democrats have a chance to pick up Republican seats in seven states: Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. "If the stars align right, we could actually take back the Senate," Mr. Schumer told the Associated Press. However, in an earlier dispatch from the news agency, the senator set a more modest goal. "If we can pick up two or three, we'd be very happy," Mr. Schumer said.

A spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Brian Vick, called Mr. Schumer's upbeat assessment "a nice dream." Mr. Vick noted that in six of the seven races Mr. Schumer cited, the Democrat will be facing an incumbent Republican. In recent years, 88% of Senate incumbents have been reelected, the spokesman said.

"We're in a lot better position," Mr. Vick said. "He needs to worry about the open seats they have."

However, to many non-partisan analysts, some Republican senators look a bit wobbly. One is Mr. Santorum, a staunch conservative who may face a challenge from Robert Casey Jr., the Pennsylvania state treasurer and son of the late governor. "It is the marquee Senate race, the one everybody's going to watch," Ms. Duffy said.

Mr. Casey, who opposes abortion rights, faces some primary opposition from Democrats who support legalized abortion but is expected to win the nomination. Some Republicans believe Mr. Casey's anti-abortion stance could put Senator Clinton, an abortion rights advocate, in the uncomfortable position of having to either remain silent on the pivotal race or back a pro-life candidate.

Mrs. Clinton's political action committee, Hillpac, gave $5,000 to Mr. Casey earlier this year. "Senator Clinton looks forward to supporting the Democratic nominee," a Clinton adviser, Ann Lewis, said yesterday.

In a recent Quinnipiac poll, Mr. Casey had 50% support while 38% of voters favored Mr. Santorum. The poll showed that when Mr. Casey's supporters who also favor abortion rights were told that both Messrs. Casey and Santorum believe abortion should be illegal, 22% of the abortion rights supporters said they probably would not vote at all in the race.

Mr. Santorum also faces a primary challenge from a libertarian who favors abortion rights, John Featherman. "We put abortion as the number one issue," said Mr. Featherman, a real-estate broker. "I have my work cut out for me."

In Tennessee, Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat, could win the seat being vacated by Senate Majority Leader Frist, who is keeping his pledge to leave the Senate after serving two terms. Mr. Ford, 35, would be the first African-American ever elected to the Senate from that state. At the moment, Republicans are splintered in a hotly contested three-way primary.

"It's going to be expensive. It's probably going to be ugly," Ms. Duffy said of Mr. Ford's race.

One-third of the Senate seats are up for grabs next year, as is every seat in the House. At the moment, because of the effects of redistricting and gerrymandering, fewer than 30 House races are expected to be competitive, though the number could increase if more members retire in the coming months.

Despite some recent improvements, ominous signs remain for the Republicans. A recent Mason-Dixon poll taken in Montana, one of the reddest of red states, showed the Democratic state auditor, John Morrison, running just 6 points behind Senator Burns, a third term Republican suffering from his ties to a Washington lobbying scandal.

Mr. Rasmussen noted, however, that early in 2002 some Democrats predicted big gains, only to be disappointed. "That same thing can happen between now and next November," he said.

December 29, 2005 Edition > Section: National"

Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/26/2005 | John Grogan | Pa Has A New Hillary - Senator Flip Flop

2005-12-26T13:17:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/26/2005 | John Grogan | Has Santorum turned a new leaf?: "John Grogan | Has Santorum turned a new leaf?By John Grogan Inquirer ColumnistWill the real Rick Santorum please stand up?
It used to be easy to know where Pennsylvania's junior U.S. senator stood. He was a red-state kind of guy in blue-state Pennsylvania, a conservative Republican Catholic who wore his religion on his sleeve and whose faith played a major role in his public-policy positions. Agree with him or not, you had to admire him for standing by his convictions. He never shied away from trumpeting his beliefs.
In many ways, he's still that man.
And yet, the bravado seems tempered. The ideology softened.
We heard it when he distanced himself from the Bush administration on Iraq. And we heard it again - loud and clear - last week when he very publicly retreated from the intelligent-design movement he once championed so vocally.
After a federal judge in Harrisburg struck down the Dover Area School District's attempt to add intelligent design into the science curriculum, Santorum surprised me.
I was expecting him to play to his Christian base. I expected him to grandstand about activist judges advancing secular agendas and to champion alternative theories to evolution.
After all, this is the man who in 2002 wrote that intelligent design "is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes." This is the man who, with help from a leading intelligent-design proponent, sponsored the Santorum amendment to the No Child Left Behind law in 2001, designed to help school districts teach alternatives to evolution.
Behind the design
This is the man who sat on the advisory board of the conservative Thomas More Law Center, which defended the Dover school board and turned the case into a national referendum on creationism in the classroom.
But Santorum did not do that. Instead, he said he disagreed with the school board for mandating intelligent design in science classes. He criticized the law center, saying it "made a huge mistake in taking this case." And he announced he would resign from the Thomas More board.
Wow. Was this the same Rick Santorum who once blamed the Catholic clergy child-abuse scandal on Boston's liberal culture?
Could it be that Santorum is mellowing? Could he be maturing as a statesman and rethinking some of his past positions? Could he be learning that moderation is the better part of wisdom?
Or is he simply making a politically expedient - and temporary - realignment in preparation for a bruising reelection campaign next year?
It might be all of the above.
Santorum can read the poll numbers as well as anyone, and he knows he faces a formidable challenger in State Treasurer Robert P. Casey.
Like Santorum, Casey is a practicing Catholic who opposes abortion.
A pull toward center
With the abortion issue moot, and Casey more moderate on other social issues, you can't blame Santorum for feeling the pull toward center.
George Bush and John Kerry both felt it in 2004, moving toward center to try to win over fence straddlers. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been continually shifting her center of gravity since she stepped out of her role as first lady and began pursuing her own political ambitions.
Could Santorum have the Hillary chameleon gene?
Knowing he has the far right locked down, it makes political sense to shift a few notches to the left to woo from Casey those he previously had taken for granted, such as the reader named Mike who sent me an e-mail last week stating: "I am a practicing Roman Catholic, I believe in God, but I think the Dover folks over-reached trying to include [intelligent design] as part of a public school curriculum."
Santorum once could reliably count on voters like Mike on Election Day. Not so anymore.
The Casey camp, predictably, accuses Santorum of flip-flop expediency. The Santorum camp, predictably, insists that the senator's positions are consistent and not politically influenced. The truth almost certainly lies somewhere in between.
Whatever his motivation, I kind of like the senator's new sensibility.
Moderation becomes him."

Santorum to Jesus: "Get Back Jack, I have a Race To Win"

2005-12-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

Santorum cuts ties to Christian center - The Boston Globe: "
Santorum cuts ties to Christian center
Decision follows judge's ruling in evolution case
By Associated Press | December 23, 2005

PHILADELPHIA -- Senator Rick Santorum yesterday withdrew his affiliation from the Christian-rights law center that defended a school district's policy mandating the teaching of ''intelligent design."

Santorum, the Senate's third-ranking Republican who is facing a tough reelection challenge next year, earlier praised the Dover Area School District for ''attempting to teach the controversy of evolution."

But the day after a federal judge ruled the district's policy on intelligent design unconstitutional, Santorum told The Philadelphia Inquirer he was troubled by testimony indicating religion motivated some board members to adopt the policy.

Santorum was on the advisory board of the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, which defended the district's policy. The law center describes its mission as defending the religious freedom of Christians.

''I thought the Thomas More Law Center made a huge mistake in taking this case and in pushing this case to the extent they did," Santorum said Wednesday. He said he would end his affiliation with the center.

The leading Democratic challenger in Santorum's 2006 re-election battle, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., accused him of backtracking on intelligent design.

Casey spokesman Larry Smar said Wednesday that Santorum's statements were ''yet another example of 'Election Year Rick' changing his positions for political expediency." Casey has led Santorum in recent polls.

Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the center, said Santorum's withdrawal came as no surprise because several weeks earlier the senator had indicated that he was unhappy with the center's involvement in the case.

''It is a very controversial issue, as you know, and he is involved in a very hotly contested Senate race, and it's probably in his best interest," Thompson said yesterday.

US District Judge John E. Jones ruled Tuesday that the Dover district's policy of requiring students to hear a statement in biology class about intelligent design was ''a pretext . . . to promote religion" in public schools.

Intelligent design's proponents hold that living organisms are so complex that they must have been created by a higher force.

© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company"

CBS 3 - Santorum Does The Dover Two Step - More Flip Flops

2005-12-23T07:25:00.000-08:00

CBS 3 - Philadelphia's Source For Breaking News, Weather, Traffic and Sports: Santorum To Cut Ties With Evolution-Defending Firm: "Santorum To Cut Ties With Evolution-Defending Firm
Senator Said Board Members' Religious Motivation In Intelligent Design School Battle Was Troubling
Save It Email It Print It
(AP) PHILADELPHIA Sen. Rick Santorum intends to withdraw his affiliation with the Thomas More Law Center, which defended the Dover Area School District's policy mandating the teaching of intelligent design in science classes dealing with evolution.
Santorum earlier praised the district for "attempting to teach the controversy of evolution."

But on Wednesday, the day after a federal judge ruled the district's policy on intelligent design unconstitutional, the Republican senator told The Philadelphia Inquirer he was troubled by testimony indicating religion motivated some board members to adopt the policy.

The question quickly became a political issue as the leading Democratic challenger in Santorum's 2006 re-election battle, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., accused him of backtracking on intelligent design.

Casey's spokesman, Larry Smar, said Wednesday that Santorum's statements were "yet another example of 'Election
Year Rick' changing his positions for political expediency."

U.S. District Judge John E. Jones ruled Tuesday that the district's policy of requiring students to hear a statement about intelligent design before ninth-grade evolution lessons was "a pretext ... to promote religion in the public school classroom."

Intelligent design's proponents hold that living organisms are so complex they must have been created by a higher force rather than evolving from more primitive forms.

Santorum said in a 2002 Washington Times op-ed article that intelligent design "is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes."

But he said he meant that teachers should have freedom to mention intelligent design as part of the evolution debate _ not be required to do so -- and said his position hasn't changed.

Santorum said he disagreed with the Dover board's policy of mandating the teaching of intelligent design, rather than teaching the controversy surrounding evolution. Because of that, he said the case provided "a bad set of facts" to test whether theories other than evolution should be taught in science class.

"I thought the Thomas More Law Center made a huge mistake in taking this case and in pushing this case to the extent they did," said Santorum, a member of the center's advisory board. He said he would end his affiliation with the Michigan-based public-interest law firm that promotes Christian values.

(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
"

Philadelphia Inquirer | Tricky Ricky Flips and FLOPS on Dover - Both For and Against God

2005-12-22T16:07:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/22/2005 | Santorum now critical of Dover case: "Posted on Thu, Dec. 22, 2005
Santorum now critical of Dover caseHe denies he is contradicting earlier statements of support for the cause.By Carrie Budoff and Paul NussbaumInquirer Staff WritersEarly this year, Sen. Rick Santorum commended the Dover Area School District for "attempting to teach the controversy of evolution."
But one day after a federal judge ruled that the district's policy on intelligent design was unconstitutional, Santorum said he was troubled by court testimony that showed some board members were motivated by religion in adopting the policy.
And, he said in an interview, he disagreed with the board for mandating the teaching of intelligent design, rather than just the controversy surrounding evolution.
Santorum - who sits on the advisory board of the Thomas More Law Center, which defended the school board in court - said the case offered "a bad set of facts" to test the concept that theories other than evolution should be taught in science classrooms.
"I thought the Thomas More Law Center made a huge mistake in taking this case and in pushing this case to the extent they did," Santorum said.
He said he intends to withdraw his affiliation with the Michigan-based public-interest law firm that promotes Christian values.
Robert Thompson, chief counsel for the law center, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Santorum would not comment on the ruling itself, saying that he had yet to fully review it.
The case highlighted Santorum's high-profile role in the debate over teaching evolution. He never entered the Harrisburg courtroom where the six-week trial took place, but his actions - most notably, an effort in 2001 to insert a "teach the controversy" amendment into a landmark education bill - figured prominently into the case.
It also has become a political issue for Santorum as he faces a tough reelection in 2006. His leading Democratic challenger, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., has seized upon the senator's seemingly contradictory statements on intelligent design to portray him as a "flip flopper" who puts an ideological agenda above other interests.
In a 2002 Washington Times op-ed, Santorum wrote: "Therefore, intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes."
But in recent interviews, including one in August on National Public Radio, Santorum said: "I'm not comfortable with intelligent design being taught in the science classroom."
The Casey campaign and the state Democratic Party accused Santorum yesterday of backtracking in an election year on intelligent design, which holds that life is so complex that its creation must be attributed to a higher power.
It "is yet another example of 'Election Year Rick' changing his positions for political expediency," said Larry Smar, Casey's spokesman. "Santorum has spent more time in the Senate pursuing the politics of division rather than focusing on Pennsylvania priorities like health care, the economy, and jobs."
Santorum said his statements are not contradictory, nor has his position changed.
His 2002 op-ed dealt with academic freedom and argued that dissenting theories to evolution shouldn't be repressed. He said he meant that teachers should have the flexibility - but not be required - to mention intelligent design as part of the evolution debate, a position he continues to hold.
"Making sure there is academic freedom in the classroom, to bring in other points of views, is something my constituents and parents care a lot about," Santorum said. "It is not pursuing an ideological agenda."
Casey, who faces a Democratic primary challenge from Bucks County professor Chuck Pennacchio and Philadelphia lawyer Alan Sandals, says he believes that science should be taught in the science classroom, Smar said. "But if you want to talk about intelligent design, do it in religious class or church or home."
Santorum raised the national profile of intelligent design in 2001 by introducing a "teach the controversy" amendment to the No Child Left Behind bill.
The Santorum amendment was approved, 91-8, by the Senate and placed in a legislative history report. It validated the push by some school districts to teach alternatives to evolution. But science groups attacked the amendment and lobbied successfully to keep it out of the final version of the legislation.
The amendment, written with the help of Phillip Johnson, an intelligent-design pioneer and a retired law professor at the University of California-Berkeley, stated that "a quality science education should prepare students to distinguish the data and testable theories of science from religious or philosophical claims that are made in the name of science.
"Where topics are taught that may generate controversy [such as biological evolution], the curriculum should help students to understand the full range of scientific views that exist, why such topics may generate controversy, and how scientific discoveries can profoundly affect society."
During the intelligent design trial, there had been repeated references to the "Santorum amendment" and a Dover school board newsletter highlighting the senator's support. Santorum had expressed his support in an op-ed article published in January in the Allentown Morning Call.
The Dover policy, adopted in October 2004, required teachers to read a four-paragraph statement to ninth-grade biology students pointing out "gaps" in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and directing them to a book on intelligent design in the school library.
Lawyers for the 11 parents who sued the district contended that the board was motivated by religion.
During the trial, a board member belatedly disclosed that the purchase of the book - Of Pandas and People - was funded by a local church, which gave the school $850 in donations.
Judge John E. Jones 3d, in his ruling Tuesday, rebuked the board. He said two members "tried to hide the source of the donations," and he did not find them credible when they denied making comments at a public hearing that showed they were motivated to adopt the policy for religious, not educational, reasons.
Santorum said he agreed with this aspect of the ruling, saying that religion should not be the motivating factor behind the teaching the controversy surrounding evolution. He continues to believe that intelligent design, like evolution, is a legitimate scientific theory, said his spokesman, Robert L. Traynham.
Rick Santorum on Intelligent Design
"Therefore, intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes."
- 2002 Washington Times op-ed article"

Tricky Ricky Santorum Denies Role in His Plot To Get Jeff Habey - PittsburghLIVE.com

2005-12-19T05:30:00.000-08:00

Democrat state lawmakers kiss up to Kate - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Jeff who? Sen. Rick Santorum was flummoxed last week in reacting to GOP state Rep. Jeff Habay's allegations that Santorum is orchestrating a conspiracy to get him out of office.

