Republicans have been remarkably vague on what they would actually cut.
In interview after interview, journalists have pushed, and even begged, GOP leaders for specifics, always to no avail. When pressed, they hem and haw, often appearing uncomfortable — and in the case of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), visibly angry — but can offer nothing more than cop-out answers like repealing unsent stimulus money or an “across the board” cut on all spending. ThinkProgress has compiled some of the more embarrassing of these moments:
The video features, respectively, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ), California GOP Senate nominee Carly Fiorina, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Rep. John Boozman (R-AR), Gregg, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-AZ). This represents a large portion of the GOP leadership, but there are countless other examples as well.
RNC Chairman Michael Steele cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the new Luzerne County Republican HQ in the Midtown Plaza in Wilkes-Barre yesterday.
Coulter Jones in the Citizen Voice had this observation:
Media and the public were not allowed to attend the event, which was held before a three-hour "open house" for the public...Steele, who took over as chairman in January, attended a luncheon prior to his speech with several people who have made large donations to the Republican National Committee.
The office is capable of handling a 24-line phone bank, providing campaign space for local, county, state and federal candidates to speak to the public and distributing countless fliers. The headquarters also includes office space for Luzerne County Republican Party Executive Director RenitaFennick and Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Director Jon Hopcraft of the state Republican Party. Registered Republicans can became Club GOP members if they donate $50 or more annually to help keep the offices open.
The Luzerne County Republican Party sent me a press release which I would publish but it was a PDF instead of a Word Document and it would take me about 16 steps to put it on the blog.
They also had Karl Rove speak to the faithful a few months ago.
WILKES-BARRE -- Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele gave a pep talk to party faithful at Wednesday’s grand opening of the Luzerne County Republican Party headquarters on South Main Street. Steele cut a red, white and blue ribbon and spoke to members of Club GOP, a newly formed grassroots organization designed to support the county GOP. “This place is more than just four walls, fluorescent lights and a flag,” Steele said. “It’s where the Republican Party of Luzerne County will grow.”The local GOP’s permanent headquarters will house the offices of Executive Director Renita Fennick, and Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Director Jon Hopcraft of the state GOP. It will provide a meeting and campaign area for local, county, state and federal candidates and will feature a 24-line phone bank to assist with campaign efforts. Steele urged party workers to come out and support the party and the candidates in the Nov. 3 election and said the timing was good for the GOP. “Don’t believe it when they say the Republican Party is the party of no,” Steele said. “Our record is good. The opportunity is right.” Steele, who was elected chairman of the national GOP in January, mingled with members of the ClubGOP during a private reception.
The Luzerne County Republican Party make its endorsements based on the results of a county-wide poll of all committee people. Chairman Terry Casey said.“We want to conduct this endorsement process in an honest, open, fair and transparent way, just as we promise to govern in Luzerne County. Ours is a simple message: we want to restore honesty and integrity to the county courthouse and we’re starting by conducting an honest and open primary in our own party.”
I'm going to make some predictions. First the easy ones. There are only 2 Republicans running for the Court of Common Pleas, Dick Hughes and Michael Pendolphi, so that is a no brainer and Gina Nevenglosky is the only candidate for Register of Wills in the primary.
Carolee Medico Olenginski and Walter Mitchell are in the running for Prothonotary and I think that former Prothonotary Carolee will get the nod.
The hottest race shaping up seems to be for Controller. To get the nod a candidate has had to be a registered Republican since Feb. 16, 2008 so that rules out Edd Brominski. The contenders are Alice Coffman, Walter Griffith, NandaPalissery and Bob Sypniewski. My reading of the tea leaves tells me that NandaPalissery will be the anointed one.
As predicted Hughes and Pendolphi were backed for a seat on Court of the Common Pleas and Nevenglosky was backed in her uphill battle to be the next Register of Wills.
Former Prothonotary Carolee Medico-O got the nod over President for Life of the breakaway Republic of Bear Creek Village Walter Michell with a vote of 75 to 55. I still think that Carolee will sail through the primary and be returned to the Prothonotary's office in the fall.
