This is going to be fun

Jane pointed out this Politico story where our never shy Congressman rips into his opponent:
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“What David Duke was to civil rights, my opponent has done that with immigration. He’s used that issue the same way Duke used the civil rights issue.” -Congressman Paul Kanjorski.

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After a couple of weeks of the DCCC beating up Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta over a questionable campaign/personal loan the The Lu Lac Political Letter , with a little help from his friends, brought us the David Duke "endorsement" of America's Mayor.

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Now Barletta wants an apology for the remarks by Kanjo:

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"This week, I called for Paul Kanjorski to denounce the vicious and defamatory acts being waged at me by Democrats in Washington,” Barletta is quoted. “That was until I found out today that the congressman himself was making such outrageous and hateful claims. I call on him to recant his statement and it is my hope that he will apologize for his remarks.”

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Lou, don't hold your breath waiting for that apology because David Duke is just the beginning. The Stormfront crowd are also big fans and I'm sure you will try to distance yourself from them. Good luck with that.

Update: Kanjo apologizes in a letter to Barletta

“Over the next eight months, we will be talking to the press and to the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania about issues that we passionately care about. Inevitably, there will be occasions in which we misspeak or our words are misconstrued.

“One such occasion occurred this week when I spoke to a reporter for the Politico. I did not say you were a racist and did not mean to imply it.”

The Barefoot and Pregnant crowd backs Barletta

WASHINGTON, D.C.— A national conservative pro-family organization has endorsed Republican Congressional candidate Lou Barletta. Eagle Forum PAC supports the outspoken Hazleton mayor in his 11th Congressional District race against incumbent Democrat Paul Kanjorski....The Eagle Forum was organized in 1970s and was formerly known as Stop ERA, a group opposed to the equal rights amendment.

Phyllis Schlafly's single issue interest group has expanded into other areas over the years and Eagle Forum now sounds off on many things. On domestic issues the group is opposed to sex education (unless its “abstinence only”), reproductive rights, AIDS education, sexual harassment legislation, federal support for daycare and family leave.

What is "pro-family" about any of that?

Maybe the thinking is if they tell kids not to have sex and not offer information about contraception that will lead to more families when the abstinence advice is ignored. It's always heartwarming to go to a shotgun wedding of two teenagers. And why do you need daycare when we all know that women should stay home to care for the children? I'm sure a 16 year old dropout could find a good paying job to support a family in today's economy.

Eagle Forum (EF) also wants to ostracize the gay members of our families and ban books from libraries that they deem offensive.

The group is also part of the black helicopter crowd opposing the North American Union, the NAFTA Super Highway and a single currency of the US, Canada and Mexico dubbed the "Amero."

But the reason they endorsed America's Mayor is (surprise)his stand on immigration.

Phyllis Schlafly: "Lou's championing of the illegal immigration issue has been truly inspiring. His fight to protect his community from the crime and overcrowding caused by illegal aliens highlights the need for stronger enforcement of our immigration laws."

The EF joins another Barletta fan, David Duke , with a timely endorsement.

Note: Republican 10th CD candidate Chris Hackett was endorsed by the PA chapter of the Eagle Forum in the primary.

White supremacist wins write-in for Luzerne County GOP Committee

This is making national news but it's not what it appears to be.

Think Progress:  Republicans in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania have elected Steve Smith, a lifelong white supremacist with close ties to neo-Nazi groups and groups like Aryan Nations, to the county’s GOP Committee.

HATEWATCH has more on his background:
Recruited into the neo-Nazi movement while he was stationed at Fort Bragg in the 1990s, Smith, of Pittston, Penn., has been active in an extraordinary array of white nationalist, skinhead, and neo-Nazi groups, including American Third Position, Keystone United (formerly Keystone State Skinheads), and the Council of Conservative Citizens. He is a former Aryan Nations member and former leader of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of White People, which was created by former Klan leader David Duke but is no longer associated with him. Smith also belongs to a Pennsylvania-based group called the European American Action Coalition (EAAC), which according to its website was formed in fall 2011 “by a few well known White activists in the great and historic state of Pennsylvania.”


He has had letters to the editor published in the local newspapers and was convicted in 2003 of ' beating up Antoni Williams, a black man, using stones and chunks of pavement. Smith pleaded guilty to terrorist threats and ethnic intimidation and received a 60-day sentence and probation.'

Now for what TP and SPLC didn't cover in this story.

