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So much for positive campaigning.
Today brings dueling press releases about campaign contributions to Democrats.
Chris Hackett Brings His Hypocrisy To TV Ads
After Breaking His Pledge To Run A Positive Campaign, Hackett Launches Negative Attacks On Dan Meuser’s Record of Supporting Republicans
One day after refusing to join Dan Meuser in signing a pledge proposed by the Republican County Chairs of the Northeast Caucus, Chris Hackett launched a negative TV attack ad designed to mislead the voters about Conservative Republican Dan Meuser.
Chris Hackett’s negative commercial attacking Dan Meuser’s record of supporting conservatives is an attempt to manipulate the truth for Hackett’s political gain. All anyone has to do is look at Dan Meuser’s record of supporting conservative Republicans to see that Chris Hackett is just running a negative and hypocritical campaign.
Take a look at Dan’s record:
- More than 90% of all of Dan’s political contributions have been to Republican candidates for office. Better than 9 out of every 10 dollars Dan has contributed has gone to Republicans.
- Dan has been honored by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania for his support.
- Dan was asked by PAGOP Chairman Rob Gleason to serve on the Pennsylvania Republican Party finance committee. It was a role that Dan gladly accepted and he currently is a member of the committee.
- Dan has worked at the grassroots level for conservative candidates helping with everything from putting up yard signs to Getting Out the Vote.
Compare this to Chris Hackett’s lack of record of supporting conservative candidates:
- By his own admission, Hackett has given more than $7500 to Democratic politicians in Luzerne County (http://gort42.blogspot.com/2007/09/chris-hackett-for-congress-interview.html)
- Hackett has only given $1,750 to Republican candidates over the past 7 years. (PA Department of State and OpenSecrets.org)
- That means that Hackett has given almost 80% of all his contributions to Democrats. 8 out of every 10 dollars he has given have gone into the pockets of Democrats.
- Worse yet, Hackett was rewarded for his thousands of dollars of contributions with a no bid contract for over $700,000 from the same current Democratic official he contributed to. (Times Leader 1/12/06)
“Dan Meuser wants to run a positive campaign, but Chris Hackett can rest assured that Dan Meuser will defend himself vigorously against his hypocritical attacks,” Campaign Manager Eric Wallace said. “The voters of the 10th District deserve to know the truth about Chris Hackett and his record of hypocrisy.”
WOULD A CONSERVATIVE SUPPORT HILLARY CLINTON, ED RENDELL, AND CHARLIE RANGEL?
As Dan Meuser attempts to get voters to believe he would be a conservative in Congress,
his long history of support for liberal Democrats suggests otherwise
Dallas, PA – On the campaign trail and in his advertisements, Dan Meuser consistently portrays himself as a conservative. But he doesn’t mention that he has a long track record of supporting many of the most liberal Democrats in America.
Since 2004 alone, Dan Meuser and his company have bankrolled over a dozen Democrats at the state and federal level. The recipients of Meuser’s financial support include such liberal Democratic U.S. Senators as Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas), and current and former Democratic Congressmen Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Chris John (D-Louisiana), Joe Crowley (D-New York), Harold Ford, Jr. (D-Tennesee), Mike Ross (D-Arkansas), and Pete Stark (D-California).
Most curiously for a self-proclaimed conservative, Meuser has donated thousands of dollars to:
· Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. Meuser personally donated $5,000 to Rendell on October 26, 2006 – just one week before the election against Republican Lynn Swann.
· Liberal New York Congressman Charlie Rangel. Just last year (February 24, 2007), Meuser personally donated the federal maximum of $2,300 to Rangel. Among other things, Rangel is the author of the largest tax increase proposal in American history.
· Hillary Clinton. Meuser’s company, Pride Mobility PAC, even donated $1,000 to Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate reelection campaign on December 2, 2005.
Meuser’s generosity to liberal Democrats even prompted the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to thank Meuser for “supporting the Democratic agenda.” In a letter to Meuser, PA Democratic Chairman T.J. Rooney notes this about Meuser’s donations: “Your contributions have helped Democrats to take back the House and Senate in 2006 and potentially take the White House in 2008.” See attached letter.