The battle for the endorsement for County Controller was closer than I expected with NandaPalissery edging out Walter Griffith 51-39.
I was stuck by how many Do Not Endorse votes were cast in each race.
Overall only 132 of the 272 Republican Committee people returned a ballot and they still don't have a full compliment in the county. Maybe I should run for Republican Committeeman in my little burgh because we don't have one.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta was the headliner at Thursday night's Lincoln Day/Meet the Candidates Event at the GOP HQ in Wilkes-Barre and they loved him. Most Republican outfits around the country do a Lincoln Day event on his birthday in February but we have always been behind the times. America's Mayor got a standing O when he was introduced and after he got done telling our local elephants that the term conservative has become a pejorative much like the term liberal has been trashed by the likes of Rush and his ilk. I don't buy it but Republicans need to maintain their perceivedvictimhood at the hands of the MSM.
You can read his whole speech on the google doc I created.
Barletta said the party doesn't have to adapt to the times but just has to get back to it's conservative roots.
"Some Republicans believe the key to our future lies by moderating. With all due respect, those who believe that could not be more wrong. Throughout history, the Republican Party achieved greatness when we embraced conservatism and presented a clear, unified vision to the American people.”
And of course he invoked Saint Ronny.
Ronald Reagan won two presidential elections in convincing fashion. He offered something new, something fresh. The man who spoke about America as a “city upon a hill” also challenged his party. He suggested compromise on issues, but not on basic principles. He spoke from his heart. And he led from the front.
He threw out some red meat for the faithful by mentioning Moveon.org and bogeymen Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi's plan to turn the USA into a one party state.
Make no mistake about it, There are factions of the Democratic Party that want to destroy the Republican Party. Others, including groups like MoveOn.org spend hundreds of millions of dollars to create slick ad campaigns to bash conservative thought and promote liberal thinking. For now, though, Democrats are content to make our party politically ineffective. They're happy to create a one-party system where Democrats set the direction - draft the legislation – stifle opposing points of view- and pass the laws they want. And they're well on their way to doing just that.
On the recent stimulus bill he trashed the way it was passed and I agree with him on that. I get nervous whenever the government does something in a hurry. See the Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act and we had to invade Iraq before they lobbed nerve gas into New Jersey not that anyone would notice and it might improve the smell.
It's frightening to think that our elected leaders voted to spend almost 1 trillion dollars without knowing exactly what they voted for.
He also lobbed out some more inaccurate red meat GOP talking points that has been debunked.
The stimulus allows for so-called discretionary spending, which will fund pet projects like Nancy Pelosi's 30 million dollar mouse habitat, Harry Reid's multi-billion-dollar high speed rail line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and 2 billion dollars for a new power plant for Dick Durbin.
Democrats will say those projects are not funded in the stimulus package, but the language is so narrowly drafted that there are no other projects that meet the funding criteria. There's 4 billion dollars for community groups like ACORN, and 400 million dollars for global warming research.
And he worked in the immigration issue.
And… there's no provision in the stimulus bill that will withhold federal funding for municipalities that have declared themselves sanctuary cities for Illegal Aliens. These places are not only ignoring federal law, they're opposing it, and they should not receive one penny of federal funding until those laws are removed from the books.
It's great that he raised objections to the way the stimulus package was passed but that is not going to prevent him from getting a piece of the pie for Hazleton.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta started making calls and setting up meetings to make sure some of the estimated $6 billion in economic stimulus funding earmarked for Pennsylvania ends up in the Mountain City...“I wasn’t going to wait to be asked,” Barletta said. “I contacted (U.S.) Senator (Arlen) Specter and (state) Representative (Todd) Eachus about the city’s wish list.”
That was the message of Luzerne County GOP Vice-Chair Paul DeFabo before a big crowd at the Wilkes-Barre HQ last night. He said that because of all the scandals engulfing the county Democrats "if we can't win this time, we never will." It's hard to argue with that but after getting wiped out in the county elections in 2007 they still have a big hill to climb.
