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It's refreshing to see that the 6 State House seats in the county will actually be contested this fall. In 2008 none of the 5 Democratic incumbents faced a Republican in the general election much to my chagrin. This time out we have a full slate on both sides plus a couple of Libertarians thrown into the mix.
As usual the incumbents will be well financed and so far the challengers have little or no money but that could change in the next few months. It's not like there are not people in Luzerne County willing to toss some of their spare change to GOP candidates. 10th CD Republican candidate Tom Marino's FEC report shows more than $30,000 in contributions from people in the county and many of the same names show up on the lists of contributors for statewide Republican candidates. The trick this time is to get those people to actually support the local candidates unlike past elections and to be fair some of them of them have actually been bankrolling the Luzerne County GOP operation over the last few years.
The top target for the Republicans has to be the open seat in the 119th District where Gerald Mullery won a spirited Democratic primary easily but spent all his money doing it. Rick Arnold
doesn't have any money either and to make it more interesting there is a Libertarian Brian Bergman.
Tarah Toohill surprised some people by getting just 800 votes less than longtime 116th State Rep Todd Eachus in their respective unopposed primary elections. Eachus has about $185,000 cash on hand and Toohill has about $2000. Blog buddy McGruff has done his best to tie Eachus to the bonusgate scandal and other transgressions. Who knows, lightening may strike in this one.
In the 121st Eddie Day Pashinski has about $30,000 going into the fall and his Republican challenger James O'Meara didn't raise a dime at the last reporting deadline but that will change if you want to have desert with him.
Mike Carroll has pleasantly surprised me with his desire to overhaul the campaign finance laws (there aren't many) of Pennsylvania and reform the redistricting process. Forget the the bat thing. He is opposed in the 118th by Terrance O'Conner who wants to solve the fiscal crises of the PA by repealing the sales tax on ammunition. Carroll has $26,000 cash on hand and O'Conner didn't report anything.
One of my favorite State Reps has always been Phyllis Mundy. She has been a champion for senior citizens and the rate payers of NEPA Blue Cross and lately has been trying to stop the rape of our environment by the gas drilling companies. Her Republican opponent is West Pittston Mayor Bill Goldsworthy who I don't know much about but he seems to be a good guy. The Libertarian in the race will make Goldy's life more complicated. Tim Mullen is a third party candidate I can root for. I have long advocated that the minor party's like the Greens, Constitutional and Libertarians, etc. concentrate on local elections that they may just win instead of running candidates for President, Governor and Senator that don't have a chance. Build a bench folks. As far as money goes Goldy and Mullin don't have any and Phyllis has about $67,000.
16 hours ago
21 comments:
"Tarah Toohill surprised some people by getting just 800 votes less than longtime 116th State Rep Todd Eachus in their respective unopposed primary elections."
looking back in history you will see that in 2000 Susan Parrick Cox,a Republican, had 1000 fewer votes than Eachus in the primary, and ended up losing to Eachus by 5826 votes. and then in 2004 a big year for local Republicans, they ran Sean Shamany, endorsed by Lou Barletta, Shamany the Republican had *388* fewer votes in the primary than Eachus and then when the real campaign was run in November, Eachus beat Shamany by *8464* votes. so the people being surprised by Toohil getting around 800 less votes than Eachus in the primary , well they just dont get it now do they?
What do all these elections have in common including Toohils bid , they all were endorsed by Hazleton's Mayor Lou,"soon to be threee time loser" Barletta.
I really don't understand what the thought process is that causes local people to beat up on representatives who have strong seniority in Harrisburg. They kick the hell out of Todd Eachus because he was not arrested in Bonus Gate. How about some commonsense in this situation. Does anyone think even for a moment that the Republican Atty General looking to build his career would give a top echelon Democrat a pass in Bonus Gate? WTF are you people thinking? This guy has the power to bring home the bacon so the Neanderthal political thinkers in Luzerne County think it would be a good thing to get rid of Eachus. Asshole's, one and all. Commonsense Voter
I have read the blog McGruff and now see what it is all about. it is Lou Barletta and a far right site. they do a lot of writing about Eachus but i dont see any critical writings about Barletta.
Anon 10:10 you are correct, if the AG hasnt found him guilty of anything what is the issue. seems McGruff knows more than the AG, or anyone else for that matter.
i will be watching to see if they write about Barletta and his shortcomings..........
Filings in Michael Veon's case on file in Dauphin County court in Veon's Motion to Dimiss listing Todd Eachus emails time after time that were part of discovery and recovered by AG agents has absolutely nothing to do with right wing. The last time I checked the truth has no left or right wings.
Uhhh..anon the AG doesn't find people guilty the jury does. You don't know yet if there are bigger implications with the feds and his close association with Robert Powell that would remove the AG from the picture.
Eachus needs to explain why they promised 120,000 seniors in 2006 they would be added to the PACE program when Harrisburg passed the Medicare Plus PACE legislation. At that time Eachus and Rendell said they would save $170 mil a year so they could use the money to add 120,000 seniors. According to every PACE Annual report since then that action never materialized. Then to keep the deception going Eachus tried to introduce legislation last year to add 30,000 more when the 120,000 were never added. All of this information is sitting on the Department of Aging website.
To make matters worse when Nora Dowd Eisenhower, Secretary of Aging resigned in October, 2008 she proclaimed she added the 120,000 but again those figures don't show up on their official publication.
And according to those charts for the first seven years Eachus was in office the amount of seniors on PACE declined to its lowest enrollment figures on record. Some champion of the seniors!!