Steve Smith didn't appear on the primary ballot and there were only 3 write-in votes for Republican committeeman in Ward 4 of Pittston according to the election results posted on the Luzerne County website. 2 slots are allotted to that ward and another person won the other one. As far as I can tell he wrote himself in and won the election because of apathy. I talked to a few of my Republican friends tonight and they are appalled that this has happened denying any knowledge of this person. They wouldn't go on the record telling me any official statement should come from County Chairman Terry Casey.

PA-11th news

Eventual Republican nominee Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta is still getting hit with questions about the finances of his last run for Congress in 2002. Has he been paying on the loan or not? All he has to do is show some cancelled checks or a bank statement instead of unleashing his attack dogs on people who question the legality of the loan.


Mayor Lou had another headache when Klansman David Duke said:

"With the presidential “choices” pared down to Hillary, Obama and “Insane” John McCain, European Americans face an unmitigated disaster. Getting tough patriots like Lou Barletta elected is absolutely key to staving off four years of sustained attack on our interests.”

He said he wasn't aware of the "endorsement" and I believe him. He has become the focus of forces that he he can't control so expect more haters to offer help to Barletta which he will continue to disavow. It's hard to run a campaign when you have to keep pushing away your natural supporters.

There are Democrats in Berwick

I was recently contacted by David Slavick, the Democratic Candidate for State Representative in the 109th Legislative District (Columbia County). The district borders Luzerne County. He is running against freshman Republican David Millard.

My name is David Slavick, I am the Democratic Candidate for State Representative in PA's 109Th District. ). I am a 27 year-old alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and of Ursinus College where I majored in Politics. Despite studying politics and international relations in college, I did not become personally motivated to get involved in the political system until my motivation literally ran into me one summer.

During the summer leading into my junior year, I was working at a factory that manufactured truck trailers near my hometown of Berwick, PA. Each day I awoke at 4 A.M so I could get to work at the plant that was about an hour away by 5:30 A.M. The days were long and exhausting, but it was "lucrative" summer work for our area, as it paid an unheard of $9.00 an hour and you had most Fridays off.

That summer I earned a few dollars for my textbook fund, made some friends, and even learned how to use an arc welder. Working at the plant also taught me some valuable lessons about the relationship between labor and management in the real world. In the lunchroom, fliers littered the tables where we took our breaks. They stated that workers should be happy and grateful to have their jobs and that under recently passed NAFTA the company could start building trailers in Mexico within a week's time. We all knew what that meant.

One Thursday morning, I went into the lunchroom and heard that our orders were to make 15 trailers that day. At the time, we probably averaged around 11. It was also clear to us that we were "encouraged" to finish the job that day so we would not have to be paid overtime. Despite the warnings of the shop stewards, management had ordered the line to be set at breakneck speed. Trying to keep up, we had to bend safety precautions. Finally, on the last trailer of the day, I stepped into the lunchroom for a cup of vending machine coffee. Upon returning to work, I realized that the line that was moving furiously just minutes ago had completely stopped. That is when my co-worker ran into me, causing me to spill my coffee. As that happened, I noticed everyone in the plant was staring directly at me. I looked down to realize I was standing in a trail of blood that stretched nearly thirty feet across the floor. My co-worker was holding his hand, which had been severed from a piece of sheet metal. That was the only day I left work early.

The next week we heard some news about our co-worker who was injured. Most of it regarded how company officials had tricked him into signing away his right to sue, and had found a way to cheat him out of his worker's compensation insurance. It was at that moment I decided to go to law school to study labor law and help aid the voices of the working person justifiably. During law school, I learned that most jobs as a "labor" attorney were available defending companies from the type of claims I had hoped to defend; so I switched my focus to international development. This interest lead to a number of amazing opportunities to work and travel abroad.

Surprisingly, it was my work abroad, which led me to get my feet wet in Pennsylvania politics. While helping draft trade legislation at the USAID/WTO Accession for Serbia and Montenegro, I had the opportunity to work with talented and dynamic people who were in their twenties like me. Unlike in the United States, Serbian circumstances of regime change and of attenuated war had created a perfect storm where the "next generation" was leading today. The energy and enthusiasm of the twenty-something's leading the charge for reform in the public sector was something I fully embraced and I carry with me today.

The experience of working in an environment where young talented people could take leadership roles, and help achieve noticeable progress in the public sector, was indescribable. The only domestic experience that I think could be comparable is that of the culture of the technology industry during the dot-com boom of the late nineties. The realization that we in the United States were squandering the untapped resource of young leaders pushed me to return home to my hometown in rural Pennsylvania. I wanted to do my part in helping foster the type of political environment I experienced in Belgrade.