"I have no idea what he's talking about," the Penn Hills Republican said of Habay, adding that the accusations were "completely off the wall."

Habay made the allegations after an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court jury found him guilty of a conflict of interest charge. The Shaler Republican was convicted of ordering his employees to perform campaign work on public time.

Santorum said he has had little interaction with Habay over the years. He wondered how he could have been working against him since Habay apparently has had few opponents for his seat in his decade-long career in the House.

Not only did Santorum say he does not get involved in local elections, "I didn't know there was a trial going on. I just feel sorry for him. He's swinging at shadows."

Before Habay goes on trial in February on 21 other criminal charges, Santorum suggested it would be best for him to resign.

"It would be better off for all concerned (for Habay) to move on," he said.

-- compiled by Tribune-Review staff "

Philadelphia Daily News | 12/16/2005 | Gar Joseph | A sampling: Scranton and Swann

2005-12-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Daily News | 12/16/2005 | Gar Joseph | A sampling: Scranton, Swann & 'Clean Gene': "Posted on Fri, Dec. 16, 2005
Gar Joseph | A sampling: Scranton, Swann & 'Clean Gene'IT WAS GREAT seeing Gov. Rendell in the Palestra stands for Penn-Villanova Tuesday night.
But our advice to him is: forget the Quakers; think Panthers. As in Pitt Panthers.
The guv's unfavorables are rising. His support is below 50 percent.
Everyone west of the Susquehanna thinks he's the "governor of Philadelphia."
The election is next year.
So, take in a Panther game, Guv. Have a photo-op with a Primanti's sandwich. Go West, old man.
Yet we come today not to praise Rendell, but to see who might bury him.
Who's more likely to beat Rendell, former Steeler and ABC sports reporter Lynn Swann or former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton Jr.?
They are the leading contenders for the Republican nomination to oppose Rendell.
We've spent the past week talking with pols, consultants, money guys and campaign staff trying to answer that question.
We'll sum up our findings by putting words into the mouths of the candidates.
Swann: My numbers have gone up in each successive poll, while yours have stayed flat.
Scranton: That's because you began in single digits.
Swann: Also, my pro-gun, anti-abortion views are more in step with Pennsylvanians'.
Moderate Republicans like you are a vanishing breed. That's why my campaign contributions come from conservatives across the nation.
Scranton:Can you match Rendell, who will raise $40 million?
Swann:Can you?
Scranton: All I have to do is open my checkbook. Remember, I have a city named after me.
Swann: That city and its region is 10 percent of the state's voters.
Everyone west of Harrisburg is a Steelers fan.
Scranton: You mean everyone who follows football.
What percentage of the vote total is that? And how many are old enough to remember you?
Swann: The fact is, western Pennsylvanians are far more loyal to candidates from their region.
And the anger against incumbents because of the legislative pay raise is greater there than anywhere in the state. Anger generates turnout.
Scranton: I also opposed the pay raise. Plus, my business experience gives me stature equal to Rendell's.
I look like a governor. An ex-jock can't match that.
Swann: As an African-American, I have the ability to cut into the Democratic base.
Scranton:What about James Carville's dictum? "Pennsylvania, between Paoli and Penn Hills, is just Alabama."
When did Alabama have a black governor?
Swann: My football career inoculates me against white voters who pause because of my race.
Plus, I appeal to black voters in Philadelphia.
Even the defection of 200 votes per black division would have a serious impact on Rendell's city margin.
Scranton: You've never run for office before.
I was tested in that tough 1986 campaign against Bob Casey Sr. I nearly won. Rendell will pounce on your first rookie mistake. Remember Lynn Yeakel and Juanita County?
Swann:Being an outsider and a fresh face is a positive, not a negative.
Clout: OK, OK, enough. We're more confused than when we started.
"

Santorum Linked to Abramoff and the K Street Project

2005-12-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

NRSC plans multi-state attack tying Democrats to Abramoff: "A Democratic aide in Washington said the ethics charges Democrats have lodged against Republicans could tip the balance in other key Senate battlegrounds: In Pennsylvania, Sen. Rick Santorum (R) has faced criticism for his alleged role in the K Street Project, which aimed to purge Democratic lobbyists from Washington.

Jay Reiff, who is managing Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey’s campaign against Santorum, noted that Casey recently issued an ethics plan that would end the K Street Project and slow the “revolving door” between Capitol Hill and lobbying shops, among other provisions. Santorum’s media consultant, John Brabender, said Casey is trying to deflect charges lodged against the Democrat involving a fundraiser he held in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."

"Americans for Job Security" - Santorum Front Group - Forbes.com

2005-12-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

Update 2: Michael Schiavo Launches PAC - Forbes.com: "n a complaint Wednesday to the Federal Election Commission, Democrat Bob Casey Jr. alleges a third-party group that has run ads in support of Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania violated federal election laws.

Casey said the group, Americans for Job Security, violated election law by not disclosing the identity of its donors and "conspired to make illegal corporate expenditures in connection with a federal election."

Michael Dubke, president of the Virginia-based group, denied any wrongdoing. He said his group is not a political committee so it is not required to make such disclosures. Virginia Davis, Santorum's campaign spokeswoman, said there is no connection between the senator and the group.

Casey is leading in the polls against Santorum, a two-term incumbent who is the No. 3 Senate Republican."

6abc.com: Quinnipiac Poll - Casey Swan Rendell Up - Santorum Scranton Soft and Weak

2005-12-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

6abc.com: Recent Poll Ranks Standing of Local Politicians: "Recent Poll Ranks Standing of Local PoliticiansDecember 13, 2005 - Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey continues to hold a double-digit lead over incumbent Rick Santorum in the 2006 US Senate race.

Today's Quinnipiac University poll gives the Democrat a 12-point lead, 50 to 38 percent. But that's down from the 18-point lead Casey held in October.
The poll also shows that nearly two-thirds of voters think Santorum's support of President Bush hurts his chances for re-election.

In next year's race for the Republican nomination for governor, former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann leads former Lieutenant Governor Bill Scranton, although both trail undecided voters at this point.

And current Governor Ed Rendell's approval ratings are back up to 51 percent, which is a five percent rise since October.

Copyright Action News, 2005. All Rights Reserved."

PennLive.com: Unfavorable Rating Santorum 28% Casey 6% - Quinnipiac University poll

2005-12-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

PennLive.com: NewsFlash - Poll: Santorum's support of Bush hurts re-election prospects: "Poll: Santorum's support of Bush hurts re-election prospects
12/13/2005, 6:30 a.m. ET
By MARTHA RAFFAELE
The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's support of President Bush hurts his chances for re-election next year, Pennsylvania voters said by a 2-1 margin in a poll released Tuesday.

More than one-third of all Republicans surveyed in the Quinnipiac University poll also said Santorum's re-election prospects aren't helped by his support of the president.

The poll showed Democratic state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. leading the two-term Republican incumbent by 50 percent to 38 percent in the 2006 Senate race, compared to a 52-to-34 percent lead in Quinnipiac's October poll. Voters also said they disapprove of Bush's job performance, 59 percent to 38 percent.

"President Bush is clearly hurting Santorum in Pennsylvania, and he's still further behind than an incumbent should be entering the campaign year," said Clay Richards, assistant director of the Hamden, Conn., university's polling institute. "Santorum's best hope is for a third-party abortion-rights candidate to emerge and pull Democratic votes from Casey."

The survey of 1,447 Pennsylvania voters was released one day after Santorum, the Senate's No. 3 Republican, attended a speech by Bush in Philadelphia that was part of the president's public relations campaign to promote Iraq war policies.

Santorum bypassed Bush's last stop in Pennsylvania, at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Monroe County on Nov. 11, citing a prior commitment in Philadelphia.

Santorum's approval rating rose, with 48 percent approving and 38 percent disapproving, up from 43 percent approving and 41 disapproving in October, the poll found.

Santorum was viewed favorably by 35 percent of the electorate, and Casey was viewed favorably by 40 percent, the poll found. But 34 percent said they did not yet know enough about Casey, the poll found.

Casey was viewed unfavorably by 6 percent of those surveyed compared to 28 percent who viewed Santorum unfavorably.

Casey is widely considered the Democratic front-runner in the race. The respondents were not asked about any other Democratic Senate primary candidates.

The telephone poll, conducted from Nov. 30 through Dec. 6, carries a sampling error margin of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

The poll also shows Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell maintaining a lead in hypothetical matchups against each of four Republicans seeking the GOP nomination for governor next year.

Rendell's lead is 29 percentage points over Jim Panyard, a former director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association; 25 percentage points over state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin; 13 percentage points over former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann; and 12 percentage points over former Lt. Gov. William Scranton III.

Rendell's approval rating also improved to 51 percent from 46 percent in the university's October poll."

Worldandnation: $500,000 for Casey's campaign - an enormous sum for a Senate fund-raiser

2005-12-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Worldandnation: A Democrat in demand: "In September, Barack gave the keynote speech at a Philadelphia luncheon for Bob Casey, a Democrat who is challenging Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. The event netted $500,000 for Casey's campaign - an enormous sum for a Senate fund-raiser."

Santorum Weakens Republican Line-up - Klink considers running for Hart's seat in Congress

2005-12-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

Klink considers running for Hart's seat in Congress: "
Klink considers running for Hart's seat in Congress
Saturday, December 10, 2005

By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Former U.S. Rep. Ron Klink says some leading Democrats have urged him to make a political comeback in the 4th Congressional District, a seat held for the last six years by his successor, Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Bradford Woods.

Mr. Klink said he is listening to the requests but has not reached the point of actively considering an attempt to return to Congress.

"I have said that, given the current political climate, that I would listen, but it is not something I am actively seeking," said Mr. Klink, who has worked as a consultant and lobbyist since he left the U.S. House.

Mr. Klink gave up his seat to challenge U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum in the 2000 election. Mr. Klink, outspent in the race by more than three-to-one, lost to Mr. Santorum by some 400,000 votes, a margin of 52 percent to 46 percent.

Ms. Hart has won easily in each of her three runs in the district, which includes Beaver and Lawrence counties, parts of Butler and Allegheny counties and a corner of Westmoreland County that includes Mr. Klink's Murrysville home.

While acknowledging that he has had conversations about the 4th District, Mr. Klink dismissed reports that he was also considering running for an adjoining seat in the 18th Congressional District, held by Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair.

"That's not accurate," he said of an Internet report that he might challenge Mr. Murphy. "I live in the 4th; if I were to give it any consideration, it would be in the district in which I live."

In Ms. Hart's district, two Democrats have emerged as competitors for the nomination. They are Georgia Berner, a Lawrence County businesswoman, and Jason Altmire, a former UPMC executive.

"They're two very good people who have their hearts in the right place," Mr. Klink said. "I know both of them and have nothing but respect for them, but they both have a tall mountain to climb in terms of name recognition."

(Politics Editor James O;Toole can be reached at jotoole@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1562.)"

AP Wire | 12/11/2005 | Casey Leads Satorum 50 to 46 in a different kind of Poll

2005-12-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

AP Wire | 12/11/2005 | Pennsylvania elite enjoy annual Big Apple bash: "Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. raised $50,000 at an event Friday at the Harvard Club for his bid to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. Santorum hosted his own $1,000-a-head fundraiser a day earlier, netting $46,000 for his re-election committee"

Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/11/2005 | The annual gathering of the Pennsylvania Society

2005-12-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/11/2005 | Pa. pols just can't resist N.Y. bash: "Posted on Sun, Dec. 11, 2005

Pa. pols just can't resist N.Y. bash

The annual gathering of the Pennsylvania Society has attracted plenty of powerful folks, as usual.

By Marcia Gelbart and Carrie Budoff

Inquirer Staff Writers

NEW YORK - Manhattan at Christmastime was very special last year for John Perzel.

Attending Pennsylvania's premier out-of-state political party as the State House speaker, Perzel saw a $55,000 reception thrown for him by a paving contractor, a billboard giant, and 10 other politically connected companies.

And this weekend it occurred all over again - not for Perzel this time, but an equally powerful cast of political bigwigs.

With all the recent talk about ethical lapses in the Capitol corridors and Philadelphia City Hall, the drive for cleaner government has not reached New York - site of the annual Pennsylvania Society gathering of more than 1,000 politicians, business executives and lobbyists, which will end this morning.

During this three-day-weekend affair, Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum will be feted twice; the state auditor general, the state House majority leader, and the Allegheny County executive will throw their own soirees; and legions of other public officials will be courted by special-interest groups.

It's the unofficial start of next year's big political season - which will include Gov. Rendell's run for reelection and Bob Casey Jr.'s race against Santorum. And with six of the possible mayoral candidates in attendance, it foreshadows that race in 2007.

"I doubt anyone gets bought there for the price of a shrimp cocktail," said Zack Stalberg, executive director of the Committee of Seventy watchdog group. "But it's that old-fashioned, and now questionable, conviviality between the people who run things and the people who run the government."

While the event is based at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, many lawmakers and lobbyists admit that one of the star attractions is New York itself: the Fifth Avenue shops, Rockefeller Center, and Broadway musicals.

All that money doled out in restaurants, hotels and shopping inevitably leads to the perennial debate over whether the Pennsylvania Society weekend belongs in... Pennsylvania.

Harrisburg activist Gene Stilp - who helped lead the successful grassroots movement to repeal the pay raise lawmakers gave themselves in July - planned to counter the high-end partying in New York with a bare-bones bash yesterday in the Capitol.

"Please bring a potluck item," Stilp wrote on the invitation. In an interview, he said, "Working-class Pennsylvanians can't even relate to the Pennsylvania Society dinner. We want to start a new tradition for the average person: the Pennsylvania People's Dinner."

Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer (R., Blair) defended the weekend: "This is not class warfare - just an opportunity to let your hair down a bit."

In Philadelphia, City Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday to bring the affair within the state's borders. The vote took place during the same week that Leonard N. Ross, a friend of Mayor Street's, became the 18th person charged in the ongoing City Hall corruption investigation.

"Look, I'm not trying to mess up anyone's vacation here," said Councilman Frank DiCicco, who sponsored the resolution and has never gone to the affair. "It's just business."

Rendell doesn't hold out hope.

"It can never happen because this has become too important a social trip for people across the state who don't get the same opportunity as Philadelphia does to come to New York," he said between handshakes Friday at a well-attended ESPN Zone reception hosted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, consulting firm Ceisler Jubelirer (one partner is the son of the senator.) and others.

The Pennsylvania Society was formed in New York City at the close of the 19th century, offering neutral ground for the state's industrialists to talk politics, charm politicians and, according to lore, give their marching orders for the coming year.

In some ways, not much has changed.

Instead of robber barons, the benefactors serving breakfast mimosas and late-night apple martinis are such corporations as Sunoco and Waste Management, and lobbying firms such as S.R. Wojdak & Associates and Buchanan Ingersoll. But the goals are largely the same.

"We look at this as a way to celebrate the captains of industry in Pennsylvania," said Jim Welty, a lobbyist for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. "We talk about where Pennsylvania needs to go."

"This is a unique event," said Street's spokesman Joe Grace, who was in New York yesterday along with Commerce Director Stephanie Naidoff, City Solicitor Romulo Diaz and Housing Secretary Kevin Hanna. "It's an opportunity for us to listen to what people are saying" about Philadelphia.

Street did not attend the weekend's events because of a family matter, Grace said.