Meuser’s claim of conservatism is made even more laughable when you consider that he brags about endorsements from Rick Santorum and Lou Barletta, when, yes, you guessed it: Meuser’s company even donated $2,000 to Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Casey’s campaign against Santorum in 2007, and it has made multiple donations to Barletta’s current opponent, Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski ($5,000 from 2004 through 2006).
These donations are highlighted in a new television ad from the Hackett campaign that begins airing today. The ad, entitled “Democrats” points to the donations to Rendell, Rangel, and Clinton and asks the reasonable question: “If Dan Meuser is willing to bankroll Hillary Clinton, what would he do in Congress?” The ad transcript is attached.
Hackett Deputy Campaign Manager Mark Harris remarked: “It’s about time for some truth in advertising from the Meuser camp. You can’t call yourself a conservative one day, and then funnel tens of thousands of dollars to liberals like Ed Rendell, Charlie Rangel, and Hillary Clinton the next day. Pennsylvania Republicans who are trying to defeat candidates like Rendell and Clinton deserve to hear from Meuser why he has strongly supported them.”
Chris Hackett has himself donated to two Democrats. One was Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton in 2003, then running against Democratic Mayor Tom McGroarty. McGroarty’s outrageous fiscal mismanagement nearly led the city to bankruptcy, and many conservative business leaders supported Leighton. The second was to the Vonderheid-Skrepenak Committee in 2003 and 2006-7. Dan Meuser also contributed to Vonderheid-Skrepenak in 2006, in what was a concerted effort by local business leaders to support what was believed to be reform-oriented Democrats over the usual old-guard liberal Democrats who have run Luzerne County government for far too long. That judgment proved mistaken and Hackett has stated that he would not make that mistake again. What’s Meuser’s explanation for supporting Clinton, Rendell, Rangel, and more than a dozen other liberal Democrats who were being seriously contested by Republicans?
The new TV ad is not on YouTube yet but I will post it as soon as it is.
24 comments:
i guess KAR's hatespeak all over the blogs was positive campaigning...
hacket or mueser both are fucking rino's. they dont have conservative ideals. they're rich pukes who think they can buy whatever the fuck they want. they tried to influence w-b and the county, hackett got a nice return on his investment, think he did better than hilary on the cattles future. and if they thougth the skrep vondy ticket was the way to go then neither has either one bit ofmgoddam judgement either..
it doesn't matter let's keep dino carney @ least until a real conservative decides to run..
Let's take a look at HAckett's Team: MArk Harris:Ran against Republican Representative in Primary won primary then lost miserably to Dem LOSER. Way to go Mark chalk another seat up for the Dems. Dave MAdeira: Ran negative campaign against Lisa... lost miserably another LOSER. Jerry Birmelin(Head of DO-Nothing side of the Rep party) chased out of office by a rookie... LOSER. MArk Zimmer lost miserably in judges race... LOSER. PAt Toomey(LOST TO SPECTER) Who else is on the campaign team. All negative, sour grapes, has been, losers. They know nothing more than to go negative. THe sad part is even if they did win, the primary, the party people won't get behind Hackett and his bunch of losers. Too much animosity. THey are losers for a reason.
Gort, ????, how am I campaigning?
I posted a thread based on an article in a few papers.
And I'm sorry but there's a VERY big difference with the Hackett attacks of constant press releases trashing Meuser and a few people who support Meuser going after Hackett on the blogs.
In the beginning these two were neck and neck. I actually respected Hackett for going after Carney and not trashing Meuser. It was only Hackett's people trashing Meuser on the blogs. Nothing in the mainstream. When Hackett's camp realized how far back they were the gloves came off. It kind of reminds me of a boxer losing a fight and coming out of the corner swinging wildly hoping he'll land one lucky punch.
I'm not campaigning any more than you are.
I just think it's funny how the Hackett people are counting KAR as the whole Meuser campaign.