However, upon returning to Berwick I had not discovered my niche politically. I realized that many doors were closed to young leaders, and began to use the Internet as a means to help promote several causes that were of personal importance to me. This past year, I began blogging to rally support behind keeping an excellent neighborhood school that served a large number of economically disadvantaged students. The closing of the Mulberry Street Elementary School in Berwick was exactly what was not supposed to happen under President Bush's "No Child Left Behind." It had defied the predictions of numerous people, by being one of the first schools in Pennsylvania to achieve its "No Child Left Behind" goals in reading and math. Despite the miraculous success of the school, the school board made the decision to close it, something I felt could have been avoided had the school district not dug itself into millions of dollars in debt just a few years before by financing a gymnasium that rivals that of the Duke Blue Devils.

Many of us had hoped that our local state representative would help fix the situation with a legislative grant, or some other state money. Yet no help came, despite the fact that this school was a shining example of the good things he hoped would be achieved through rigorous standardized testing. This led me to investigate Pennsylvania's state government to see where its priorities were at, and I read nearly every bill that I could get my hands on.
I was perplexed in understanding how Pennsylvania had no limit on contributions to candidates for the General Assembly and that lobbyists had free reign to shower politicians with gifts. Last year alone Pa. lobbying costs averaged $1.4 million per state senator. I realized that the government in Harrisburg had become a far cry from William Penn's idea of a "Common Weal."
I decided I needed to take a more active role in our state government. I investigated the campaign contributions of my own State Representative, David Millard. Elected in a special election in 2004, and then reelected in the 2004 General, he had come from relative obscurity to become one of the most heavily financed PA House candidates of that year. With no political experience or legal background, he had received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from the RNC and House Republican Campaign Committee. He also had received thousands from clandestine political action committees that would make Jack Abramoff blush.
Despite rarely speaking publicly and receiving little financial support from voters in our district he became the newly anointed darling of donors from the coal, oil, insurance, gambling and tobacco industries. The differences between Mr. Millard and I could not be more different. I recently signed the 25x'25 pledge to pursue policies to ensure 25% of PA's energy supply comes from domestic renewable sources. I've sworn to take on insurance companies who do not come through on their promises, and I believe that regardless of whether you are a smoker or non-smoker that tobacco money has absolutely no place in our political system.
I learned that many of the politicians in Harrisburg were more deeply entrenched and corrupted by the political influence of corporate money than even the government in Washington. As a candidate, I have worked to expose the anti-democratic affect corporate money has had on PA state politics. The "Culture of Corruption" theme is not unique to my campaign. Democratic challengers around the State and around the country are working hard to expose the pernicious influence corporate money has had on our democracy. Many reform minded challengers succumb to the lure of corporate PAC's after realizing the nearly insurmountable burden that challengers must overcome in order to win. The Institute on Money in State Politics (http://tinyurl.com/pxkw6) determined that most state house challengers have a less than one-in-ten chance of beating a well-funded incumbent:
"In 2002, 92 percent of the winners enjoyed either a money or incumbency advantage, or both. In the 2004 cycle, that increased to 94 percent." (http://tinyurl.com/r6m2q)

In Pennsylvania, this trend is particularly disturbing because weak campaign finance laws allow corporations to funnel an unlimited amount of money to incumbent candidates through political action committees. This forces reform-minded candidates like myself to rely on state party committees to provide the bulk of their financing. In Pennsylvania, the HDCC is the committee that serves the primary funding role for Democratic challengers and incumbents. The HDCC also provides other services that are useful and generally do a good job assisting candidates.

However, candidates hailing from rural districts, like myself, are at a distinct disadvantage under the HDCC funding scheme. This is because the HDCC requires that a candidate individually raises a threshold amount of $25,000 before they will contribute to the candidate's campaign.
$25,000 is a very attainable fundraising goal in many urban and suburban races, given the higher median income of these areas and the fact that these districts tend to have more Democratic donors per capita. However, reaching the $25,000 minimum can be nearly impossible in rural races given that rural district's usually have a lower median income and a higher percentage of Republican donors than their suburban and urban counterparts.

This funding system has left a gaping red hole in the middle of the blue state that, true to its name, will serve as a "keystone"( http://tinyurl.com/s9l7z) to a Democratic victory in the 2008 presidential race. Progressive rural Democratic challengers are the unsung foot soldiers that are now fighting the first battles to fill the White House with a Democratic candidate that has more in common with FDR than Joe Lieberman.