With a governor, U.S. senator, and much of the legislature up for reelection next year, followed by the Philadelphia mayoral contest, a lot of talk focused on who showed, who was up, who was down, and who might be out.

"I wanted to make sure the players who are there know that I'll be out raising money for my congressional fund-raiser," said NAACP Philadelphia chapter president J. Whyatt Mondesire, who is very publicly considering challenging U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) next year.

Casey, who agreed yesterday to debate his Democratic primary opponents in the coming months, raised $50,000 Friday at the Harvard Club for his Senate race - and ended up in a room next to where Santorum attended a reception hosted by Louis Appell, a prominent York County businessman and GOP fund-raiser.

They didn't cross paths. Neither did Casey and Rendell, who dropped by the Appell event but skipped Casey's fund-raiser. The governor cited tight scheduling.

Santorum hosted his own $1,000-a-head fund-raiser Thursday night at the Waldorf-Astoria, collecting $46,000 for his reelection committee and $130,000 for the state GOP election fund.

A short while earlier, Santorum, giving a speech at a Chester County event honoring him, asked the crowd to read his book, It Takes a Family - and not believe its critics.

"Just like everything else the Democrats do, they lie and distort," Santorum said.

From the back of the room, Democratic City Councilman Michael Nutter yelled, "Hey, senator, tone that down."

Santorum then amended his words, adding "except Michael Nutter," eliciting laughs from the bipartisan audience.

Nutter was one of the potential 2007 mayoral candidates who attended some events this weekend. But one of his potential rivals, electricians union leader John Dougherty, did more than just pop into receptions. He hosted his own party, complete with a band and "Johnny Doc 2007" Christmas tree ornaments, in a Waldorf-Astoria ballroom.

One weekend attendee, Ken Davis, chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party, was shopping around his candidate for lieutenant governor, Montgomery County Commissioner Jim Matthews.

"I don't know anybody who's been bought at Pennsylvania Society," Davis said. "Rented, maybe - but not bought.""

Republicans Wrong on Dairy Program - Santorum Weak Where It Counts

2005-11-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

Republicans Battle Over Dairy Program - Yahoo! News: "Republicans Battle Over Dairy Program By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 30, 3:00 AM ET

WASHINGTON - For a few Republican lawmakers, perhaps the biggest battle facing House-Senate negotiators on a huge budget bill isn't a high-profile issue like cutting food stamps and Medicaid or opening a stretch of pristine Alaskan coast to oil drilling. It's milk.

ADVERTISEMENT

Specifically, it's the Milk Income Loss Contract program that pays dairy farmers when prices drop.

For some, like Rep. Mark Green (news, bio, voting record) of Wisconsin and Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania, their political lives could be at stake. Green and Santorum represent states dotted by family dairy farms. Their battle is with Republican colleagues from Western states with much larger dairy operations.

Compared with hot-button issues, the internal GOP battle over the Milk Income Loss Contract program seems pretty obscure. The program expired Sept. 30. Extending it for two more years would cost taxpayers $1 billion.

Green and Santorum are among the few Republicans facing challenging statewide campaigns in states won by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004. Both are pulling out all the stops as they try to revive the milk program.

Green is running to unseat Wisconsin's Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle; Santorum is lagging in the polls in his bid for re-election. Then there's Rep. Mark Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), R-Minn., running for the Senate. Two weeks ago, he cast the decisive vote in the House to pass a $50 billion deficit reduction bill after receiving assurances that the milk program would get new life.

Their opponents in the milk battle aren't Democrats. The tricky politics of dairy policy pits region against region rather than one party against another. Republicans from states like California, Arizona, New Mexico and Idaho — whose farmers don't really benefit from the program — are leading the opposition, creating the GOP family feud.

Farmers from states where dairy herds tend to be smaller — such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania — benefit more from the milk program since it pays farmers only on the amount of milk produced by about 120 cows in a year. Western states with their generally larger herds benefit far less.

"Dairy policy isn't partisan," says Green. "As a Republican in the majority, I'd love it to be partisan. It's not. It's geographic, so getting the support for it is much harder."

Most lawmakers, in fact, don't have a strong opinion about milk policy. That means that those from states where milk is important often must play hardball to get party leaders' attention.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., discovered this two weeks ago in trying to round up the last few votes he needed to pass the budget bill, a pillar of the GOP's agenda this fall.

The House version of the bill didn't contain the milk program extension. Renewing it for two years would have forced the Agriculture Committee to cover the $1 billion cost by cutting an equal amount from other farm programs or food stamps, a nonstarter for Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va.

Scrambling for votes, Hastert wrote a letter to Green promising "to maintain a strong safety net for your dairy producers." That helped cement support for the budget from moderate Republicans from states such as New York and Pennsylvania. Green says he would have supported the budget even without Hastert's promise.

The Senate version of the budget extends the milk program, but only over stout objections from Western senators like Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who opposed it because of the resulting cuts in payments to other farmers.

Hastert's letter signaling that the House would bow to the Senate would seem to put the issue to rest. But Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., one of the Senate's powerful "old bulls," is leading a battle against extending the milk program. And since he'll be an official negotiator for the Senate in talks on the budget, Domenici's objections can't be dismissed.

Domenici's state is home to huge dairy farms that produce lots of milk but receive relatively little benefit from the subsidy program. He says the program encourages overproduction in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota, which lowers prices for everybody else.

An Agriculture Department study issued last year found that not only do states with large farms not benefit as much from the milk program, they "may be disadvantaged by the program altogether" because it encourages oversupply.

"Extending MILC in its current form is unacceptable," Domenici said, "and I will oppose it vigorously.""

Philadelphia Daily News | 11/29/2005 | John Baer | Arlen Says Bush Was Deluded and Santorum Still Has A Chance

2005-11-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Daily News 11/29/2005 John Baer Arlen sticks to the points, etc.: " Posted on Tue, Nov. 29, 2005

John Baer Arlen sticks to the points, etc.
AND NOW an Arlen update. Or, how the senator just keeps going.

Says his health is "excellent," says the president was misled on the run-up to war and further investigation is warranted. Says Roe v. Wade stands, so does Santorum, but no casinos should stand in Gettysburg.

Details?

His comments came during an hour-long session yesterday with journalists, live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

The 75-year-old senior senator, 25 years in Congress, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, remains outspoken and controversial - though, in some cases, without specifics.

A Republican known for not parroting his party, Specter says he doesn't believe President Bush misled America in going to war in Iraq, but "I think he probably was misled by some" - unnamed - "in the intelligence community."

(And the withdrawal call made by U.S. Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa.? "I don't agree with him, but I think we ought to listen to him.")

Also, as Specter prepares to lead confirmation hearings in early January for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, he acknowledges abortion is "the dominant issue."

Asked if Roe might be overturned with Alito on the bench, Specter (who supports a woman's right to choose) notes the nearly 33-year-old decision guaranteeing abortion rights has been reviewed by the high court in 38 cases. It is, he says, "fairly well-established principle."

Asked directly if he thinks it stands, he says, "I'll give you a head-on answer. I think it will." He, of course, won't say how he votes on Alito.

On his health: A little more than nine months after he announced having Hodgkin's lymphoma, he says he is not under treatment, that his chemotherapy ended, "July 22 at 11:22 a.m." He gets periodic checkups, but "they say I'm in the clear."

He notes President Nixon started a war on cancer (in 1971) and says if the nation spent on it what it spends on "other wars," he might never have had cancer.

His hair is back, now short and darkish gray, not the odd frizzy reddish it once was. His energy level seems good, actually visibly higher the longer the interview goes. And his command of issues, including dates and details, remains impressive.

Oh, and he still plays squash, daily. And sticks to his predictions.

On Sen. Rick Santorum: He says reports that Santorum's in trouble (a Rasmussen Reports poll this month says he trails Democrat Bob Casey Jr. by 20 points, 54-34) are "vastly overblown." Says Santorum's only "in midstream," does lots for the state, is a hard worker and, "I still think Rick is going to win."

Specter reiterated that Santorum's re-election is his "top priority." Santorum was key in getting Specter past a challenge from the right by then-U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey in last year's GOP Senate primary.

Specter says he'll speak for Santorum early and often, continue to raise money for him and even put Santorum's name first on joint press releases announcing goodies for the state. (One has to understand Arlen's love of publicity to fully appreciate this gesture.)

After the broadcast, asked about anti-incumbent sentiment, Santorum's abysmal (for an incumbent) polling numbers, and pressed as to whether Santorum's in trouble, Specter just says, "No."

Actually he says, "No, no, no."

We'll see.

Gambling in Gettysburg? It's suggested a good venue for a slots casino. "I'm against gambling," he says. Opposed it since he was Philly D.A. (in the 1960s): "It breeds organized crime... infects a community." Says that in '72 he even tried to talk then-Gov. Milton Shapp out of starting a state lottery.

So there you have it. An update. And further proof, if any is needed, that the senator just keeps going."

Casey hints of campaign during appearance - PittsburghLIVE.com

2005-11-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

Casey hints of campaign during appearance - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Casey hints of campaign during appearance

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By Paul Peirce
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, October 31, 2005

Although the 2006 general election is more than a year away, Westmoreland County Democrats on Sunday got an advance taste of the much-anticipated U.S. Senate race ahead.
State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., who is expected to challenge U.S. Republican Sen. Rick Santorum next year, lambasted the two-term incumbent as an "arrogant" politician who has grown out of touch with the concerns of average Pennsylvanians.

"What the other guy (Santorum) has done is push his own narrow ideology over the everyday concerns of Pennsylvanians. I intend to focus on issues important to Pennsylvanians ... not promote an ideology ... fueled by arrogance, and political partisanship," Casey said.

Casey told more than 300 county Democrats attending the local committee's fall banquet at Four Points Hotel by Sheraton in Hempfield Township that they can send a message to the nation next year that citizens are "sick and tired of partisan political extremism" by supporting his campaign for Senate.

The race is expected to be among the most closely watched in the nation and that was evident yesterday. A handful of protesters along the driveway leading up to the hotel held placards promoting Santorum's candidacy even though the election is more than 365 days away.

Casey pointed to his nine-year record in state office, first as state auditor general and most recently as treasurer, as an indication that he will focus on matters important to state residents. He said voters are ready to elect a senator who holds himself "personally responsible" for decisions and not afraid to ask the tough questions.

Among his first priorities, Casey said, will be curbing the rising cost of health care. He said staggering increases in health care are stifling business development statewide and throughout the country.

He also complained that the Republican administration has turned "record surpluses" under the Clinton administration into deficits.

Casey complained that despite the enormous amount of spending for hurricane relief and the war in Iraq, Republicans, including Santorum, "are unwilling to roll back the tax cuts they enacted for the top 1 percent" to help pay those costs.

He said it is time that Washington Republicans take a lesson "from the American soldiers fighting in Iraq with valor, and all of us roll up our sleeves ... working together ... we have an obligation."

Casey also pledged to "stand up for people who don't have a voice."

He complained that Santorum refuses to question the administration, even about the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response after Hurricane Katrina.

"Here's hundreds of thousands of our own people ... helpless, abandoned by their own federal government, and we hear nothing from our senator. Rick Santorum had a chance to say something, but the only thing he bothered to say is maybe there should be tougher penalties for those who choose to ride out the storms," Casey said.

After speaking in Hempfield, Casey, the son of the late Gov. Robert P. Casey, traveled to speak at the Washington County Democrats' fall banquet.

Paul Peirce can be reached at ppeirce@tribweb.com or (724) 850-2860."

Kansas City Star | 11/28/2005 | Santorum's Questionable Ethics - Same as Tom Delay

2005-11-29T05:30:00.000-08:00

Kansas City Star | 11/28/2005 | The Buzz: OK, now we're scared: "Birds of a feather

The Center for Public Integrity says at least 13 Democrats and 18 Republicans in Congress used corporate campaign funds in recent years in the same way that Rep. Tom DeLay in hot water.

The list included former Sen. Tom Daschle, Sen. Rick Santorum, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Rep Roy Blunt of Missouri.

Compiled from news services by Darryl Levings. You can reach him at levings@kcstar.com."

President Bush All But Endorses Lynn Swann for Governor - PittsburghLIVE.com

2005-11-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

ACLU may challenge panhandling rules - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Pittsburgh
Swann to dine at White House with prince, wife

Former Pittsburgh Steelers football star Lynn Swann planned to attend a dinner at the White House hosted by President Bush tonight for Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla.

Swann, of Sewickley Heights, until recently was chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness, but he stepped down from the post in advance of his anticipated announcement that he will be a Republican candidate for governor in 2006. Swann was active in Bush's re-election campaign last year.

Former Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton, Swann's chief rival for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, is scheduled to be in Pittsburgh Thursday for a campaign money-raising dinner.

The prince of Wales and duchess of Cornwall began an eight-day U.S. trip in New York Tuesday."

Deficit cracking GOP's solidarity / Santorum refused to appear with Bush at campaign events.

2005-11-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

Deficit cracking GOP's solidarity / Party-line votes no longer assured: "In the two months since Republicans pulled their tax cut bills, the atmosphere has only gotten worse. Republicans lost two important off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Bush's popularity has hit new lows, with the public now decidedly opposing the Iraq war. Leading GOP candidates, including Sen. Rick Santorum, a conservative member of the Senate leadership who faces a tough re-election fight in Pennsylvania, have refused to appear with Bush at campaign events. "

Montgomery Newspapers - The Globe - 11/23/2005 - James R. Matthews as a GOP candidate for lieutenant governor - Hey Why Not?

2005-11-23T16:27:00.000-08:00

Montgomery Newspapers - The Globe - 11/23/2005 - Matthews interested in state position: "Matthews interested in state position
By: Margaret Gibbons, For The Globe
11/23/2005

The name of Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman James R. Matthews has again surfaced as a potential candidate for higher office.

County Republican Chairman Ken Davis this week said he and Matthews, 56, of Lower Gwynedd, recently discussed Matthews' potential as a GOP candidate for lieutenant governor in next year's elections.
"He is clearly intrigued and interested but has not made a final decision," said Davis, adding Matthews will have to make a decision within the next several weeks to be a viable candidate. "We will stand by him in whatever decision he makes."
The only other prospective GOP lieutenant governor candidate currently mentioned is state Sen. John Pippy of Allegheny-Washington counties.
In Pennsylvania, a gubernatorial candidate does not select a lieutenant governor candidate. Instead, candidates for each office run in independent elections in their party's primary election and then are paired as a team in the November general election.
To date, neither Matthews nor the county GOP have expressed a preference among the three GOP gubernatorial candidates, former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton, former Pittsburgh Steeler and sports commentator Lynn Swann and state Sen. Jeff Piccola, who represents parts of Dauphin and York counties.
The Keystone Poll, conducted by Franklin and Marshall College, this week gave Scranton a slight edge over Swann, 27 percent to 24 percent, with Piccola trailing a distant third with 3 percent. However, 46 percent of the registered Republican voters contacted for the poll said they are undecided at this time.
Matthews, who heads a mortgage company, is serving his second four-year term as county commissioner. This is the second year of Matthews' reign as commissioners chairman.
Matthews could not be reached for comment this week.
Matthews' interest in running for lieutenant governor first surfaced earlier this month when, during a roundtable discussion on ABC Channel 6's "Inside Story," lawyer Gregg Melinson was preparing to take his prospective candidacy "on the road" throughout the state to determine the GOP's interest in him as a candidate.
Matthews has toyed in the past with the idea of running for higher office. He considered running for lieutenant governor four years ago and also weighed a possible bid for U.S. Congress. He never seriously pursued either of those two posts.

©Montgomery Newspapers 2005"

Swann Explores Running for Pa. Governor - Yahoo! News - Looks Like A Winner!