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DeFabo outlined the process the party will use to endorse a slate in the primary. A straw poll of the local committee people will be taken then the executive committee will give their blessing to the lucky few. I suspect that they have already made up their minds. I still think that is a mistake and smacks of the heavy handed way the county Democrats have done things for years. It's been a long time since the Republican nomination has been worth something and trying to stack the deck might backfire. Notable by their absence were some members of the executive committee.
Zen, Norton and McGruff were in the audience and will hopefully chime in later. The local media focused on America's Mayor Lou Barletta speech. Bill O'Boyle of the Times-Leader has a recap here.
Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta will be in town tonight to fire up the troops at the dog and pony show for the Republican Row Office candidates event at 7 p.m. today at Luzerne County Republican Headquarters, 25 Public Square in Wilkes-Barre.
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We should be hearing from candidates for the hot races for Controller and Prothonotary and maybe the other ones like that critical office of Jury Commissioner. I'll bet that a few cross dressing, er filed, judicial candidates will make an appearance.
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I'll be there and rumor has that just about the the whole Northeast Blogging Council will be in attendance. In the spirit of bipartisanship I have suggested that we should adjourn to Skrep's bar, Big Ugly's, afterward. Maybe a room temperature Tab can be had there.
Republican Walter Michell has announced that he running for Prothonotary and reelection as Mayor of the breakaway Republic of Bear Creek Village at the same time. It's always good to hedge your bets. He is backed by Republican 2008 10th CD candidate and former President of Pride Mobility Dan Meuser.
He wants to improve the prothonotary’s office, especially by making records available online. “Think how much this would reduce daily traffic in and out of the office, save users thousands of dollars in copy fees and time, and allow county employees to focus on catching up on scanning, filing and other vital tasks.” ...He said an advisory committee would also be appointed, made up of those professionals who use the office’s services most – attorneys, title searchers, paralegals and court workers – to offer advice and feedback on how things could be run better.
Former Luzerne County Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski is looking to return to the office. She claims that Juvie brother Judge Michael Conahan had it in for her when she ran for reelection in 2001 and decided to run now that he is out of the picture. That didn't stop her from running in 2005. She was favorite of Fred Williams on WILK and had some disputes with the commissioners over redecorating her office and buying some filing cabinets. I remember that when she showed up for work after she was elected that the courthouse powers that be assigned her parking spot that was giant a pothole.
The only Democrat to announce so far is Attorney Gerald J. Mullery. In a news release, Mullery said his pledge to Luzerne County voters is straightforward and simple: “I will return the values of honesty, ethics and impartiality to the office of Prothonotary and I will ensure the use of technology to provide greater public access to civil records.”
Some of the other interested candidates are reported to be Republican Gina " the cat lady"Nevenglosky and Nancy Bellas, Andrew D. Check and Mark Kijek.
The new executive director of the Luzerne County Republican Party, RenitaFennick, thinks "people around here are mostly conservative, even if they have a D after their name. They just might not know it.” Wejust have to be educated. To set us straight our local R's will be bringing Karl Rove to town.
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The fact that the county Republican party can afford a full time executive director, a permanent HQ on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre and pay Karl Rove to appear at a rubber chicken dinner shows that they have some money to spend. It looks like the big money back mountain boys that drop big bucks into national Republican campaigns but in the past have contributed to local Democrats have seen the error of their ways and are financing the local GOP. But I haven't checked the finance reports lately so they could be playing both sides of the fence like Multi-Party Bob Mericle.
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Now that the Republican nomination is actually worth something because of the scandals in the courthouse the top dogs are planning to endorse candidates in the primary just like the Democrats. The endorsement process is necessary because of the high number of Republicans who have expressed interest in seeking the party’s nomination for county row offices, Chairman Terry Casey said.“Every day I hear of someone else who picked up petitions or who inquired about running,” Casey said. “If we have multiple candidates for the county row offices, which we expect, we will endorse. It’s a very exciting time for us.” I think that is a bad move. The local GOP has been divided into factions for a long time and an open primary with the agreement of all the candidates to unite behind the winners would be a better approach.