Despite the vital role rural progressives will play in the future of the Democratic party, the state system of funding is leaving dynamic and forward thinking candidates from rural areas out in the cold. My race is an excellent example of how a progressive candidate who is helping a rural red district "break blue" can be left out if they do not have adequate funding. The median per capita money income is less than $20,000, and nearly 75% of our districts political donors give to Republicans. Additionally, recent flooding(http://tinyurl.com/s52pn) has decimated many of the areas where most of our county's Democratic donors reside. This makes raising the $25,000 needed to receive PA HDCC funds extremely difficult.

Despite the difficulty of raising campaign funds under these conditions, we are employing all means possible to raise the money needed to defeat the corporate funded Republican Incumbent David Millard (http://tinyurl.com/qs8g5). We have several fundraisers scheduled that will raise approximately $1000 each. Additionally, we have an overwhelming response to our requests for supporters to host neighborhood house parties as a means of raising money and awareness for my campaign.

Despite the fact that our campaign fund is dwarfed by the $134,685 raised by incumbent Millard in 2004, we have actually raised more money from local donors than he has in his entire career. This fact is a great indicator of our chances in this race, given that many people in Columbia County have undergone great hardship this year and do not have much disposable income, giving greater symbolic weight to their contributions.

With less than 80 days, our hard in this campaign work is paying off. The grassroots has invigorated our local party and we are ready for the fight in 2008. We are bringing our message of hope, vision, and progress to all parts of the county, despite the recent national emergency level flooding. We have active volunteers in every precinct in Columbia County. Our county party has made great strides in recent months, nearly doubling the ranks of Democratic committee people, and each of the new committee members embrace a progressive vision for America. Our vision for a better Pennsylvania is spreading like a prairie fire. Independents and Republicans are changing their registrations and becoming Democrats. In the next few weeks, we will likely turn Columbia County blue once again by overcoming the 300-voter registration advantage currently held by Republicans.

Our work towards restoring a Democratic majority to Columbia County is most pronounced in my hometown, the once Democratic stronghold of Berwick. Berwick has produced nearly every Democratic legislator in our district in the past twenty years. Despite its prolific Democratic legacy, Berwick was home to some of the lowest performing democratic voting precincts in the State. Until recently, Berwick had only one or two active committee people. Since we began my campaign, we have recruited seven new committee people, and now represent the largest caucus of our county committee.

We are fostering online advocacy and connectedness by building the infrastructure needed to promote a vibrant local Netroots. We are using technology to bring together our supporters and to create an online buzz in a way that was unprecedented in our rural county just a few months ago. We are using DFA-Link (http://tinyurl.com/msn28) to set up events and trainings, utilizing MySpace (http://tinyurl.com/p5cho) to attract younger voters to our campaign, and using a blog (http://tinyurl.com/ork75) to publicize the issues ignored by the local conservative media.

We are laying the groundwork for Democratic victory in '08, but we need the help of national progressive "Netroots" to show the people of Central Pennsylvania that candidates that are not beholden to corporate interests can win. Help us build upon the progressive victory achieved by the Netroots in the Lamont race by contributing to our campaign. We can prove to the pundits that we have the strength to help ensure victory for progressive candidates whenever and wherever we want.

Blogger/Candidate Meetup September 17th postgame

The picture above is from Another Monkey who raised the question on what to call this semi-annual event. I probably created some confusion by posting it as a Blogger/Candidate Meetup on the blog but created a Facebook event page titled Happy Hour-Fall Edition then sent out a promo email refering to it as the Mega-Meetup. Joe Valenti tagged it Blogfest which appeared on the sign outside Rooney's. Beer Summit was suggested by the Blogfather who was MIA and many people were asking about him.

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We had another great turnout and expect the spring event to be the best one yet when all the local offices are on the primary ballot. National and state elections are not as nearly intense as the local ones and primaries have all the activists more fired up than the general election.

Gene Rooney and his staff did an outstanding job like they always do taking care of our need for beverages and really good food.

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Me and Mrs. G got there early and the first one in the door was 117th State Rep Candidate Richard Shermanski and Bob Caruso. This was real treat for me because I haven't seen Bob since we both worked for different candidates in the 1976 Presidential primary then organized a Young Democrats chapter in Luzerne County with a lot of help from State Senator Marty Murray. We shared some great memories like the time Jimmy Carter came to town and we lost Kevin Blaum in Mountaintop and the future Mayor of Boston, Tommy Menino, didn't know what a CMP was.