2005-11-22T18:12:00.000-08:00

Swann Explores Running for Pa. Governor - Yahoo! News: "Swann Explores Running for Pa. Governor By PETER JACKSON, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 21, 8:58 PM ET

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann told a crowd of business leaders, lobbyists and journalists Monday that Pennsylvania would be a better place if he were governor, but said he has not yet declared his candidacy and eluded some questions the way he once dodged tacklers.

"I am still in the process of exploring" a candidacy, Swann said when asked about his political status at a downtown Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon. "But some people say if it walks like a swan, looks like a swan ... ."

Swann has been raising money for a prospective campaign since he formed a political committee in February. Independent polls show him running neck-and-neck with former Lt. Gov. William Scranton III and ahead of two other prospective candidates for the 2006 Republican nomination, but trailing first-term Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell by more than 10 percentage points.

Swann left open, if only slightly, the possibility that he would compete in next spring's GOP primary even if he loses the endorsement of the Republican State Committee in February. Scranton has also refused to rule out running without the committee's endorsement.

"I'd like to take a look at the process and see how it goes," Swann said, then added, "It is not my inclination to do anything that would be divisive to the party."

Swann, 53, a former star wide receiver for the Steelers who now works as a college football analyst for ABC, appeared self-assured as he fielded questions from the audience of about 200 people, but was often short on specifics other than calling for a rollback in the corporate net income tax and some other business levies.

For example, he advocated abolishing property taxes in Pennsylvania without shifting the burden of financing public schools onto another tax, such as the sales tax, as some Republican legislators are proposing. Asked how he would make up the more than $8 billion generated by property taxes, however, he declined to reveal his plan, saying it is still being refined.

"I'm not going to give it to you only because I want to see if it's going to work first," he said. "We want new thinking that's outside the box."

Swann also declined to take a stand on alternatives to public schools, saying only that state officials must constantly strive to ensure that taxpayers are getting the most out of their investment in education.

Asked if he was avoiding addressing issues because "as a sideline reporter, you've learned that a few cliches are all that make it on the TV anyway," he steered the focus toward Rendell, who moonlights as a Philadelphia Eagles post-game analyst for Comcast SportsNet.

"Let me consult with Ed Rendell after the post-game show for the Eagles," he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Swann, who lives in the Pittsburgh suburbs with his wife and two sons and who would be Pennsylvania's first black governor, said he expects to declare his candidacy early next year and played down speculation that his timing is driven by the end of the college football season.

"It's a time slot that I think will be better," he said. "There are other obligations I have and, while I can continue to do those even as a declared candidate, I'm choosing to wait."

In addition to Scranton, Swann faces likely opposition in the GOP primary from state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, and Jim Panyard, the former director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association."

AP Wire | 11/21/2005 | Secret Right-Wing Group's ads try to make Santorum Look Competent - Not an easy job!

2005-11-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

AP Wire | 11/21/2005 | Group's ad touts Santorum's record on tax relief: " Posted on Mon, Nov. 21, 2005

Group's ad touts Santorum's record on tax relief
KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A group called Americans for Job Security is spending more than $450,000 to run an ad in support of Sen. Rick Santorum's 2006 re-election bid.

The ad, showing a family playing together in the park, credits Santorum, R-Pa., with helping to provide $300 billion in tax relief, eliminate the marriage penalty and increase the per-child tax credit.

"Pennsylvania families relax a little more these days because Rick Santorum is getting things done every day," the ad says.

The campaign manager for Santorum's leading prospective Democratic challenger, Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., on Monday criticized the group, saying it has not revealed the identity of donors.

"We think the voters of Pennsylvania deserve to know who's backing Rick Santorum," said Jay Reiff, Casey's campaign manager. "They shouldn't be hiding behind these shadowy organizations. We need to have full disclosure."

Americans for Job Security, based in Alexandria, Va., is registered under 501(c) of the federal tax code, a classification that allows groups to engage in political activity without revealing contributors as long as that is not their main activity. The president, Michael Dubke, said the organization does not reveal donors because that would distract from their message.

Dubke said the ad is a kickoff to a national campaign to promote tax cuts and other issues the group backs. He said there would be a heated political and policy debate during the Pennsylvania race and "we want to be part of that debate."

The ad started running Friday and will be aired for about two weeks in all Pennsylvania markets except Philadelphia, he said.

Craig Holman, campaign finance lobbyist with Public Citizen, a liberal-leaning advocacy group, alleged that Americans for Job Security is a political front group backing conservative causes.

"From everything I've seen, they do absolutely nothing except electioneering," Holman said.

Santorum is lagging behind Casey in the polls, and Holman said the group's decision to run an ad nearly a year before the election indicates how close the race is perceived to be.

Virginia Davis, Santorum's campaign spokeswoman, said the campaign was not aware of the ad until it ran on television.

"We can't control what message third party groups choose to highlight, but Sen. Santorum has been a champion for cutting taxes of Pennsylvanians and all Americans, and that record is well-known," Davis said."

The New York Review of Books: Santorum and the Abuse of Power - The K Street Project

2005-11-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

The New York Review of Books: Selling Washington: "Volume 52, Number 11 · June 23, 2005

Feature
Selling Washington
By Elizabeth Drew
As the criminal investigation of the Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff was underway this spring, a spokesman for the law firm representing him issued a statement saying that Abramoff was "being singled out by the media for actions that are commonplace in Washington and are totally proper." Abramoff has since said much the same thing. The lawyer was half right. Like many other lobbyists, Abramoff often arranged for private organizations, particularly nonprofit groups, to sponsor pleasant, even luxurious, trips for members of Congress, with lobbyists like himself tagging along and enjoying the unparalleled "access" that such a setting provides; i.e., they get to know congressmen and sell them on legislation. They take over skyboxes at sporting events, inviting members of Congress and their staffs.

But Abramoff has differed from other lobbyists in his flamboyance (he owned two Washington restaurants, at which he entertained), and in the egregiously high fees he charged clients, in particular, Indian tribes in the casino business. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee, headed by John McCain, found last year that Abramoff and an associate, Michael Scanlon, a political consultant and former communications director for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, received at least $66 million from six tribes over three years. Abramoff also instructed the tribes to make donations to certain members of Congress and conservative causes he was allied with. And he was careless—for example in putting on his credit card charges for DeLay's golfing trip to the St. Andrews golf course in Scotland in 2000, with a stop in London for a bit of semi-serious business to make the trip seem legitimate. It's illegal for a lobbyist to pay for congressional travel, but Abramoff is reported to have paid for three of DeLay's trips abroad. A prominent Republican lobbyist told me that the difference between what Abramoff did and what many other lobbyists do was simply "a matter of degree and blatancy."

Abramoff's behavior is symptomatic of the unprecedented corruption—the intensified buying and selling of influence over legislation and federal policy —that has become endemic in Washington under a Republican Congress and White House. Corruption has always been present in Washington, but in recent years it has become more sophisticated, pervasive, and blatant than ever. A friend of mine who works closely with lobbyists says, "There are no restraints now; business groups and lobbyists are going crazy—they're in every room on Capitol Hill writing the legislation. You can't move on the Hill without giving money."

This remark is only slightly exaggerated. For over ten years, but particularly since George W. Bush took office, powerful Republicans, among them Tom DeLay and Senator Rick Santorum, of Pennsylvania, have been carrying out what they call the "K Street Project," an effort to place more Republicans and get rid of Democrats in the trade associations and major national lobbying organizations that have offices on K Street in downtown Washington (although, of course, some have offices elsewhere).

The Republican purge of K Street is a more thorough, ruthless, vindictive, and effective attack on Democratic lobbyists and other Democrats who represent businesses and other organizations than anything Washington has seen before. The Republicans don't simply want to take care of their friends and former aides by getting them high-paying jobs: they want the lobbyists they helped place in these jobs and other corporate representatives to arrange lavish trips for themselves and their wives; to invite them to watch sports events from skyboxes; and, most important, to provide a steady flow of campaign contributions. The former aides become part of their previous employers' power networks. Republican leaders also want to have like-minded people on K Street who can further their ideological goals by helping to formulate their legislative programs, get them passed, and generally circulate their ideas. When I suggested to Grover Norquist, the influential right-wing leader and the leading enforcer of the K Street Project outside Congress, that numerous Democrats on K Street were not particularly ideological and were happy to serve corporate interests, he replied, "We don't want nonideological people on K Street, we want conservative activist Republicans on K Street."

The K Street Project has become critical to the Republicans' efforts to control all the power centers in Washington: the White House, Congress, the courts—and now, at least, an influential part of the corporate world, the one that raises most of the political money. It's another way for Republicans to try to impose their programs on the country. The Washington Post reported recently that House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, of Missouri, has established "a formal, institutionalized alliance" with K Street lobbyists. They have become an integral part of the legislative process by helping to get bills written and passed—and they are rewarded for their help by the fees paid by their clients. Among the results are legislation that serves powerful private interests all the more openly—as will be seen, the energy bill recently passed by the House is a prime example —and a climate of fear that is new. The conservative commentator David Brooks said on PBS's NewsHour earlier this year, "The biggest threat to the Republican majority is the relationship on K Street with corporate lobbyists and the corruption that is entailed in that." But if the Republicans are running a risk of being seen as overreaching in their takeover of K Street, there are few signs that they are concerned about it.

When the Republicans first announced the K Street Project after they won a majority in Congress in the 1994 election, they warned Washington lobbying and law firms that if they wanted to have appointments with Republican legislators they had better hire more Republicans. This was seen as unprecedentedly heavy-handed, but their deeper purposes weren't yet understood. Since the Democrats had been in power on Capitol Hill for a long time, many of the K Street firms then had more Democrats than Republicans or else they were evenly balanced. But the Democrats had been hired because they were well connected with prominent Democrats on Capitol Hill, not because Democratic Congresses demanded it. Moreover, it makes sense for lobbying firms that want access to members of Congress to hire people with good contacts in the majority party—especially former members or aides of the current leaders. But the bullying tactics of Republicans in the late 1990s were new.

DeLay, Santorum, and their associates organized a systematic campaign, closely monitored by Republicans on Capitol Hill and by Grover Norquist and the Republican National Committee, to put pressure on firms not just to hire Republicans but also to fire Democrats. With the election of Bush, this pressure became stronger. A Republican lobbyist told me, "Having the White House" has made it more possible for DeLay and Santorum "to enforce the K Street Project." Several Democratic lobbyists have been pushed out of their jobs as a result; business associations who hire Democrats for prominent positions have been subject to retribution. They are told that they won't be able to see the people on Capitol Hill they want to see. Sometimes the retribution is more tangible. The Republican lobbyist I spoke to said, "There's a high state of sensitivity to the partisanship of the person you hire for these jobs that did not exist five, six years ago—you hire a Democrat at your peril."

In one instance well known among lobbyists, the Ohio Republican Michael Oxley, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, put pressure on the Investment Company Institute, a consortium of mutual fund companies, to fire its top lobbyist, a Democrat, and hire a Republican to replace her. According to a Washington Post story on February 15, 2003, six sources, both Democratic and Republican, said that members of Oxley's staff told the institute that a pending congressional investigation of mutual fund companies "might ease up if the mutual fund trade group complies with their wishes." It apparently didn't matter to them that House ethics rules prohibit congressmen or their staff "from bestowing benefits on the basis of the recipient's status as a supporter or contributor, or partisan affiliation." A Republican now holds the top job at the Investment Company Institute.

Last year retribution was taken against the Motion Picture Association of America, which—after first approaching without success a Republican congressman about to retire— hired as its new head Dan Glickman, a former Democratic representative from Kansas and secretary of agriculture in the Clinton administration. Republicans had warned the MPAA not to hire a Democrat for the job. After Glickman was hired, House Republicans removed from a pending bill some $1.5 billion in tax relief for the motion picture industry. Norquist told me, "No other industry is interested in taking a $1.5 billion hit to hire a Clinton friend." After Glickman was selected, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported last year, "Santorum has begun discussing what the consequences are for the movie industry." Norquist said publicly that the appointment of Glickman was "a studied insult" and the motion picture industry's "ability to work with the House and the Senate is greatly reduced." Glickman responded by hiring prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert's former spokesman, for major MPAA jobs.

Norquist's organization, Americans for Tax Reform, keeps watch on other K Street firms and calls attention on its Web site to the ones that are out of line.[1] According to a report in The Washington Post in 2003, an official of the Republican National Committee told a group of Republican lobbyists that thirty-three of the top thirty-six top-level K Street positions had gone to Republicans.

Despite its effectiveness, "the K Street Project is far from complete," according to Norquist, who says, "There should be as many Democrats working on K Street representing corporate America as there are Republicans working in organized labor—and that number is close to zero." He wants the project to include not just the top jobs in K Street firms, but "all of them—including secretaries."

A prominent Democratic Party fund-raiser believes that in 2001, after nineteen years as head of a trade association, he was fired because he was not a Republican. Another Democratic lobbyist told me that one of his major clients was put under pressure to drop him because he was a Democrat. A staff member in DeLay's office called the second of the two men and told him that he was "in DeLay's crosshairs," and warned him that if he attempted to work with any committees on Capitol Hill, he would get nowhere because of his political leanings.

Episodes of this kind have created a new atmosphere of fear in Washington. (Because of that atmosphere, these people as well as several others insisted on talking "on background," to protect themselves against retribution.) The Democratic lobbyist whose client was pressured by Republicans to drop him remarked, "It's a dangerous world out there," a world where, he said, "You'd better watch what you say. People in the Republican party, in the agencies, will say, 'I hear you were badmouthing X.' You know that you're being watched; you know that it's taken into account in your ability to do public policy things—[like] get a meeting with a government agency." Another lobbyist says, "It's scary now. People are afraid to say what they feel. It's had a chilling effect on debate." According to the head of a public policy group who frequently deals with lobbyists and corporations, "They don't have to say it," but he finds them now "intimidated by the atmosphere in this town—you hire Republicans."

Business groups are under heightened pressure to support the administration's policies—even those that are of no particular interest to them. A recent article in Business Week told of business organizations, including the Business Roundtable—an association of CEOs of major corporations—being summoned to meetings with Mike Meece, a special assistant to the President, various cabinet officers concerned with business affairs, and Karl Rove. They anticipated a friendly give-and-take about economic legislation but instead they were told to get behind the President's plan to privatize Social Security. As a result, these organizations have spent millions of dollars promoting Bush's new program, particularly through ads. Business groups have been notably reticent about criticizing administration policies—even ones they deeply dislike, such as the huge budget deficit. In the past, when they differed from administration policies, for example on trade or tax issues, they spoke out. An adviser to business groups says, "They're scared of payback, of not getting their own agenda through."

2.
The connections between those who make policy and those who seek to influence it have become much stronger in recent years because of lobbyists' increasing use of nonprofit groups to sponsor trips that give them access to lawmakers, as with DeLay's trip to Scotland and England. Jack Abramoff arranged for the trips of DeLay and other members of Congress to be officially sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, of which he is a member of the board. According to the congressional ethics rules a lobbyist cannot repay the cost of a free trip for a congressman by reimbursing the nonprofit group that organized the trip. But there's nothing to prevent him from giving large contributions to the organization or encouraging his clients to do so. Abramoff urged the Indian tribes he represents to contribute to the National Center, which paid for DeLay's trips. Owing to a major loophole in the ethics rules, nonprofit groups do not have to disclose their contributors. "It's a real abuse," the Republican lobbyist told me. Such trips are also a way of getting around the ban on gifts of more than $50 to members of Congress.