Just to educate the public on the great campaign of disinformation that has been fed to the public.
Anon, different time and different political climate. You didn't have a Bonusgate cloud in those other races. Three time loser. So how did Eachus's efforts to get Leighton elected over Yudichak, loser? So how did Eachus's efforts work in the City Council race?
It is Eachus that has refused to pay back the illegal pay raise of 2005. It is Eachus who owns a second home in Harrisburg. It is Eachus who received over $27,000 in per diems last year. It was Eachus who paid off Mike Veon's campaign debt. It was Eachus who paid Laura Kuller $24,000 more than her predecessor. It was Eachus who paid Nora Winkleman almost $17,000 more than her predecessor. There are no wings to that just fact.
In one of his latest flyers he admits he couldn't bring one penny to the City of Hazleton yet there is a picture out there of him handing Leighton money. People may re-elect him but I be damned to know what sound basis they do it for.
By the way when you see Todd ask him how many times he flew on Robert Powell's jet? Ask him if it is true he was picked up with the jet the day of the fantasy cargo airport announcement? Some of us never ask questions we already know the answer to.
In his own flyer he admits he can't bring home the bacon so seniority in this case is a waster commodity.
And to set the record straight Paul Kanjorski lost three times before winning his fourth try for that Congressional seat.
Back to the 120,000 seniors. By not enrolling them in the PACE program as promised those seniors are forced to pay for their medicaitons in the donut hole that would have been otherwise covered by PACE for 2007, 2008, 2009, and again in 2010. Some senior advocate.
And the same can be said about Phyllis Mundy with respect to the PACE issue.
Holy shit. Big Dan has turned into McGruff.
Kanjo didn't lose to the same person 3 times.
I just hope Barletta doesn't win, so the rest of the country doesn't think we're a bunch of HICKS up here and want to join the Confederacy.
Did any of our "crack" radio announcers around here ask Barletta how he feels about the Tea Party's Rand Paul saying that shop/store owners should have a right to discriminate against patrons....IE: refuse to serve blacks, if they don't want to?
McGruff: did you ask Barletta this question?
Actually.......
MCGRUFF: how do YOU feel about Rand Paul's statements???
Barletta called the Confederate Arizona lawmakers "heros", right?
Fed challenge to Arizona law 'imminent'
Yeah, let's let Barletta divide us on a LARGER scale, instead of just in Hazleton.
Republicans: DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!!!!!!!
O'Meara did raise about $500. If you look for his campaign report at the state website, search without the apostrophe...
Just a note with regard to the Atty Gen finding people guilty. He sure does in his own mind and if he didn't think they were guilty, he would not file charges aganst them. As for givving him a pass because the Feds are looking abigger things, well McGruff, you have just entered the world of jerks! If he was thought to be guilty of anything including double parking in Harrisburg, they would be all over him and piling on the charges. How deep can you reach to defame Todd Eachus? Shame on you McGuff, I think you need a life.
McGruff 11:19
tell me yes or no,
barletta endorsed,
John Rodgers,
Susan Parrick Coxe
Sean Shamany
did they or did they not get hammered by Eachus?
simple yes or no.
and how is the Dredge guy and the mayor doing these days?
Lets see if you can answer yes or no.
Times Leader mailbag letter:
There’s nothing pure or simple about politics
Many of us owe Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican and tea party-sponsored nominee for U.S. Senate, a debt of gratitude. He has clearly and courageously articulated the true meaning of being a libertarian.
Libertarianism is primarily about individual rights, and it is interesting to note that Mr. Paul is a privileged, white, upper-middle-class man at little risk of personal or institutional discrimination. I imagine it is much easier to be ideologically pure when you are at little risk of the down side of your own political position.
Mr. Paul emphatically insists that he is not a racist, and I believe him. His positions do not reflect racism per se. Mr. Paul simply states that we all have the right to be racist and that the government has no right to stop us. A minority in power can maintain its power through discrimination as long as it is not institutional- or government-sponsored discrimination.
Well, that works for a few of us. And therein lies the problem; Mr. Paul’s ideology works only for a few of us.
Paul, I imagine, would state that libertarianism essentially works for all of us, in as far as it does not prevent anyone from doing almost anything. It is a great passive-aggressive argument, wherein one can say: “I am expressing no greater freedom then you are allowed to express; we are equal.”
We live in a diverse and complex community. Time and again individuals have demonstrated that left to their own devices, self-interest wins out over the common good.
Wall Street is a fine example of a few, powerful individuals placing their ambitions for wealth over the best interests of the rest of us. This is why we need a government to regulate and check activities. Left unchecked, people in power tend to behave badly. It would be much easier and cost effective for a business owner to dump the toxic waste from her factory into the nearby river and let it simply flow downstream. Unfortunately, she can’t because some government regulator says it’s bad for her downstream neighbors.
Mr. Paul’s libertarian response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is cavalier and also, to his credit, ideologically pure: “sometimes accidents happen.” Good luck with that fishing industry, tourism and turtles.
While it might be emotionally satisfying to take a simple and pure political position, it simply doesn’t work.
We owe Mr. Paul a debt of gratitude for so clearly pointing out the flaws in his ideology.
(I couldn't have said it better myself, about: Conservatism and the Republican Party!!!!!!!)
McGruff
i guess your silence is
YES EACHUS HAMMERED all of Lou Barletta's endorsed Republican candidates...........
and Eachus delivered the 116th for Leighton.
But the real numbers i am waiting for is this NOv 2, Toohil is going to look Lou in the eyes and say WTF did i ever do to you to have you put me in this race!
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