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Luzerne County Commissioner and PA Senate 14th District hopeful Steve Urban worked the crowd all night as did the Libertarian candidate Betsy Summers. Lackawanna PA 20th Senate District Republican nominee Frank Scavo was there with his lovely wife and he didn't get into a shouting match with Bart Simpson. Another Lackawanna county candidate was Republican Theresa Kane who is running against longtime State Rep Ed Staback in the 115th. She was accompanied by Scranton Tea Party activist Lauree Cummings.

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My 3rd favorite Congressman Paul Kanjorski showed up with a posse that included Joe Terrana, his COS Karen Feather and Nicole Giambusso and stayed well into the night. For some reason they all wanted to know how I learned to speak Polish. Lou Barletta didn't make it but his press guy Shawn Kelly made the rounds. Él estaba muy emocionado cuando le dije que si el alcalde Lou gane las elecciones voy a empezar a referirse a él como el congresista Nelligan.

118th Republican candidate Terrance O'Conner walked in the door dressed up in his 18th century garb but I didn't get a picture before he changed. He said he lost his bullhorn

I asked State Senator Lisa Baker what she thought her margin of victory would be and we recounted the 2006 race when Dave Madeira and Russ Bigus got in to that argument over who had killed the most animals. She confided that she ran into a deer around that time that totaled her car and was going to put out a satirical press release saying she was the only candidate that got a deer that year but demurred.

Hoping to win the 119th Rick Arnold (R) and Gerald Mullery (D) mixed it up with the crowd. 121st Republican candidate James O'Meara is a great guy and I just recently learned that he married a girl that I had a crush on in high school. Small world.

From the courthouse Solicitor Vito DeLuca made it as did Controller Walter "the hump" Griffith. I think Mary Jo was blushing when the wags were busting on him.

All 3 120th State Rep candidates attended like they always do for my events, thank you. In this cycle I have had the most contact with them and I'm sort of like the Will Rogers of the local blogosphere since I have got to know and like all of them. Whoever wins the district will be well represented. West Pittston Mayor Bill Goldsworthy (R) tells me he is good shape and is keeping an eye for yard signs for Tim Mullen in Democratic areas. My 1st or 4th favorite State Represenative Phyllis Mundy (D) has an energetic young staff including Omeed Firouzi who is running the show and is still in high school! Omeed, when I was your age I could only dream of such things. After I got some experience I was instrumental in sinking more than one candidate's aspirations when they were dumb enough to make me the campaign manager or field director. The difference is you have a great candidate and I never did. Libertarian Tim Mullen continues to impress me. The number of signatures on his petitions and actualy being able to open an office is impressive for a 3rd party candidate. He brought some his supporters including the head honcho of the local Libertarians, Lou Jassikoff, who sends out a great email everyday.

Speaking of third parties the Greens didn't show up but Renee was flying the banner of the Pirate Party, arrgh.

Radio personality Dr. David Madeira brought his "oldest daughter" and other radio guys in attendance were Duke from Dallas and Bible Buck. The mad drummer and special Gort42 correspondent Austin Smith jones Ford deSoto was in the crowd and talked policy with Harry Haas. My pals David Baloga and Zen always light up a room. I finally got to meet Luzerne County elections honcho Lenny Piazza and thanked him for all the help he has given me over the years.

A couple of our local bloggers that concentrate on national issues should write up this event. But as I told Kanjo the beauty of blogging is that you don't have an editor or a deadline although Mrs. G and Renita are pretty good editors and I welcome all the help I can get.

Big Dan's site moves so fast I can't keep up. He looks taller on the internet. It was great to meet Mrs BD who does great work with the Fresh Air Fund . Chris NovoRockey used to post about local stuff but has gone full tilt to the dark side on national issues. Just remember that Colbert married his hand.

People kept asking me before and during the gathering what are the rules for the event.

There are 3 rules.

1. No Speeches

2. You must wear clothes even it is warm.

3. Agree to disagree but don't be a disagreeable.

One of my favorite moments from this night is when Chris Hackett and Dan Mueser shook hands and spent a few minutes chatting. I'm sure you remember that they had a knock down drag out primary in 2008. Dan gave me some credit for driving that race and he said he wanted to get together during it but his press guy kept jerking me around.

Vito said it best:

"You should do this more often! It was probably the most stress-free 'political' event I have ever been to. It was so refreshing to meet people from all parties and discuss issues at such a casual affair. In addition to typical politics, I had the opportunity to engage in conversations about gas drilling, home rule, college football, and how my three boys believe it is their Constitutional right to maintain a messy bedroom. Great job Gort!

Maybe we should call this event The Rodney King Get Together.

The bloggers report

Another Monkey

NCFE

NEPartisan

LuLac

Pittston Politics

Loreley's Musings

More photos at this link.