For the Washington lobbyist, the most-sought-after access is to someone who writes the nation's laws and appropriates federal money. Trips offer the best opportunity for the lobbyist to make an impression on a congressman. Since congressmen can no longer make use of soft money under the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms, they are increasingly using golfing weekends and hunting trips for fund-raising. The politicians in effect charge the lobbyists to play golf or hunt with them. (Members of the middle class and the poor have scant opportunity to play golf with members of Congress.)

Many congressional trips have a serious purpose; some members restrict their travel to hazardous places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Such trips can be paid for out of congressional committees' funds—but they are usually less glamorous, harder to explain to the voters since the public pays for them, and they don't include lobbyists. The rules for privately funded trips, for example that they must be "in connection with official duties," have been interpreted quite loosely. Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that studies money in politics and its influence on public policy, says, "Even where they touch base with the rules, they don't take them seriously."

According to a study of congressional travel over the past five years paid for by nonprofit institutions, the Aspen Institute, a think tank based in Aspen, Colorado, and Washington, has spent the most on congressional travel; but Aspen is a serious organization that conducts seminars in the US and abroad, and lobbying isn't involved.[2] More interesting is the nonprofit that spends the next highest amount: the Ripon Society, actually the Ripon Educational Fund, an offshoot of the Ripon Society, which was founded in the 1960s by liberal Republicans as a serious organization concerned with public policy. Now that liberal Republicans are virtually extinct, Ripon has become an organization for relatively moderate Republicans.

Like other policy groups that also lobby, Ripon has set up an ostensi-bly separate "educational" group, or 501(c)(3), to which contributors can make tax-deductible donations. The Ripon Educational Fund sponsors a large annual "Transatlantic Conference," held in such pleasant places as Rome, London, and Budapest, to which it invites between 150 and 200 US citizens. These are vaguely described in the filings by the members of Congress who participated in them as "listening tour," or "fact finding."

The Ripon trips are famous among lobbyists for the opportunities they present for pressing their cases with members of Congress. A Republican lobbyist says that a Ripon Fund excursion has "become the trip to go on, because of the luxury and the access." The Washington Post reported that a Ripon Educational Fund trip to London in 2003 was attended by more than a hundred lobbyists, including representatives from American Express, AOL/Time Warner, and General Motors. They pay the Ripon Fund an annual membership fee of $9,500, and in addition finance their own trips abroad to Fund meetings.

Both the Ripon Society and the Ripon Educational Fund are headed by lobbyists. Former Representative Susan Molinari, of Staten Island, New York, a lobbyist whose clients now include Exxon, the Association of American Railroads, and Freddie Mac, is the chair of the Educational Fund. The president of the society itself is Richard Kessler, whose lobbying firm's clients include drug and cigarette companies. According to The Hill, the other Capitol Hill newspaper, Kessler's firm paid for a trip by five members of Congress to Ireland in August 2003, including four days at Ashford Castle, where the elegant grounds include a golf course. Of the members of Congress who went on Ripon Educational Fund trips, almost all took along their wives, an additional perk that contributes to the holiday atmosphere of the excursions. While lobbyists are prohibited from paying directly for congressional trips, trade associations and private corporations are allowed to do so—not much of an ethical distinction, since practically all of them engage in lobbying.

A recently released Congressional Quarterly study said that the disclosure forms filed by members of Congress "frequently show a direct correlation between a member's legislative interests and the sponsors of his or her trips." For example, Representative Michael Oxley, who is particularly concerned with corporate finance, took several trips underwritten by companies such as MCI. A political observer who closely studied congressional trips concluded that the Republicans are invited so they can be "worked on" to pass pending legislation, while the Democrats are there largely for "maintenance," in case they take power in the future. Moderate, "swing" Democrats who can affect the outcome of legislation come in for special attention.

The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill in 2002 didn't stop powerful companies and members of Congress from buying and selling influence. Representative Barney Frank, a major backer of the reform bill, says, "It works about the same as it did before." But, he adds, because the new law banned large soft money contributions by individuals, corporations, and labor unions to campaigns for federal office, and maintained overall limits on how much a person can contribute to federal elections—doubling them from $2,000 to $4,000 per election cycle—everyone has to work harder to raise the money.[3] Still, congressmen are seldom heard to complain that they can't raise enough money and in fact, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics,[4] both the political par-ties and individual candidates are raising more money than ever. Lobbyists still manage to deliver large amounts to legislators by "bundling" smaller contributions.

They contribute most of the money they raise to incumbents who can be depended on to do favors—a major reason (in addition to gerrymandering) why there is serious competition in only 10 percent of House races, and only about five seats change hands in each congressional election. Members of Congress expect to receive contributions from local industries (and their workers)—say, the coal industry in West Virginia—and they back legislation to help them out as a matter of doing constituent work. It's illegal for a firm to compensate employees for their political contributions, but, a Republican lobbyist says, a job applicant is often told that he or she is expected to make contributions, and salaries are adjusted accordingly.

It's virtually impossible to show that a particular campaign contribution resulted in a specific vote—such quid pro quo is illegal. Fred Wertheimer, of the public advocacy group Democracy 21, told me, "The system's designed so that you don't see who gets what for their money. It's designed for me to give money to you and you do something for me in the Congress—without either of us saying a word about it. But if I give money, I know it and the candidate knows it. It's an investment, and down the road you collect on it." While much of the money buys access to a member of Congress, or key staff members, that is only the entry point to making one's case. As John McCain puts it, "You give money, you get an ear." Still, one can sometimes even trace what Larry Noble carefully calls "correlations" between contributions and legislative successes.

The energy bill passed by the House in April is a striking case in point. The oil-and-gas industry, a top contributor of campaign money—80 percent of it to Republicans—benefited from several of its new provisions. A study by the staff of Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, shows that perhaps the most indefensible provision gave a waiver against lawsuits to manufacturers of MTBE, or methyl tertiary-butyl ether, a gasoline additive that's a pollutant and suspected carcinogen. According to Waxman's staff, this waiver is worth billions to energy companies; the major beneficiaries would be Exxon, which, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, contributed $942,717 to candidates in the last election cycle; Valero Energy, $841,375; Lyondell Chemical, $342,775; and Halliburton, $243,946. The bill also exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act the practice of hydraulic fracturing, which is used to make natural gas wells more productive and can also have an adverse effect on drinking water. Halliburton would benefit from this provision as well.

Another provision provided compensation to oil companies that bought leases, supposedly a speculative venture, on offshore sites where there is a moratorium on drilling. The compensation is worth billions of dollars to the oil industry. The bill also provided for the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR) to oil drilling—an invasion of the refuge that environmental groups have long tried to prevent. (Now that it contains more Republicans, the Senate passed a similar provision as part of its budget bill earlier this year.) The Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee were effectively shut out of the drafting of the energy bill. House Democrat Edward Markey, a member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, told me, "The energy companies got everything they wanted. Eight billion dollars in subsidies go to the energy companies, but to say that the conservation measures in it are modest would be a generous description."

An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that pharmaceutical manufacturers, who received a windfall from the new prescription drug program in the 2003 Medicare bill—including a provision prohibiting the federal government from negotiating with drug companies on prices— contributed more than three times as much to those who voted for the legislation as those who voted against it. A bill passed this year in the Senate and the House to tighten the rules for filing bankruptcy had long been sought by finance, insurance, and real estate interests, and particularly by credit card companies. Taken together, they all contributed $306 million to congressional campaigns, 60 percent of it to Republicans, during 2003 and 2004. The richest interests also spend the largest amounts of money on lobbying. According to a recent study by the Center for Public Integrity,[5] the makers of pharmaceuticals and health products spent the most—$759 million —on lobbying between 1998 and mid-2004, when the last lobbying reports were filed. Next came insurance companies. Oil and gas companies were seventh on the list.

The effects of the new, higher level of corruption on the way the country is governed are profound. Not only is legislation increasingly skewed to benefit the richest interests, but Congress itself has been changed. The head of a public policy strategy group told me, "It's not about governing anymore. The Congress is now a transactional institution. They don't take risks. So when a great moral issue comes up— like war—they can't deal with it." The theory that ours is a system of one-person-one-vote, or even that it's a representative democracy, is challenged by the reality of power and who really wields it. Barney Frank argues that "the political system was supposed to overcome the financial advantage of the capitalists, but as money becomes more and more influential, it doesn't work that way."

Two House Democrats, Rahm Emanuel, of Illinois, and Martin Meehan, of Massachusetts, have introduced legislation to tighten the rules on privately funded travel, strengthen the lobbying disclosure rules, and slow down the revolving door by which former members of Congress take jobs with the trade associations and, after a year, can lobby their former colleagues. Some Republicans are talking about placing more restrictive rules on trips. But the record shows that new regulations can often be evaded.

Perhaps the greatest deterrent to ethical transgression is that members of Congress don't want to read unfavorable stories about themselves. A Republican lobbyist says that the biggest factor in the growth of corruption has been "the expectation that all this goes undetected and unenforced." He added, "If Jack Abramoff goes to jail, that will be a big message to this town." Since the scandal broke over Abramoff's payments on behalf of DeLay, members of Congress have been scrambling to amend their travel reports, in some cases listing previously unreported trips, or filling in missing details. Public outrage can also have an inhibiting effect: after the Republicans changed the ethics rules earlier this year to protect DeLay, the adverse reaction in the press and from constituents was strong enough to make the Republican leadership back down.

But the public can't become outraged about something that isn't brought to its attention. The press tends to pounce on the big scandals but usually fails to cover the more common ones that take place every day. Some of the politicians I talked to hoped that the scandal over DeLay and Abramoff might lead to real changes, including more prosecutions and stricter disclosure requirements. But even they admit that, like so many other scandals, it may simply blow over.

Notes
[1] See www.atr.org/national/kstreet.

[2] See www.politicalmoneyline.com.

[3] In the 2004 presidential election such money was paid to so-called "527 groups," which spent $500 million in the 2003–2004 election cycle. This wasn't, as widely thought, the result of a loophole in the McCain-Feingold bill but of the failure of the feckless Federal Election Committee to enforce a section of a 1974 campaign finance law.

[4] See www.opensecrets.org.

[5] See www.publicintegrity.org.

Subscribe today and save! Click here to order online, or call toll-free 800-354-0050 (601-354-9263)."

Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/15/2005 | Casey assails Santorum's tie to lobbyists

2005-11-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/15/2005 | Casey assails Santorum's tie to lobbyists: "Posted on Tue, Nov. 15, 2005

Casey assails Santorum's tie to lobbyists
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Democratic challenger Robert P. Casey Jr. lashed out yesterday at Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) for leading meetings that he said pressure lobbying firms and trade associations to hire more Republicans.

"At best, what happens at those meetings is of questionable ethics," Casey said.

Casey, the Pennsylvania state treasurer, was in Washington to announce an ethics reform plan that he said would correct what he called abuses of power by lobbyists and lawmakers. One provision is a same-day disclosure requirement for lobbyists who have "substantive" conversations with lawmakers.

Casey accused Santorum of saying little about this "culture of corruption." He said the senator "has more power than I do, right now," to introduce reforms.

A spokesman for Santorum, Robert Traynham, declined to respond to the specifics of Casey's plan but said the senator was ready to debate it and other issues "in a public way."

Casey spoke at a Washington restaurant, called Signatures, that until recently was owned by GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under investigation by the Justice Department. Abramoff is an ally of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R., Texas), who has been indicted in an alleged Texas campaign-finance scheme.

DeLay, Santorum and other GOP activists have been involved in a longtime effort known as the "K Street Project" to ensure that Republicans are considered for openings with lobbying firms and trade associations.

K Street is a Washington address traditionally favored by lobbyists.

Santorum has been holding a regular Tuesday morning meeting as part of this effort.

"These aren't just casual, chance meetings," Casey said. He said there was "enormous pressure" and "undue influence" by congressional leaders on hiring practices by lobbyists and trade associations.

"I think it could amount to coercion," Casey said. "What are you going to do, skip the meeting? Unfortunately, if you want to be a successful lobbyist, a lot of them are going to say, 'Yes, sir.' "

Casey said the K Street Project was "an abuse of power" and should be closed. He also proposed doubling the lobbying ban for former members of Congress to two years and requiring members to reimburse corporations for the full cost of accepting a ride on a chartered flight.

At present, members are required to reimburse corporations for the price of a first-class commercial ticket.

The Democrat said that this year he had accepted a chartered flight to Texas from a law firm, which he intended to reimburse.

Much of what Casey proposed is contained in pending Senate and House legislation. The new wrinkle was the same-day disclosure, which a lobbyist would file to an Internet site.

Traynham, Santorum's spokesman, defended the K Street Project as "a program to make sure that issues important to Pennsylvanians are discussed with large organizations."

He said that Santorum "has spent all of his congressional career making sure there is transparency in government."

Traynham declined to directly address Casey's ethics plan, but challenged the leading Democratic contender for Santorum's seat to public debates on all the issues.

"What's more important is to talk about the issues that are important to Pennsylvanians - jobs and the economy, taxes and the like," he said.

In a statement issued by Santorum's reelection campaign, the senator proposed 10 debates, with eight of them devoted to a single issue. The Casey campaign had no immediate response.

Casey's Washington schedule yesterday included three fund-raising meetings, including an evening event at a private home in McLean, Va., at which outgoing Virginia Gov. Mark Warner was scheduled to appear.

Contact staff writer Steve Goldstein at 202-383-6048 or slgoldstein@krwashington.com."

Santorum Mails Pics of Leesburg Va Family to Pa. Contributers: The Morning Call Online

2005-11-21T15:28:00.000-08:00

"Politics As Usual: November 20

SANTORUM vs. CASEY

Karen Santorum wants your family snapshots. Really.

The wife of U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum included a color photo of the couple and their six children in a recent fundraising letter that invited recipients to return the favor — along with an appropriate-sized check.

''Just include your picture in the pre-addressed envelope I've prepared,'' she wrote, ''along with your contribution of $25, $35, $50, $100 or even $1,000 to Santorum 2006 and return both to me today.''

She said the campaign needed to raise $22 million ''because we cannot afford to have our message filtered and distorted by the liberal media.''

The senator is running behind in the polls to Democrat Bob Casey Jr., so he's got to be pretty busy. But Santorum said she would make sure that ''Rick sees your photo and adds it to the pictures of other friends and families we've received over the years.''"

The Patriot-News: Incumbency no help to Santorum

2005-11-21T12:47:00.000-08:00

Incumbency no help to Santorum
Monday, November 21, 2005
BY BRETT LIEBERMAN
Of Our Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - After 11 years in the Senate, Rick Santorum has become one of the most powerful and influential leaders in state and national politics.

He boasts a close relationship with President Bush, he's the No. 3 GOP leader in the Senate, and he is frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the White House.

An incumbent running for re-election with such credentials normally would scare off most challengers and have few political worries.

Yet low public approval ratings, a well-liked opponent, an increasingly unpopular president mired in an equally unpopular war, an unhappy electorate, public perceptions of ethics lapses by Republicans and Santorum's own miscues have turned next year's Senate election upside down.

Advisers to Santorum concede they are growing increasingly frustrated by his weak support and the tactics of state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr., his likely Democratic opponent.

Some analysts and party officials say Santorum's campaign tactics, such as calling for 10 debates a year before the election, are bordering on desperate, particularly for a two-term incumbent.

"I think there is a certain frustration on my level," said John Brabender, Santorum's longtime adviser and media consultant.

"Every day I have to hear Bobby Casey's criticizing without saying what alternative he would offer," he said. "At least be man enough to offer solutions as well or stand on the same stages."

With Santorum trailing Casey by 15 to 20 percentage points in independent polling, Republicans maintain that Pennsylvania voters would be less enamored with Casey, the son of the former governor, if he were less reluctant to tell them his positions on many of the issues that Santorum votes on.