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Congrats to Chairman Terry Casey on his election as the chairman of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry. He will be working closely with former Democratic Luzerne County Commissioner (Bond Brother) Todd Vonderheid.
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On Thursday the party will be hosting a dog and pony show at the Republican HQ, 25 Public Square in Wilkes-Barre with Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta as the headliner. Registered Republicans running for county-level office who are seeking the party endorsement will be allotted time to address the group.
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Maybe we can make this into a blogger meetup and go to Big Ugly'safterward.
WILKES-BARRE -Terry Casey, chairman of the Luzerne county Republican Party, said an announcement will be made soon that Karl Rove will speak at the group’s dinner in late March at Genetti’s, Wilkes-Barre.
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The county's GOP financial picture must be improving if they can afford to bring in a heavy hitter like Rove to share his wisdom. I'm sure he is not doing this for free.
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I think it is interesting that he has been blathering all over the FOX News airwaves but is still fighting subpoenas to appear before the House of Representatives to answer questions in his role in the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 for political reasons. He also needs to explain his involvement in blowing the cover of CIA agent Valerie Plame and many other things.
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It will be interesting to hear what advice he gives our local elephants on how to create a "permanent Republican majority." His formula of division and hate really worked out well for them on the national level.
The TL confirms what I reported a few months ago. Luzerne County Republican Chairwoman Lynette Villano is not seeking re-election because she wants to spend more time with her family. Given the results of the last few elections that's a wise choice.
The new Chairman will be Terry Casey, a vice president at M&T Bank. I wish him luck because the lack of an effective opposition in the county hurts us all.
Lynette is not going away and will be serving as the Wyoming Valley coordinator for Lou Barletta in his uphill race to unseat Congressman Paul Kanjorski. I hope she is as successful in her efforts for Mayor Lou as she has been for the county GOP.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell will be at The Ramada Clarks Summit Hotel, 820 Northern Blvd, Clarks Summit , PA TUESDAY, May 6th, 2008 - 7:00 PM.
The event is sponsored by the Coalition for a Conservative Majority. You can read the details at the CCM website.
Both members of the Luzerne County Republican Committee are backing Karen Bobackfor reelection as State Rep in the 117th District. This should assure her a primary victory over James May since this bunch has such a stellar track record. In the last county election they were able to lose every single contest.
I keep hearing a rumor that Chairwoman Lynette Villano will be stepping aside soon but I can't confirm who will be taking over this dynamic organization.
I normally could care less about who is elected as Pennsylvania's delegates to the national conventions as long as they supported my candidate or I know the person.
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I've never met Jonathan but he has commented on this site and regularly mixes it up over at GrassrootsPA. There has been a long time lament that young people don't get involved in politics or even bother to vote but this young man shows that is not true. I wish I could vote for him.
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From what I am sure is his very 1st press release:
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Tallman, 18, Seeks to Become GOP Delegate
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Jonathan T. Talllman of Honesdale, Pennsylvania announced his candidacy for a position as a delegate to the Republican National Convention being held September 1-4 in St. Paul Minnesota. Jonathan is an eighteen year old conservative Republican who proudly represents the values of the 10th Congressional District Republicans.
"I would be deeply honored to serve the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and the Republicans of the 10th Congressional District at our party's convention in September," said Jonathan. "This year, it is absolutely crucial that we win the White House. The convention will give our party the opportunity to nominate the Republican who best represents our values as established in the party platform."
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On deciding to run for the position he said, "I believe that I can strongly represent the conservative principles we so greatly cherish here in the 10th District. At the convention, it will be crucial that we have conservative delegates who will proudly nominate the candidate that has the conservative credentials and leadership that Americans are looking for in a president."
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Tallman is a senior at Honesdale High School. He is president of the Healthy Alcohol-Free Teens and the Community Foundation. He has been the president of his class for three years.
DC, Maryland and Virginia went to Barry Obama big. John McCain staved off the Huckaboom in Virginia and Maryland. And both Republican voters in DC picked McCain.
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