Barletta staffer may have broke the law

Shawn Kelly was candidate Lou Barletta's spokesperson in the 2010 election campaign and was given a staff job as Congressman Lou Barletta's spox on official business after the election.

I like Shawn and he has always been great about answering my questions in the election in 2010 and since then. I asked him a political question a few months ago and he referred me to the campaign for an answer. He explained that he is now a pointy headed bureaucrat that couldn't comment on the reelection effort.

So I was shocked when I read this

DANVILLE - The absence of Congressman Lou Barletta at a campaign event Tuesday night rankled his election opponent, Gene Stilp, and lead to unanticipated debate over the event's format.
The candidates for the 11th Congressional District were expected to debate each other at the American Legion during a Candidates Night hosted by the Danville Area League of Voters.
Instead, it was Stilp and a congressional aide trading barbs.

Stilp attacked Barletta for skipping the event, while Shawn Kelly, Barletta's communications director, said the congressman was simply keeping a prior commitment....
Kelly took a long pause and followed with an explanation that, as a employee of his congressional office and not his campaign, he did not know what event Barletta was attending Tuesday.
He did, however, say that "He committed to an event over two months ago and he's keeping that commitment.


KP is all over it:

 There’s just one problem: staffer, Shawn Kelly, doesn’t work for Congressman Barletta’s campaign, but is actually his Legislative Communications Director, who draws a taxpayer salary.

 If Kelly in any way charged the taxpayers by using resources issued to him by the United States Congress, that is really bad news for Barletta–especially considering the fact that Gene Stilp is responsible for bringing down this type of behavior in Harrisburg.

KP points to this part of Ethics Committee rules:

 It is permissible for House employees to do campaign work, but only outside of congressional space, without the use of any House resources, and on their own time (as opposed to “official” time for which they are compensated by the House).  Accordingly, any House employee who does campaign work must ensure that the work – including any telephone conversations or other communications concerning campaign business – is performed strictly in compliance with these limitations.

Edit: Executive branch personnel are subject to restrictions on partisan political activity by the Hatch Act (5 U.S.C. § 7321 et seq.), but those restrictions do not apply to congressional employees

Thanks Yuri and McG

  It’s still completely unethical.  He doesn’t know where Barletta is, because he’s not part of the campaign, but he’s debating at a campaign event. Total BS.

Update: You know I try to be Fair and Balanced. Barletta's campaign manager Lance Stange responds 

Gort,

 

Thank you for correcting some of Mr. Stilp’s bogus claims.  Since they were corrected, I won’t go into them but I would like to ask that you correct another:

 

The event in question was not a debate.  We have agreed to the same number of debates as President Obama and Governor Romney.  This has been widely reported throughout the district.  One was at Wilkes University under the sponsorship of the Times Leader; another was in Dauphin County under the sponsorship of WHP580 News Radio which covers Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry counties; the third will be on WVIA  in a week to cover the six northern counties – Carbon, Columbia, Luzerne, Montour, Northumberland, and Wyoming Counties.

 

If Mr. Stilp received the same letter we did inviting us to participate, he is also aware that it was not a debate.  The League doesn’t even describe it as a debate and, as a matter of fact, they clearly identified the event as the “Danville Area League of Voters Candidates Night” in the invitation letter.

 

About two months ago, Congressman Barletta agreed to participate in the Dauphin/Cumberland Fall Dinner.  Invitations that were sent out and the event was publicized shortly after that.  Less than two weeks ago, the campaign received a formal invitation to participate in the Danville Area League of Voters Candidates Night.  At that time, we indicated that we had a scheduling conflict.  The League understood but didn’t want to reschedule the event.  Instead, the League suggested that we send a surrogate so that’s what we did.

 

Mr. Stilp’s attack on the League suggesting they changed the rules at the last minute is also untrue.  The League determined the rules and notified us of them, in writing, on October 15.

 

Instead of making false charges and impugning the character of the League, Mr. Stilp should be explaining his plan for “the long run” to “get this country out of its fiscal dilemma” – something he said he would do over six months ago.