Casey, who last week released an ethics reform plan while rebuking Santorum for his ethics, has criticized Bush and Santorum's proposal for private Social Security accounts and spending cuts for popular programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

He has unveiled an economic plan and advocated eliminating some of the tax cuts for the wealthiest that Bush is seeking to extend. Casey has said he would like to use that money for programs and relief for the middle class and poor.

He's also voiced concerns about how the Bush administration has managed the Iraq war, which he said he would have supported based on the intelligence that was provided to Congress.

But Santorum and GOP aides have mounted an aggressive campaign that accuses Casey of running a stealth campaign and refusing to say how he would vote on the same issues as Santorum.

Last week, Santorum challenged Casey to 10 debates before the general election. Political experts say that might be unprecedented for an incumbent.

Casey plans to debate Santorum after the primary, according to aides.

"Casey has a significant polling advantage which allows him to act like an incumbent, and incumbents debate few times and minimize exposing themselves to criticism," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster and political analyst at Franklin & Marshall College.

Sen. Arlen Specter, for example, agreed to only a handful of debates with his primary opponent, Rep. Pat Toomey, after much stalling last year.

"Politics is a game of strategy and tactics, and at the moment, Casey can play a little rope-a-dope and at the moment a year from the election doesn't have to campaign like he's behind or needs name recognition," Madonna said.

He added: "At the moment, Casey's best strategy might be to go to the Caribbean and stay away."

Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College, said he doesn't fault Santorum for pressing for debates but said only political insiders and journalists are paying attention to the early jousting in what is expected to be the premier race of next year's midterm elections.

"It's by any count incredibly early to be talking about that," he said.

Brabender claims Santorum has always called for debates with his opponents. But it wasn't until former Rep. Ron Klink clinched the Democratic nomination in 2000 that Santorum agreed to debates.

Santorum's record has become both an advantage and his biggest vulnerability in the race with Casey, who has never had to vote on similar legislation in the row offices he's held.

While Santorum can boast a record of fiscal discipline or promotion of conservative causes, Democrats and Casey have found a trove of votes against higher spending for popular programs such as those that benefit veterans and the poor.

Besides trying to create the impression that Casey is hiding, Santorum and his advisers think debating Casey might be their best bet to provide a contrast they believe will showcase the incumbent's strengths.

"They don't want to be seen on the same stage as Rick Santorum because they are concerned they won't have the same command of the issues," Brabender said.

BRETT LIEBERMAN: (202) 383-7833 or blieberman@patriot-news.com

Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/20/2005 | Scranton Shows Weakness in Key Areas. Old Guard Not Rushing To Back Him. Chester Goes to Swann

2005-11-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/20/2005 | Whom to run against Rendell?: "Posted on Sun, Nov. 20, 2005

Whom to run against Rendell?
By Angela Couloumbis and Carrie Budoff
Inquirer Staff Writers
He's got to have style, charisma, and the gift of gab. He should be able to command the issues, kiss the babies, and in the next breath, raise millions of dollars. Star power is a must.

That is what state Republicans say they are looking for in the person they want to run next year against Gov. Rendell, a champion campaigner and fund-raiser in his own right.

What they have so far is a field of four potential and declared candidates - and a party that can't seem to agree on whom to back.

Even in the powerful Southeast, which commands roughly one-third of the state's votes and which historically has been unified behind a single candidate, there is a significant split among Republicans about whom to endorse.

For instance, Chester County Republicans recently endorsed former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann, despite strong signs from the others in the Southeast that the best candidate to take on Rendell is former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton.

The division and uncertainty raise tough questions for state Republicans as they prepare to formally endorse a candidate early next year. Chief among them: whether a party this torn over candidates can unite behind one person and avoid a primary fight that would siphon precious dollars away from the race against Rendell. And, even if that does happen, whether those who don't get the party nod will pull out of the race and not run a renegade campaign.

Republican state committee members are scheduled to vote on whom to endorse in early February.

"We've got outstanding candidates, all widely accomplished, all passionate about their vision for Pennsylvania," said GOP party chair Eileen Melvin. Still, she said, "my goal is to get an endorsement, and avoid a primary... so we can all work together to beat Ed Rendell."

Republican political analyst William J. Green put it this way: "Unity is something that doesn't come easily to Republicans. We don't unify as well as Democrats. They kiss and make up and then they like each other. Republicans are like a bunch of first cousins - they kiss and make up, but then they hate the other person."

Scranton, a lieutenant governor from 1979 to 1987, announced his candidacy during a swing across the state last month. The only abortion-rights supporter in the GOP field, he is portraying himself as an outsider fed up with the way Rendell has run Harrisburg. He lives outside Scranton.

Swann, an ABC sports broadcaster who lives in the Pittsburgh suburbs, has yet to formally announce, yet he has been behaving like a committed candidate, traveling across the state to meet with Republicans whose support he will need if he wants the party nod.

Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola, a conservative from Dauphin County and a staunch critic of Rendell's, has not formally announced, but he has made no secret of his interest in running.

And Jim Panyard, a conservative former businessman from Palmyra, Lebanon County, announced his candidacy in September, but he is not seeking the party's endorsement.

For many party leaders, the contest increasingly appears to be coming down to a decision between Scranton and Swann, who consistently run neck-and-neck in polls as the strongest Rendell challengers. There is even speculation in GOP circles that Piccola will be exiting the race, possibly before next month's Pennsylvania Society bash, the annual social gathering in New York of politicians, lawyers, lobbyists, and others who fuel campaign efforts.

Piccola campaign spokesman Dean Ouelette said the senator was very much in the running and would be asking for the endorsement in February.

Although the state's six Republican regional caucuses have yet to poll their members on whom they back, their leaders have already started aligning themselves with candidates.

Matthew Brann, who chairs the party's Northeast caucus, said he believes Scranton is best positioned to beat Rendell. Ditto for Tom Judge, head of the Southeast caucus. Northeast/Central caucus chair Bob Ames said he's leaning toward Scranton, too.

But Southwest caucus chairwoman Jan Rea said she is a Swann devotee, as are Ash Khare, caucus chair in the Northwest, and Joyce Haas, cochair on the Central caucus.

Dick Stewart, the other cochair in the Central caucus, is standing by Piccola.

"I'm going to operate under the assumption that there will be a primary," Ames said last week. "But I would much rather we try to resolve our differences... Primaries can be very costly, and given that fact that Gov. Rendell has an ability to raise vast sums of money, I'd rather we not have to go through that."

Political observers say any Republican challenger would have to raise about $30 million to compete with Rendell, who spent more than $40 million during his 2002 gubernatorial bid.

A primary could cost from several million dollars to upward of $10 million, they said.

Piccola spokesman Ouelette said the senator would not run a primary if the party does not endorse him. Swann and Scranton's campaigns would not say definitively what they would do.

Though some party members believe a primary wouldn't signal a death knell - after all, Rendell ran a primary in 2002 - they acknowledge that it has the potential to bruise feelings and unnecessarily rough up reputations.

Already, the camps within the party are quietly vetting Swann and Scranton.

Swann, who reports on college football, has been criticized for being politically inexperienced. Case in point: He had been invited to a recent event by Republicans in Lawrence County but bagged it to attend a White House state dinner for Prince Charles.

Swann has also been knocked for holding back on formalizing his plans for 2006. The speculation is that he will announce in January after the college football season ends.

"When you don't announce, people don't take you seriously," said Renee Amoore, the state GOP deputy chair who has urged Swann to formalize his candidacy soon. "Not announcing is an issue to me. How can you market someone if they haven't announced?"

Scranton, on the other hand, has been singled out for being part of the political establishment as well as someone who has already tried his hand at the governorship - and lost.

Melvin, the state party chair, said she believes the machinations behind choosing a candidate will help to determine the strongest candidate - and make the party stronger.

"I think the debate is healthy."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Angela Couloumbis at 717-787-5934 or acouloumbis@phillynews.com."

Santorum Plays Politics With Thomas McGough's Judgeship - PittsburghLIVE.com

2005-11-21T06:24:00.000-08:00

On his climb to the summit, councilman loses his footing - PittsburghLIVE.com: "DEEP-SIXED FOR THE 3RD CIRCUIT? Apparently a move is afoot to derail Reed Smith attorney W. Thomas McGough's chances of being named to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, headquartered in Philadelphia.

McGough, of Shadyside, has been mentioned as a candidate to replace Richard Nygaard of Erie, who was named a senior judge on the 3rd Circuit in July.

E-mails floating around in the political corner of cyberspace indicate Republican Sen. Rick Santorum has been lobbied hard to lobby President George Bush not to appoint McGough to the 3rd Circuit bench.

The correspondences don't fault McGough's legal acumen, but are critical of him for donating money to Santorum's Democrat opponent in 2000, former U.S. Rep. Ron Klink of Murrysville. McGough also was faulted for not being sufficiently conservative."

Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/15/2005 | Santorum's Abuse of Power and Association with Indicted Criminals -Jack Abramoff and the K St. Project

2005-11-19T06:29:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/15/2005 | Casey assails Santorum's tie to lobbyists: "Posted on Tue, Nov. 15, 2005

Casey assails Santorum's tie to lobbyists
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Democratic challenger Robert P. Casey Jr. lashed out yesterday at Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) for leading meetings that he said pressure lobbying firms and trade associations to hire more Republicans.

"At best, what happens at those meetings is of questionable ethics," Casey said.

Casey, the Pennsylvania state treasurer, was in Washington to announce an ethics reform plan that he said would correct what he called abuses of power by lobbyists and lawmakers. One provision is a same-day disclosure requirement for lobbyists who have "substantive" conversations with lawmakers.

Casey accused Santorum of saying little about this "culture of corruption." He said the senator "has more power than I do, right now," to introduce reforms.

A spokesman for Santorum, Robert Traynham, declined to respond to the specifics of Casey's plan but said the senator was ready to debate it and other issues "in a public way."

Casey spoke at a Washington restaurant, called Signatures, that until recently was owned by GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under investigation by the Justice Department. Abramoff is an ally of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R., Texas), who has been indicted in an alleged Texas campaign-finance scheme.

DeLay, Santorum and other GOP activists have been involved in a longtime effort known as the "K Street Project" to ensure that Republicans are considered for openings with lobbying firms and trade associations.

K Street is a Washington address traditionally favored by lobbyists.

Santorum has been holding a regular Tuesday morning meeting as part of this effort.

"These aren't just casual, chance meetings," Casey said. He said there was "enormous pressure" and "undue influence" by congressional leaders on hiring practices by lobbyists and trade associations.

"I think it could amount to coercion," Casey said. "What are you going to do, skip the meeting? Unfortunately, if you want to be a successful lobbyist, a lot of them are going to say, 'Yes, sir.' "

Casey said the K Street Project was "an abuse of power" and should be closed. He also proposed doubling the lobbying ban for former members of Congress to two years and requiring members to reimburse corporations for the full cost of accepting a ride on a chartered flight.

At present, members are required to reimburse corporations for the price of a first-class commercial ticket.

The Democrat said that this year he had accepted a chartered flight to Texas from a law firm, which he intended to reimburse.

Much of what Casey proposed is contained in pending Senate and House legislation. The new wrinkle was the same-day disclosure, which a lobbyist would file to an Internet site.

Traynham, Santorum's spokesman, defended the K Street Project as "a program to make sure that issues important to Pennsylvanians are discussed with large organizations."

He said that Santorum "has spent all of his congressional career making sure there is transparency in government."

Traynham declined to directly address Casey's ethics plan, but challenged the leading Democratic contender for Santorum's seat to public debates on all the issues.

"What's more important is to talk about the issues that are important to Pennsylvanians - jobs and the economy, taxes and the like," he said.

In a statement issued by Santorum's reelection campaign, the senator proposed 10 debates, with eight of them devoted to a single issue. The Casey campaign had no immediate response.

Casey's Washington schedule yesterday included three fund-raising meetings, including an evening event at a private home in McLean, Va., at which outgoing Virginia Gov. Mark Warner was scheduled to appear.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Steve Goldstein at 202-383-6048 or slgoldstein@krwashington.com."

ABC News: Senate Passes $60 Billion Tax Bill - Santorum Raises Taxes For the Working Man - Cuts for the Rich

2005-11-18T15:50:00.000-08:00

ABC News: Senate Passes $60 Billion Tax Bill: "Senate Passes $60 Billion Tax BillSenate Passes $60 Billion Tax Bill Extending Tax Cuts, Raises Taxes on Oil Companies
Sen. Rick Santorum R-Pa., delivers the keynote speech at the annual American Legion Veterans Day luncheon at the Union League of Philadelphia Friday, Nov. 11, 2005, This prior commitment is keeping Santorum, the Senate's No. 3 Republican, from joining President Bush's visit to northeastern Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr)
By MARY DALRYMPLE AP Tax Writer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Nov 18, 2005 — The Senate passed a $60 billion bill early Friday that would extend expiring tax cuts and prevent roughly 14 million families from paying higher taxes through the alternative minimum tax.

It drew a presidential veto threat for raising taxes on oil companies.

Much of the bill, passed 64-33 after midnight, preserves tax cuts approved in previous years that are set to expire unless lawmakers keep them alive. "I call this bill the 'Tax Increase Prevention Act,'" said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.

Senate GOP leaders pledged that when the bill returns to the Senate for final approval, it will also extend the life of reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends, scheduled to end when the calendar flips to 2009.

"Millions of Americans have benefited from these important tax policies either directly through lower taxes or indirectly through new and better jobs and greater economic security for families," said Treasury Secretary John Snow.

Democrats roundly oppose extending tax cuts for investment income. Senate leaders dropped an extension from their bill because a key moderate Republican balked at its inclusion.

The bill would stop a tax increase on about 14 million families in line to pay the alternative minimum tax next year. Originally a levy to prevent the wealthy from avoiding taxation, inflation causes the alternative minimum tax to reach into the pockets of more families every year. Lawmakers regularly enact walls to hold it back.

Senate Republicans beat back Democratic attempts to use the bill to pinch oil and energy companies that have been reporting record profits while consumers pay high gasoline prices, efforts that reflected sensitivity on Capitol Hill to high gasoline prices and fears of skyrocketing home heating costs this winter.

The largest oil companies, nevertheless, would be hit with about $4.3 billion in taxes through a change in accounting methods. That provision drew a veto threat from the White House and upset some Western Republicans, who deemed it an unfair and political attack on the energy industry."

::.Angus Reid Consultants.:: Casey Keeps BIG Lead Over Santorum in Pennsylvania

2005-11-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

::.Angus Reid Consultants.::: "November 18, 2005
Casey Keeps Lead Over Santorum in Pennsylvania

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Democrat Bob Casey could win next year’s election to the United States Senate in Pennsylvania, according to a poll by Strategic Vision. 51 per cent of respondents in the Keystone State would support Casey in a head-to-head contest against Republican incumbent Rick Santorum.

Casey has been Pennsylvania’s state treasurer since January 2005, and previously served as the state auditor general for eight years. Casey is the son of former Pennsylvania governor Robert P. Casey, and lost the 2002 Democratic primary to current governor Ed Rendell.

Support for Santorum is at 36 per cent. Three per cent of respondents would vote for other contenders, and 10 per cent are undecided. The election is scheduled for November 2006.

Santorum was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, and earned a second term in 2000, defeating Democrat Ron Klink with 53 per cent of all cast ballots. He had previously served for two consecutive terms in the House of Representatives.

Although the election is still a year away, it is widely expected to be among the most competitive senatorial races in the country. Speaking in a joint public appearance this week, Santorum asked voters to focus on his experience, saying, "I’m probably known most by the work I do in Washington on the big issues of the day, and I’m criticized sometimes for taking on the big issues of the day like Social Security."

