Pennsylvania 10th CD air war

Chris Hackett fired the first salvo with a TV ad attacking Dan Meuser for donating to Democrats. I would post it but he ad is not on YouTube yet despite my urging.

Which brought this response.


Chris Hackett's Hypocrisy





Now Meuser is attacking Hackett about his donations to Luzerne County Commissioners Skrepnak and Vonderheid then receiving a contract from the county. Meuser also donated to the Bond Brothers.


Dan Meuser Want You to Know the Facts






A press release from the Hackett camp addresses the first ad.

Dallas, PA - Yesterday, Dan Meuser began running an ad that clearly is meant to deceive the voters about his past support for Hillary Clinton. Facing increasingly long odds after pouring in $1.1 million dollars of his own money, Meuser’s campaign has decided to quit even pretending to tell the truth.

Claim: “Chris Hackett is simply not telling the truth about Dan Meuser, Dan never gave a dime to Hillary Clinton.”

Truth: The Chris Hackett campaign ad says, “Meuser even had his company give money to Hillary Clinton.” Pride Mobility PAC gave $1,000 to Hillary Clinton on 12/2/2005. (Source attached from Federal Elections Commission)

“Dan Meuser’s denial of donating to Hillary Clinton after his company’s PAC donated $1,000 to her campaign is a true Clintonian move,” said campaign spokesman Mark Harris, “Dan’s campaign is growing increasingly desperate as voters reject his liberal positions on earmarks and spending. After claiming to have been so involved in Pride’s government relations work and making it a centerpiece of the campaign, now he takes no responsibility for the donations made by his company’s PAC. It is unfortunate that Dan won’t explain why he has repeatedly supported liberal Democrats with thousands of dollars.”


Claim: “Hackett took a $700,000 earmarked contract from a Luzerne County Democrat”

Truth: Chris Hackett’s company, OneSource, competitively bid on a county contract and was awarded the contract. There was no earmark.

“Several staffing agencies were faxed proposals and OneSource Staffing Solutions submitted the most cost advantageous bid for the county, said Chief Clerk Sam Guesto.” – Citizens Voice (1/12/2006)

In fact, it’s clear the Meuser campaign either doesn’t know what an earmark is or are willfully deceiving the voters yet again. According to the Government Accountability Office an earmark is “used to characterize directions included in congressional committee reports but not in the legislation itself.” As noted by Thomas Schatz of Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, a leading national anti-earmarking, “First, a contract award is not by definition an earmark, and second, since several staffing companies were given the opportunity to bid for a contract and OneSource Staffing Solutions won the bid, it cannot be considered a “no-bid” contract.”

“Again, the Meuser campaign is purposefully and willfully lying to voters to cover up Dan’s history of support for liberal politicians and policies. Dan says he didn’t donate to Hillary, but his company did. Dan says Chris received an earmark, but Chris did not. There is a continuing pattern of desperation as the Meuser campaign tries to cover up his donations to Ed Rendell and Hillary Clinton and his liberal position on federal spending,” said campaign spokesman Mark Harris.