If KAR makes a statement the Hackett clan claims "the Meuser campaign is going dirty."
If I were KAR I'd be pretty flattered. KAR, you should hire yourself out since you're so powerful.
In the meantime the Hackett campaign has Scott, Crazy Barry the stalker rug salesman, about 10 different Anons, and a few other people who would find fault with Meuser if he managed to save a drowning child. It's just so pathetic.
It's almost over, thank God. I hope Dave can get back all his patients when he has to go back to cracking backs.
RW,
I didn't mean to imply that you were campaigning, I was just linking to your C3I post. The positive campaigning crack was directed at Meuser not you. Maybe I should have worded that a little different.
Oh, sure, now you tell me. I got all fired up and started a new topic about Hackett when I was originally going to talk about the mortgage crisis.
Oh well, I spent the time doing a crappy photoshop. I'll leave it.
But thanks for clearing that up. I was a little set back.
And BTW, Zen told me I missed a great time last week. I'll have to make the next.
From day one I identified myself as someone who supported Dan, and I adopted a consistent blog name so people would be able to "identify" me, and respond, and/or call me out.
I have not, nor will I hide behind an anonymous tag.
I have told the truth, I have not initiated an attack on anyone ever, I have vigorously responded to unjustified attacks on Dan and will continue to do so in the future, no apologies.
I cannot help it if I am better at this than the anonymous chorus plus Barry,Scott& Dr. Dave who "work" for Hackett.
"Man up" ladies, take a cheap shot at Dan at your own risk, but spare me the whining.
Adios & Ciao.
No cheap shots, just the truth.
Meuser puts out a press release touting "no negative campaigning" and breaks the pledge IN THE VERY SAME PRESS RELEASE!
If I thought it mattered, I would go back through the blogs and cull some of the attacks you initiated kar, but I wouldn't waste my time (not that it would be that difficult).
Personally, I don't care what the ratio of contributions for Meuser were, when I heard he gave thousands to liberals Charlie Rangel and "Fast Eddie" Rendell, it was all over as far as I was concerned. No amount of explaining can excuse that. (not that I have heard a reasonable explanation yet...)
Glad to see you're not swayed but just one issue Scott. The problem is people actually do vote that are just as "sharp" as you.
The reality is it doesn't matter who wins because Carney's going to stay in. All this election cycle did was expose a bunch of stupid people. And you, dear Scott, just happen to be one of them.
Jesus Christ, this has nothing to do with conservative, moderate, or liberal. It's all about integrity, and neither of these guys has any, which is becoming abundantly apparent. Carney waltzes to a second term, we all need to look way ahead.
Well, I heard both Hackett & Meuser are going to use their strategy of fighting illegal immigration by hiring illegal immigrants, and employ that strategy to "the terrorists"...in their upcoming "Hire The Terrorists" campaigns. You can keep a better eye on them that way, you know, like with the illegal immigrants...
They won't "surrender to the terrorists", is what one of their ads said on the radio.
In other news, Chris Carney has just co-sponsored legislation to "surrender to the terrorists"...ahem...
Another angle, is that if "the terrorists" are employed, they won't have as much time to "terrorize"...
Winger,
Funny you mention the mortgage crisis. Remember, like it or not, the seeds of the current fallout began with the passage of Gramm-Leach-Bliley. Yes, before this bill banks actually were responsible for their own crappy paper if they hired morons to do underwriting. Paul Kanjorski was one of a handful of reps who did not vote up or down on the bill.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h1999-570
In the 2006 campaign cycle, the number 2 contributor is a major subprime mortgage company that has a major share of the blame for the economic fallout (New Century Financial).
http://www.opensecrets.org/races/contrib.asp?ID=PA11&cycle=2006&special=N
Too bad the Republicans of the area are busy trying to save us from the Mexicans to take advantage. At the end of the day, if Paul Kanjorski stays in office, the area will have blood on its hands.