PA 11th CD happenings

Congressman Lou Barletta's disater relief bill was passed by the House of Representatives with a poison pill built into it. We will see if the Senate takes it up next week. The funding offset is “the  lower rate and the refunds will be paid for by eliminating federal funding for political party conventions” Good luck with that.

His opponent Gene Stilp is a master of free media.

 The pig bus covers up 47% of the Romney bus.

This headline from KP is great:

Gene Stilp’s Bus Challenges Mitt Romney’s Bus to a Fight

From Stilp: Where's Mitt Romney? I had some serious questions for him, but he apparently wasn't on his own bus trip.
But then again, where is Lou Barletta? I have a few questions for him also.
I'll debate whichever one of them is willing to step up and defend their lock step positions on Medicare, Social Security, Jobs, etc. Anywhere. Anytime.

Barletta has a duty to constituents to debate Stilp Kevin Blaum In the Arena

Lou poses with the VP Nominee

 Maybe Barletta should bring Paul Ryan to the district to help him get reelected. Ryan is real popular with people that have Medicare.

 

 Update: 

Barletta Spox Shawn Kelly takes issue with my "poison pill" comment.

I noticed in your posting about Rep. Barletta’s Disaster Loan Fairness Act of 2012 that you referred to the eliminating of political party convention funding as a “poison pill built into it” that will doom the bill in the Senate.

I respectfully disagree. You might not be aware that the Senate recently voted for a measure that does just that.

On June 21, 2012, the Senate voted 95-4 for an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn. This amendment, S.AMDT.2214, is “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit the use of public funds for political party conventions, and to provide for the return of previously distributed funds for deficit reduction.” You can learn about that amendment here: http://thomas.loc.gov/. Search for S.AMDT.2214.

If the Senate was willing to add that amendment to another bill by such a overwhelming margin, it stands to reason that they would support a bill that includes that language to begin with. Therefore, to call the inclusion of such a provision a “poison pill” is incorrect because the Senate has already shown a willingness to pass a similar measure.

Shawn

 

 

 

Redistricting of PA Congressional seats

This is the latest look of what NEPA Congressional Districts might look like according to a story by Borys in the Scranton Times today. It looks a lot different than the one that was floated in the spring and will probably be adjusted again before the final Gerrymandering is done by the Harrisburg Republicans.

This configuration has some pluses and many minuses. I like that all of Luzerne County would be in the same district and Scranton would have a different Congressman than Wilkes-Barre.

The first problem is Scranton would be in the wrong district. Until the last chop up Scranton was the anchor of the 10th CD and was ably represented for many years by Republican Joe McDade who today would be considered a RINO but in the old parlance was called a Rockefeller Republican . In today's atmosphere a guy like McDade would face a primary challenge.

This map makes the 17th CD look like a snake slithering through 5 counties with Scranton being the rattle at the end. It takes most of Carbon and Monroe counties out of the 11th but keeps most of the 10th CD counties intact except for Lackawanna.

The thing that really is annoying is that many districts don't make sense geographically. The proposed 17th CD doesn't have an entire county in it's boundaries which will create confusion. The redistricing process should be removed from the legislature and given to a committee of some grand poobahs then voted on by our salons. A hand full of states have commissions that draw the lines but I won't hold my breath waiting for Pennsylvania to adopt a fair system.

See Redistricting in America

Shawn Kelly, a spokesman for Mr. Barletta, said the congressman "is not focused on redistricting."

Renita Fennick, a spokeswoman for Mr. Marino, said he had no comment on the map.

11th CD Democratic challenger Bill Vinsko told me:

"I am committed to serving the people of Northeast and Central Pennsylvania regardless of
the exact location of the 11th Congressional District boundaries. It's time to get things done for the
people. What I said when I announced remains true: I'm not running only as a Democrat or Republican, I am running as an American. Political map makers cannot control the people no matter how hard they try. You either get the job done or you don't. I'm going to get the job done."

Bill Vinsko has finally added some content to his website. Check it out

Bill Vinsko for Congress