Polling Data

If the election for United States Senate were held today, and the choice was between Bob Casey, Jr., the Democrat and Rick Santorum, the Republican, whom would you vote for?

Nov. 2005
Oct. 2005
Sept. 2005

Bob Casey, Jr. (D)
51%
52%
52%

Rick Santorum (R)
36%
36%
38%

Other
3%
2%
3%

Undecided
10%
10%
7%

Source: Strategic Vision
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,200 registered Pennsylvania voters, conducted from Nov. 11 to Nov. 13, 2005. Margin of error is 3 per cent."

Grassroots PA: Jerry Morgan, U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood's right-hand man

2005-11-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Grassroots PA: December 2004: "Saturday, December 11, 2004

Scranton Times Spotlights PA Politcal Society

A good read

Scranton Times:

The $250-a-person dinner is the crescendo of four days of parties, luncheons and receptions sponsored by lobbyists, large corporations and political candidates.

Members and their guests can attend the dinner, but you don't have to be in the society to take part in the side events."There'll be a lot of deals made here," said Jerry Morgan, U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood's right-hand man. "It's a great place to come to make a deal."

Rarely do you get so many of Pennsylvania's elite business, government and political movers and shakers in one place together. So they aren't there just to renew days of auld lang syne.

"This is the Supreme Council of politicking," said Michael Clark of Pittston, who worked as an aide to the late U.S. Rep. Daniel J. Flood."

Scranton Shoves Glen T. Meakem out of the way for Leslie Gromis Baker

2005-11-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

www.PACleanSweep.com: "Former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton has officially landed a big-name political strategist and fundraiser for his campaign. Last week, he named Leslie Gromis Baker as his campaign co-chairwoman. She was instrumental in Gov. Tom Ridge’s re-election campaign and ran his political action committee. His other co-chairman is Glen T. Meakem, the founder and former chief executive officer of FreeMarkets, an Internet auction company that catered to businesses before merging with another company last year.

Choosing sides

Mr. Scranton also picked up the endorsements of Republican U.S. Reps. Don Sherwood, Phil English and John Peterson and former state Rep. Jeff Coleman. Mr. Peterson represents the congressional district west of Mr. Sherwood’s; Mr. English represents north of Allegheny County, including Erie.

Former Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver and current ABC college football sideline reporter Lynn Swann has picked up the support of former state Republican Party chairman Alan Novak, Pennsylvania’s Republican national committeewoman Christine Toretti Olson and U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, whose district includes Lancaster."

Lambro Preforms Journalistic Fellatio on Pa Govenor's Race - The Washington Times, Rev. Moon's Newspaper

2005-11-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

Democrats slip in some races�-�Commentary�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper:

What a hack! Lambro is underestimating Casey's edge over Ricky Santorum and over estimating Bill Scranton. People have forgotten William Worthless Scranton’s negatives. As the race heats up so will the questions about Scranton’s drug use, lack of meaningful job experience and involvement in a cult. Maybe the cult part is why Lambro is kneeling before Bill Scranton with his mouth open. Lanny Budd

"Democrats slip in some races
By Donald Lambro
November 17, 2005

Conventional wisdom among most of the political pundits and prophets here is that the Republican brand isn't selling so hot because of President Bush's decline in the polls.
But the conventional wisdom often turns out wrong in politics, and that may well be the case in 2006.
The White House and the Republicans are going through some tough times politically, no question about that. But so are the Democrats, even in the Northeast blue states where you would expect them to do well.
Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania is Exhibit A. Everyone knows Republican Sen. Rick Santorum is running behind his Democratic rival, state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., who is 10 points ahead in most polls. But did you know Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, up for re-election next year, is also in trouble?
In a survey that produced what independent pollster John Zogby called "stunning numbers," Mr. Rendell "is in a pitched battle, endangered by candidacies from either Bill Scranton, a former lieutenant governor and scion of a powerful political family, or Lynn Swann, the great Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver turned conservative novice political candidate."
Mr. Rendell, the tough-talking Keystone state governor who apparently is not well liked by Pennsylvanians, is in a statistical dead heat with Mr. Scranton, who just 3 points behind -- 44 to 41 percent. Mr. Swann is 4 points behind, 47 to 43 percent.
These are astonishing numbers at this early stage in the election cycle, suggesting a prominent Democratic governor from a major electoral state is in danger of being knocked off by the Republicans. Apparently, the GOP's brand is selling better in some states than pundits would have us believe and the Democratic brand is losing market share.

Scranton Demands Rendell Do Something That Scranton Would Never do Himself

2005-11-15T14:50:00.000-08:00

Gov. candidate Scranton favors 'independent' for Pa. high court: "Gov. candidate Scranton favors 'independent' for Pa. high court
Tuesday, November 15, 2005

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG -- The battle over state officials' pay raises entered the governor's race yesterday, as Republican Bill Scranton urged Gov. Ed Rendell to name a "politically independent" person to replace Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro.

By unseating Democratic Justice Nigro in last week's retention election, state voters "spoke with clarity and conviction about the need for honest reform" in state government, Mr. Scranton said.

Mr. Scranton is one of four GOP hopefuls now competing to run against Democrat Rendell in 2006.

By denying Justice Nigro a second term, "citizens expressed their outrage over the unprecedented pay raise that you signed into law" in early July, Mr. Scranton told the governor.

Mr. Rendell had defended the raises for the first three months after they were enacted, saying judges and his own Cabinet members in particular deserved higher salaries. But recently he reversed course, urging legislators to repeal the raises for all three branches -- legislative, judicial and executive -- and set the pay back to what it was on July 6. He said the issue has become a serious distraction to conducting state business.

Justice Nigro will leave the seven-member high court in early January when his current 10-year term expires. He failed to win another term last week, with most observers blaming his defeat on voter anger over the pay raises. Justice Nigro received a raise in July but didn't actually vote on the bill. Another Supreme Court justice, Sandra Schultz Newman, narrowly won a second term on the court last week.

Mr. Rendell must name a replacement for Justice Nigro to serve through the end of 2007. A person to serve a full 10-year term on the court will be chosen in the 2007 elections.

Some legislators expect Mr. Rendell to name a Democrat to the court.

Mr. Scranton said "citizens will not tolerate a selection pulled from a short list of politically active supporters or friends. We expect a new justice that demonstrates political independence, the highest degree of competence and experience and a commitment to upholding the spirit and plain meaning of the constitution."

He also said a legislative committee should hold hearings on Mr. Rendell's selection before he or she joins the court. The nominee will need confirmation by the state Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, but it isn't known yet if committee hearings will be held.

Kate Philips, press secretary for Mr. Rendell, has said it's too early to speculate on who Mr. Rendell might choose to fill the seat.

In another pay raise matter yesterday, a Republican state committeeman from Butler County said new blood is needed on the GOP panel.

While newspapers and other media across the state have repeatedly talked about the pay raise story, the state GOP panel has been silent about it, said Butler GOP Chairman Jim Powers.

"This is symptomatic of a larger leadership problem at the Republican State Committee," he said.

Last month, he mailed "Repeal the Pay" petitions to all 355 state panel members, but only 20 percent agreed to sign.

(Harrisburg Bureau chief Tom Barnes can be reached at tbarnes@post-gazette.com or 1-717-787-4254.)"

AP Wire | 11/14/2005 | Casey Exposes Santorum's Secret Shame - The K Street Scandal - Ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff

2005-11-14T17:55:00.000-08:00

AP Wire | 11/14/2005 | Casey unveils ethics plan; Santorum calls for debates: "Posted on Mon, Nov. 14, 2005

Casey unveils ethics plan; Santorum calls for debates
KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. on Monday criticized Sen. Rick Santorum's involvement with lobbyists and unveiled a plan to require lobbyists to report every substantive conversation with federal lawmakers.

Casey, a likely Democratic challenger to Santorum in 2006, said the two-term senator is a leader of the "K Street Project," a GOP effort to pressure lobbying firms to hire Republicans and keep money flowing to the party.

"What happens at those meetings and as a result of those meetings, is at best of questionable ethics," said Casey, whose plan would bar members of Congress from "using threats or coercion" to influence hiring decisions of lobbying firms.

Former House Majority leader Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff also have ties to the project, which is named after the street where many lobbyists work. Both have been indicted on charges unrelated to the project and have denied any wrongdoing. Casey's press briefing was held at Signatures restaurant in Washington, which used to be owned by Abramoff.

Robert Traynham, a spokesman for Santorum, R-Pa., called Casey's plan a "desperate attempt" to draw attention away from the fact that he had not taken a stand on whether he supports Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

Traynham, who showed up at Casey's news conference and waited in the restaurant while reporters met with Casey in a private room, also distributed a letter written by Santorum challenging Casey to 10 debates.

He said Santorum participates in K Street meetings regularly, but "I'm not in those meetings, so I'm not going to comment on them." He said Democrats hold meetings similar to the K Street meetings.

Traynham said issues such as ethics should be discussed in a debate rather than in a "clandestine" meeting with reporters. "Let's talk about these issues in a very public way, i.e. in front of the audience in a debate," he said.

Casey's campaign manager, Jay Reiff, said Casey would be happy to debate Santorum after candidates win their respective party nomination, but accused Santorum of trying to "distract attention away from his involvement with the K Street Project."

Casey said he is waiting to learn more about Alito before deciding on whether he supports the nomination to the Supreme Court. Traynham said Santorum is leaning toward voting to confirm Alito.

Santorum, the No. 3 Senate Republican, was 16 points behind Casey in the Keystone Poll released last week. The race is already one of the closest watched Senate races in the country.

Casey's plan would require lobbyists to disclose on the Internet details about conversations with members of Congress on the same day they occur. It also would require former members to wait two years to lobby on Capitol Hill, and require politicians to reimburse corporations who fly them on private jets for the price of a private jet flight - not just for the price of a first-class ticket.

Casey acknowledged that he had flown on a jet paid for by a law firm to an event in Texas, but he said he would not be doing that again. He said his plan would help abolish the "culture of corruption" in Washington and called on Santorum to join the reform effort because Pennsylvanians are looking for a "fresh approach and substantial change."

"Last time I checked one party had all the marbles. They've got the presidency, they've got the House and the Senate, and Sen. Santorum is ... a very influential leader with this White House ... he should be a leader in implementing these kinds of changes," Casey said.

Traynham said Santorum in 1992 was in the "Gang of Seven," which he said was responsible for closing the controversial House bank, and has always been transparent with voters about where he stands on issues.

The Keystone Poll also showed Casey with a sizable lead over Chuck Pennacchio, a Philadelphia college professor. It did not mention another likely candidate, Philadelphia pension lawyer Alan Sandals."

Scranton's Involvement With CULT Worries Conservatives and Christians - PittsburghLIVE.com

2005-11-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

Yogi could be a bear for Scranton - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Yogi could be a bear for Scranton

By Dimitri Vassilaros
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, November 13, 2005

Is Bill Scranton's campaign as aggressive as it needs to be about his Achilles' heel? A campaign consultant says yes. Influential social conservatives say no. Team Scranton needs damage control for the guru thing.
Scranton's long association with Transcendental Meditation and proponent Maharishi Mahesh Yogi might be why Pennsylvania's former lieutenant governor lost the gubernatorial election to Bob Casey in 1986. Just before the election, Mr. Casey's hatchet man, James Carville, ran a TV spot mocking Scranton as a dope-smoking hippie follower of the TM guru.

Could dabbling with TM, the Maharishi, and the Natural Law Party -- a defunct political party inspired by the Maharishi -- still hurt him?

"The issue has been fully vetted," said Jeff Coleman, a Scranton campaign consultant. "It does not have the kind of legs it had 20 years ago."

It likely would have some effect, said Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute. "Some would wonder what is behind that and what impact does that have in Scranton's personal life and decision-making."

The guru-thing might win social conservatives away from Scranton, said Matthew J. Brouillette, president of The Commonwealth Foundation. "If his opponents make that message stick, he will have a tough time getting their support. But this is more a meditation practice than religion."

That might be all Don Thomson, chairman of the Westmoreland County Christian Coalition, needs to know.

"All they would have to do is hear he is this or that in his beliefs and some people would say he is a kook," Mr. Thomson said. "It conjures up strange beliefs and aberrations. I don't see how it could have any positive effect. If he's still practicing (TM), I would have even less desire to vote for him."

Is Scranton, an Episcopalian, embarrassed about the guru thing? "Why would I be embarrassed? I still meditate," he told this column.

Internet sites claim Scranton endorsed fellow TM practitioner Dr. John S. Hagelin, the Pittsburgh-born Natural Law Party presidential candidate in 1992, 1996 and 2000. The party disbanded in 2004.

Some reference a liberal blogger who used guilt by association to smear Scranton. But most mention the entry in Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that claimed he supported Dr. Hagelin in '92 and 2000.

Other than donating $1,000 to his friend's campaign in '92, Scranton says he supported only Republicans.

When I e-mailed his answer to Wikipedia, the entry was corrected.

And what does the Natural Law Party say?

"I checked the accuracy of my recollections with Dr. John Hagelin, and Kingsley Brooks, the party chairman," said Bob Roth, former party press secretary who has known Scranton for 30 years.

"Bill Scranton never officially or unofficially, publicly or privately, supported the Natural Law Party."

Scranton did participate in a few nonpartisan roundtable discussions and was inaccurately listed on a Web site as endorsing Hagelin, Roth said. "We invited Bill to take a more public official role in the party. In every case he declined.

"Your inquiry is the first time any of us can recall a reporter actually calling us to ask about the facts concerning Bill Scranton's involvement with the Natural Law Party."

Correcting the sites still using the old Wikipedia entry would be a start in Team Scranton damage control.

Dimitri Vassilaros is a Trib editorial page columnist. His column appears Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. Call him at 412-380-5637. E-mail him at dvassilaros@tribweb.com."

National Review Online: Santorum Down But Not Out... Yet

2005-11-12T04:32:00.000-08:00

John J. Miller on Election 2006 & Senate on National Review Online: "PENNSYLVANIA: Democrats are drooling over this one — they think they’ve got Republican senator Rick Santorum in their crosshairs. A poll last month showed Democratic state treasurer Bob Casey Jr. leading the incumbent among likely voters, 52 percent to 36 percent. This race probably represents the Democrats’ best pickup opportunity. But before it’s over, it will look very close and conservative standard-bearer Santorum may yet prevail. TOSS UP"

WFMZ-TV Online 2 Swann leads Scranton in Latest Poll - Is Bill Scranton's religion An Issue

2005-11-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

WFMZ-TV Online 2: "Poll Released on Santorum and Rendell Races
Story posted on 2005-11-10 18:07:00

IN FACT, ONE POLL SAYS SANTORUM WILL HAVE THE FIGHT OF HIS POLITICAL LIFE AGAINST DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE BOB CASEY JR.
THE SURVEY BY ZOGBY INTERNATIONAL ALSO SHOWS GOVERNOR ED RENDELL IN A TIGHT RACE.
IT SAYS FORMER PITTSBURGH STEELER LYNN SWANN LOOKS LIKE THE REPUBLICAN FRONT-RUNNER FOR GOVERNOR.
BUT IF FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR BILL SCRANTON TURNS OUT TO BE THE G-O-P CANDIDATE, THE POLL SUGGESTS HE WILL ALSO GIVE RENDELL A GOOD FIGHT."

Santorum Linked to Radical Animal Rights Extremists by Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

2005-11-11T17:24:00.000-08:00

: "Animal lovers push for new pet protections
By ISAAC WOLF
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
November 11, 2005

WASHINGTON - Norma J. Worley's tale of puppy-love might make Internet pet purchasers bark in anger.