From a now "outsider" with 2/3 of my life as a resident of the 10th and 11th, it's time to go beyond the "I am gonna put up a bigger border wall" or the "I am more of a Reagan Republican" contest.
How will Hackettt, Meuser, or even Barletta fix the perception of the area as people who royally screw things up if put in a position of power (like say the chair of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises)?
Dan,
The "surrendering to the terrorists" is purely a misdirection play. Hackett and Meuser completely overplayed the D-Gap and Carney runs free from his Feith memo connection.
Maybe Hackett and Meuser should focus on the play on the field versus their opinions of Senator McCain's "commitment to Republican values" halftime show. Both sides should be focused on winning versus worrying about the helmet mussing their hair.
Anon 11:16,
There is so much more to it than one issue, but the fact that Meuser will throw tens of thousands at liberal democrats with a known track record of sticking it to the taxpayers tells me he won't be the kind of Congressman I want.
I'm tired of "go along to get along" and "work to patch the broken earmarks". I want my congressman to be a leader. As a leader, he will probably make mistakes because he'll be out in front, but this country was not founded by "go along to get along" guys, it was founded by men who were willing to take risks with their own money, their own livelihoods and their own lives.
Everyone can agree that Hackett and Meuser are the same guy. A vote for one is a vote for the other. Not Hackett nor Meuser has a chance in the general election. It's a sad time for our party in the 10th.
Regarding KAR, how about you man-up and state your full name and position at Pride being that you personally reported to Meuser.
It must be Hackett thing, hypocrisy that is, a chorus of annonymous, genuinely anonymous posters, demanding to know who I am, too funny.
Scott, you and your ilk are not the founding fathers, as I stated earlier more like the floundering fathers.
Maderia is not Lincoln either, no matter how many times he loses.
Join us in the 21st century, you might like it.
Ciao
OMG, how funny is your post Anon 2:04????
Asking KAR to "man up" and state his name when you're totally anonymous. Holy crap!!!
I, personally, don't care if KAR has or had a position at Pride. So I guess now we're saying only certain people are allowed to have an opinion??? Based on their profession or who they work for??
"Maderia is not Lincoln either, no matter how many times he loses."
I needed a good laugh. Thank you kar.
It's so painfully clear to me why the Hackett campaign is doing this. Harris, Zimmer, Birmelin (who did less for his district during his entire legislative career than Peifer did in his first term), and Dr. - I use that term loosely - Dave finally found a sucker with money that will bankroll them venting their frustrations with local Republicans who saw through their hypocrisy.
Did they even shown Hackett the latest poll numbers before he dumped more of his wife's money into the campaign? Or did they tell him it could turn that 2 into a 1?
Talked with a Carney campaign operative this week. They desperately want Hackett to win. The first HDCC ad on the airwaves will have a pay-to-play theme. Then Susie will cry for the camera...almost makes me want Meuser to lose. There's a lot of popcorn in my cupboard.
The orchastrated mud slinging was once again proven this morning. The Times Leader had a letter to the editor about Meuser giving to Dems. Huh. That's a big coincidence considering Friday Hackett launched his ads.
I have to give them credit. They're organized when it comes to dragging the campaign through the mud.
Scott- 11:16- you are upset with meuser for giving to Dems but 90% went to Republicans. Hackett gave 80% to Dems and got rich from the most corrupt no bid county commissioner Gregg Skrepnak- So if your reasoning is right Hackett will try to get a multi million dollar contract from Congress. People in glass houses should not throw stones.
Hackett ain't no conservative. He ran around the district looking for support all summer and found none. Bought the "evangelical vote" from Madeira for 100k per year. Bought the "conservative right wing vote" from Birmelin for 50k per year(part time). If he didn't have the bought support he wouldn't have any support at all. Meuser was offered the same deal by Dave and Jerry and he turned it down on principle. Something Hackett lacks. There wouldn't even be a race if Dan had just paid those two off. Toomey would be supporting Dan. Makes me sick to think you can buy "The Club" for 150k....I am surprised Toomey took the bait.... Maybe he ain't as bright as I thought he was
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