Worley, director of Maine's Animal Welfare Program, said she sees many pet seekers browse through pictures of pups or kittens on the Internet until they fall in love with a picture of their ideal pet.

Or, rather, what they think is their ideal pet.

Worley is helping push for federal legislation to crack down on "puppy mills," which maltreat pets and exploit purchasers.

Often, the pets are shipped in small crates and held in cargo for 12-15 hours at a time, Worley said. Upon arrival, the pets might be sick, have genetic disorders from poor mating practices or just be a "horrible example of the breed."

"The new owner is totally confused, angry and frustrated, but, as it is in most cases, has now fallen in love with this poor creature," Worley said.

The activists are working with Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, to craft legislation to close the loophole that allows mistreatment of animals and deceptive sales.

Animal reproduction regulatory law - which dates to 1966 - targets pet wholesalers, making the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for checking living and breeding conditions. But the law shields pet retailers from federal oversight, under the assumption that pet purchasers visiting stores will be able to see living conditions for themselves.

The number of puppies bought over the Internet grew to at least 200,000 last year, a trend that allows large-scale breeders to pass as "retailers," said Sara Amundson, legislative director of the Doris Day Animal League.

"Individuals who would likely buy a puppy are increasingly finding it difficult to go to the property and have a look at how the puppies are cared for," Amundson said. "Times have changed."

The Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005, called PAWS, would regulate retail commercial breeders, Internet sellers and most people who sell more than 25 dogs or cats a year. It would also cover sellers of other animals, but with different limits.

Some PAWS supporters said the legislation needs significant revision. Michael Maddox, legislative director of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, said the bill is written too broadly.

"PIJAC feels certain that Congress does not wish to subject a 10-year-old child to federal licensure for selling a couple of baby hamsters," Maddox said.

Maddox said Santorum was working with animal rights groups to iron out details, but he added the bill does not distinguish between high-volume breeders and "real" retailers.

"The way it's crafted, it effectively runs contrary to the whole retail exemption," Maddox said.

Some groups flat-out oppose the legislation.

"This is a disaster of a bill," said Robert Kane, founder and chief executive officer of Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance, which claims 18,000 members. "PAWS has the effect of threatening every owner of a dog."

PAWS would increase the number of animal breeders subject to federal inspection from 10,000 to 300,000, Kane said."

The Citizens Voice - News - 11/11/2005 - Bush Exploits Veterans Day celebration For Political Gain at Tobyhanna

2005-11-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

The Citizens Voice - News - 11/11/2005 - President notes 80th Veterans Day celebration at Tobyhanna: "President notes 80th Veterans Day celebration at Tobyhanna

By:Borys Krawczeniuk 11/11/2005

For today's 80th celebration of the nation's veterans, President Bush is scheduled to honor vets and speak about the war on terrorism at the Tobyhanna Army Depot amid controversy over who won't be there with him.

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn Hill, will be in Philadelphia addressing a Veterans Day luncheon of American Legion members.
Santorum, who is up for re-election next year, isn't skipping the Tobyhanna event to distance himself politically from a president with sagging approval ratings, said Robert Traynham, Santorum's press secretary.
Rather, the senator is honoring a commitment he made more than a month ago, Traynham said.
Long before the president decided to visit Tobyhanna, the American Legion invited Santorum - the date was Oct. 5 - to address "a couple of hundred" legionnaires on Veterans Day, Traynham said. The senator accepted the next day and it would be inappropriate to pull out now, he said.
The senator's staff inquired about whether the president could adjust the timing of his visit to the military electronics maintenance depot, but was told a schedule change was not possible, Traynham said.
"The senator is looking forward to campaigning with the president in the very near future and he's looking forward to campaigning with the president as we head toward Election Day on more than one occasion," Traynham said.
Bush raised money in June in the Philadelphia area for Santorum, who has repeatedly championed the president's agenda on issues such as the war in Iraq and changes in Social Security.
"Make no mistake, the number one defender of President Bush on the Senator floor has been Sen. Rick Santorum and it's been on a range of issues, from the war in Iraq to changes in Social Security," political analyst Jon Delano said.
Since then, Bush's approval ratings have sunk to new lows for his presidency as insurgents in Iraq drove up the number of American troop casualties, questions were raised about his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina and gasoline prices skyrocketed because of Katrina-caused damage.
Tuesday's loss by the Republican candidate for Virginia after Bush campaigned for him at the last minute is only fueling speculation that Santorum is ducking a sagging president.
"There's no doubt about it," said Jay Reiff, a spokesman for Democratic Senate candidate Robert P. Casey Jr. "Rick Santorum hopes that Pennsylvanians will forget that he voted for Bush's agenda 98 percent of the time."
Delano said he can't remember a time when Santorum wasn't at an appearance by the president in Pennsylvania.
"To me, it's just saying there are no coattails for Sen. Santorum to latch onto," Delano said. "By not being with the president, the senator is making more of an issue about this than being with the president would have been ... There's something unseemly about it and it also sends the wrong political message."
The president, who will be making his fifth visit to the region in just under three years, is scheduled to fly in on Air Force One and arrive at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport late this morning.
From there, he'll hop on a helicopter - Marine One - and fly to the depot where he'll speak about noon."

Analysis: Temporary bragging rights for Democrats

2005-11-11T04:12:00.000-08:00

Analysis: Temporary bragging rights for Democrats: "Analysis: Temporary bragging rights for Democrats
Thursday, November 10, 2005

By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Democrats, savoring wins in two governor's races Tuesday, said the contests signaled an anti-Republican tide that will roll over GOP candidates in next year's congressional elections.

Republicans insisted that the results in Virginia and New Jersey said something about the idiosyncratic politics of the two states and were an unreliable guide to larger political trends.

Whatever their longer-term significance, the returns conferred at least temporary bragging rights on Democrats while providing no solace to a Republican party buffeted by the president's lagging job approval numbers, high-profile indictments and the hangover from Hurricane Katrina, the failed Harriet Miers nomination and other controversies.

"The worn-out rhetoric of the Republicans clearly failed," said Bill Burton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "If you look at Virginia, for example, you had commercials right out of the old Republican playbook -- tax cuts, the death penalty -- you had a visit from George Bush. The Republican still lost."

"The Democrats say they're a big indicator, and I agree that they're a big indicator," said Carl Forti, spokesman for the House GOP campaign. "They're a big indicator just like they were in 2001" -- a reference to another Democratic Virginia-New Jersey statehouse sweep that was followed by Republican gains in the following year's congressional races.

Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, pointed out that Virginia has a recent history as a contrary mirror of national trends. Following each presidential election since 1976, Virginia has elected a governor of the opposite party of the White House winner.

In New Jersey, where the victory of Sen. Jon Corzine had been seen as a surer thing than the Democratic win in Virginia, the governor's race was dominated by personal attacks that had little to do with partisan issues at the national level.

"This was a very peculiar race," said John Weingart, associate director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. "Neither candidate would have been his party's nominee if they weren't independently wealthy. It got very personal."

Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University, said of the New Jersey and Virginia contests, "I think they were mainly about themselves. Remember that both of these states went Democratic four years ago and that didn't help Democrats two years ago."

Dr. Black said that a more telling political barometer for 2006 would be the trajectory of President Bush's approval ratings over the coming months.

"That's the real thing to watch," he said. "If it remains as low as it has been, the Republicans are going to be hurt next year."

The president's last-minute campaigning didn't provide any apparent help for the GOP candidate in Virginia, Jerry Kilgore, allowing Democrats to portray the president as a devalued political asset. The Huffington Post, a liberal blog, gleefully headlined, "Bush is a political toxin for Republicans."

Phil Singer, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, noted that U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., didn't plan to join the president on a visit to Pennsylvania tomorrow and suggested that was evidence of the senator's wish to put literal and figurative distance between himself and the president.

Virginia Davis, communications director for Mr. Santorum's re-election committee, dismissed that contention. She said Mr. Santorum had a long-standing commitment to address a veterans organization in Philadelphia at the same time as Mr. Bush's trip tomorrow to Tobyhanna Army Depot in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Dr. Black, the Emory scholar, said that while the Virginia race may not say much about the 2006 elections, it could have implications for the 2008 presidential contest in confirming the popularity of Mark Warner, the outgoing Democratic governor who was seen as one of Gov.-elect Timothy Kaine's strongest assets.

"I'd say the biggest thing is that it elevates Warner on the national level," said Dr. Black. "The big loser [Tuesday] night was John Edwards, because the presidential primaries are not big enough for Warner and Edwards."

Dr. Black said the results serve to vault Mr. Warner ahead of the former vice presidential candidate as the chief Southern moderate rival to Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nomination battle.

Several analysts said that even if the two states' contests turned on local rather than national factors, they would still reinforce the perception of overall Democratic momentum.

"From that sense, going into it, the status quo favored the Democrats," said Mr. Weingart. "It's a pretty stunning change in the mood of their two parties from just a year ago when the Republicans thought they had a permanent majority and the Democrats were very despondent."

"What it does do is give us a huge morale boost ... a real boost in raising money and recruiting candidates," said Mr. Singer.

(Politics Editor James O'Toole can be reached at jotoole@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1562.)"

AP Wire | 11/09/2005 | Bush to appear in Pennsylvania minus Santorum

2005-11-11T04:10:00.000-08:00

AP Wire | 11/09/2005 | Bush to appear in Pennsylvania minus Santorum: "Bush to appear in Pennsylvania minus Santorum

KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush will appear at a Veterans Day event in Pennsylvania on Friday with the state's moderate Republican senior senator and a Democratic congressman but without the state's conservative junior senator, who is fighting a tough bid for re-election.

A prior commitment is keeping Sen. Rick Santorum, the Senate's No. 3 Republican, from joining Bush, said Robert Traynham, Santorum's press secretary.

Santorum agreed several weeks ago to speak at the American Legion Veterans Day luncheon in Philadelphia and he intends to keep that commitment, Traynham said. He is to speak at noon, the same time Bush is to be 120 miles away at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Monroe County.

The state's senior senator, Arlen Specter, and Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a Democrat whose district includes the depot, are expected to attend.

When asked if Santorum was intentionally staying away from Bush, Traynham said, "The senator looks forward to having the president come to Pennsylvania as we get closer to next year's election."

Santorum said Wednesday he welcomed the prospect of eventual appearances with Bush, saying, "He can come anytime he wants."

Democrats, however, said Santorum was clearly putting distance between himself and the beleaguered president.

"If President Bush was popular, Rick Santorum would be standing right up next to him," said Jay Reiff, campaign manager for Santorum's likely Democratic opponent, Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey Jr.

A Quinnipiac University poll last month showed Santorum 18 points behind Casey.

The news about Friday's schedule conflict comes one day after Republican Jerry Kilgore lost the Virginia governor's race to Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine. Bush did a last-minute campaign stop for Kilgore, and Democrats say Kilgore's loss is proof that voters are disenchanted with Bush and Republican policies.

Bush raised $1.5 million for Santorum at a Pennsylvania fundraiser in June.

But in recent weeks, the senator has criticized some Bush administration moves. Most notably, he refused to endorse Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, calling the White House lawyer and Bush loyalist "a blank slate."

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said Bush has long said that if he can help a congressional candidate, he would. But Mehlman acknowledged that some Republicans might believe it would be better if Bush did not campaign in their state or district.

Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, executive director of the Republican Main Street Partnership, which helps elect moderate Republicans, said that in light of Kilgore's loss, Santorum must reach out to progressive Republicans.

"If the election was tomorrow, I don't think it would help to have the president go into Pennsylvania," Resnick said."

Susan From Moon backs Cult Member Bill Scranton - PittsburghLIVE.com

2005-11-10T12:40:00.000-08:00

Substance vs. excitement? - PittsburghLIVE.com: "Substance vs. excitement?

Wednesday, November 9, 2005
I have to disagree with Dimitri Vassilaros on this one ("Scranton must do better than this," Oct. 30 and TribLIVE.com).
Vassilaros states that Bill Scranton, Republican candidate for governor in 2006, is not yet exciting the voters, in part because he had not been spotted on the streets of Harrisburg actively harassing the Legislature over its inexcusable pay-raising behavior.

On the contrary, Scranton may be the most exciting candidate in this race, if you value someone who is serious about effecting change in the political culture of Harrisburg and returning the state to a respectable economic position.

That Scranton hasn't sought photo ops with our hardworking inflatable pink pig actually confirms him as a candidate of substance.

Instead he has taken the time to craft an agenda that identifies the state's key issues, including the pay raise, and has been on the road speaking, articulating the need for an honest, open, accountable, lean government focused on sensible methods of advancing the state that don't involve our pocketbooks at every turn.

In doing so, he is looking every bit the intelligent, responsive and resourceful leader this state so desperately needs. I would define that as exciting.

Let the voters and the newly formed coalitions for change continue pressing the point with the current state governing body. (It's obviously working.) Then let us choose a leader who will be our ally from the governor's office.

Susan Farrington
Moon"

Times Leader | 11/08/2005 | Bush to Endorse Kanjorski at Tobyhanna Army Depot on Friday

2005-11-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

Posted on Tue, Nov. 08, 2005

Kanjorski to join Bush at depot
By MICHAEL P. BUFFER mbuffer@leader.net
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski plans to accompany President Bush during a Veterans Day speech at Tobyhanna Army Depot on Friday.
Bush is expected to make a 50-minute policy speech on fighting terrorism at about noon, said Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke. The audience will be mostly depot employees, the congressman said.
The White House will issue a limited number of tickets, Kanjorski said. The depot, which repairs and maintains electronic equipment, is the largest employer in Northeastern Pennsylvania with more than 4,300 civilian workers.
White House spokesman Allen Abney confirmed the president will give a speech Friday in Northeast Pennsylvania to discuss terrorism and thank and honor veterans. Abney said the White House plans to issue an advisory about the speech and its location tomorrow.
The president is not visiting the area for political reasons, Kanjorski said. On Oct. 21, Vice President Dick Cheney attended a fund-raiser for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pittsburgh, in Jackson Township."

The Citizens Voice - News - 11/05/2005 - Bush Brings War on Social Security to Tobyhanna Army Depot

2005-11-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

The Citizens Voice - News - 11/05/2005 - Bush will observe Veterans Day at Tobyhanna Army Depot: "Bush will observe Veterans Day at Tobyhanna Army Depot

By:Borys Krawczeniuk 11/05/2005
President George W. Bush will celebrate Veterans Day at the Tobyhanna Army Depot.
White House spokesman Allen Arbey said Bush would visit the region Friday to talk about the war on terrorism and pay tribute to veterans.
Arbey declined to confirm Bush will visit Tobyhanna, but two Republican sources and U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, said the electronics maintenance depot is Bush's destination.
Kanjorski, whose district includes the depot, said Bush currently is scheduled to speak between noon and 1 p.m. The event is not likely to be open to the general public, he said.
The visit will give Bush an opportunity to appear in front of thousands of employees and invited guests at the region's largest employer.
The depot is expected to add 600 employees by this time next year, putting its total employment at about 4,900, at least partly because it gained jobs in the latest round of base closings.
The president's visit comes at a time his national job approval rating in polls is sagging as the war in Iraq continues.
"He's looking at that as something he has to talk about," said Kanjorski, who added that he's been invited to fly to the region from Washington with the president.
The congressman said he doesn't think the visit carries any political overtones connected to the U.S. Senate race next year.
"No, I think it's more to stabilize what's happening at least somewhat," Kanjorski said.
Incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn Hills, faces a tough re-election battle, probably against Democratic state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. of Scranton.
This will be Bush's fifth visit to the region as president. He visited Scranton in January 2003 to talk about medical malpractice insurance reform. He made campaign stops last year the day after the Republican National Convention at Lackawanna County Stadium in Moosic and later at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre and the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township."