Specter Pulls the Rug Out from Under Almost Everyone

What a difference a day makes!

Toomey's chances of beating Specter in a head-to-head match-up just went from 100% to ZERO. All because Specter changed parties.

There was no way for Specter to beat Toomey among the increasingly conservative base, and no way for Toomey to win in a general election.

There was little hope among the Dems to defeat Specter (R) in the General. The only Big Name that could defeat him was Rendell himself. Most of the likely Dem candidates didn't want in unless they were sure to face Toomey. Sestak waited too long (see below). Now, the Dems aren't likely to challenge Specter (D) because he has the backing of Rendell and Obama (if he stops filibusters).

Sestak's the funniest and saddest story. Ever since he violated his campaign promises and voted to give Bush a blank check in Iraq, he lost the support of the hard-core liberals that worked the hardest for his 2006 campaign. He chaffed at the constant criticism (Admirals aren't used to being questioned) and even threatened not to run again. Being accountable to the people, and not having his ego stroked, seemed too much to bear. Plan A of being a US Congressman wasn't going to cut it.

Plan B emerged almost immediately: Hillary.
Sestak worked his ass off traveling around for Hillary in 2007. The obvious reason was to get an appointment and not have to earn our votes every two years.

In 2007, he COMPLETELY ABANDONED the people that got him elected when he refused to lift a finger to help our county council race. Election day 2007 found him NOT at the PA polls promoting his local ticket, but rather in New Hampshire campaigning for Hillary.

(Clinton Launches Assault on Obama's Foreign Policy Experience)
Sestak raised his Hillary profile when on March 6th, 2008 he (in)famously sat with Hillary and other former military as Hillary declared herself and McCain ready, and Obama not ready. Slamming your own party candidate while elevating the opposing party is the kind of classless move that cost Hillary the election, and Joe was right by her side.

Plan C: Kiss Obama's ass
As soon as Hillary lost, Joe immediately jumped on the Obama wagon faster than you can switch from war with Eastasia to Eurasia. Obama won. Joe kept his seat and was stuck with us another term.

Plan D: Run for Senate
Joe's been raising tons of cash and being very coy in his denials of a Senate run. He spent hardly anything to crush Craig Williams, all the while sending out desperate donation requests. I don't recall seeing a single TV ad for Sestak in 2008. For what did he need all that money? His next ambition: Senate.
The problem was that Specter was running, not retiring. Enter Toomey and conservative anger to unseat Specter. Sestak hopes increased with his bank account ($3.5 million) equally the total of the likely Dem candidates.
Joe's a hard worker, part bulldozer part bulldog when it comes to totally dominating a campaign. However, that's part of his problem. He's a piss-poor strategist. His first victory was born more of circumstance and forcefulness (and a desire to boot Weldon) overcoming his many missteps, rather than any actual political skill. His 2006 win would have been slightly easier if he hadn't ignored months of sound advice.

Now that Specter is in the Dem column, Sestak is completely screwed, yet he can't fully comprehend it. On MSNBC he was still playing coy like he might run. He didn't have enough balls to run against the lesser unknown and lesser funded Dem primary field. Why should anyone expect him to challenge a Rendell/Obama backed Specter (with $6 million in the bank)? After he screwed Obama for Hillary last year, Obama's not going to back him. Besides, Sestak is irrelevant in a big Dem Congress and Specter is essential to a 60-Dem Senate.

Curt Weldon transfers $70K to legal defense fund

There's a couple in interesting tidbits Yahoo News.

The really new piece of news is that Weldon has a legal defense fund called the "Weldon Legal Expense Trust". I would call it the "Expenses Because Weldon Couldn't Trusted" fund.

The $70,000 was transfered from his misnamed "Weldon Victory Committee". I would have called the "Weldon Long Overdue Defeat Committee", because Sestak beat Weldon by a huge margin.

This $70,000 ($50,000 2/29/08 and $20,000 3/31/08) is accompanied by a $5,000 payment to Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP.

This brings Weldon's total to over $244,000 for his criminal defense AND HE HASN'T EVEN BEEN TO TRIAL YET. Two years and a lot of money to defend against whatever the grand jury is investigating. Besides all the documents the FBI retrieved from Sexton, Weldon, Weldon's daughter and elsewhere, the wiretaps must have a lot in them as well. If the FBI taped months of Weldon and Sexton, in all their GOP glory, it could take quite a while to read all the charges and counts against them (let alone document them).

I was blogging quite a bit against the Weldon drones back then and some were obvious campaign personnel. I doubt any of the blog-o-sphere aspect of the campaign will have made the tapes or the transcripts, as I doubt either of those two dinosaurs could find their asses a blog in the dark with both hands, a flashlight, and a mirror. It would be interesting to hear what the campaign's thinking behind the scenes about the Internet vs Old School. However, even if they did discuss such topics, they'd be redacted from the transcripts (unless they talked about knee-capping bloggers).

Joe vs The Sidekick?

From Today's Daily News:
GOP delays nominations

The Delaware County Republican Party's nomination convention has been postponed from today until next Tuesday, putting off the selection of candidates for the 7th Congressional District and other races.

The party is considering nominating W. Craig Williams, an assistant U.S. attorney working under U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan in Philadelphia, to run against Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, according to party sources.


So, if true, the GOP scramble to "duel" Sestak has resulted in the GOP's primary dueler failing to show up and leaving his "second" to take the bullet.

The "W" stands for "Wendell". Wendell Williams does satisfy one of the comic book staples of having names with alliteration. (Lex Luthor, Peter Parker, Lois Lane, etc.)

GOP Council Plays Politics. Risks Progress with FAA Issue

Andy Reilly and the GOP Council candidates can't keep their partisan politics out of the way of the public good.
Delco Times: Democrats slam GOP mailing on FAA issue

This week, the GOP sought to undermine progress made by Joe Sestak and Bryan Lentz by putting out a mailing claiming that the Democrats have no plan. This break from bipartisanship shows how irresponsible the GOP council candidates are.

Here's a Democratic "plan" for you: Work with your congressman and legislator, instead of working against them.

Clearly, the GOP would rather undermine Joe and Bryan to make themselves look good, rather than work in the public interest on the FAA problem.

Not So Sage Advice

In today's Delco Times, Gina "not so" Sage's Letter to the Editor repeats various Delco GOP talking points, many of which have been debunked here and elsewhere.

However, a little deconstruction should show how desperate they are becoming and how little they have to offer.

• Gina Sage's letter lacked the disclaimer than she is a Republican on the ALL REPUBLICAN Springfield Planning Commission. Springfield is the home base of Charlie Sexton and GOP Council Candidate Stooge Tom McGarrigle. Gee, no bias there folks!
  
• Gina falsely tries to imply that Ann O'Keefe doesn't either live here or pay her taxes by claiming there is no record.... This is a classic political deception. First of all, any of the thousands of Delco residents living in an apartment or renting a house would not have a record of paying property taxes (even though it is part of their rent). Ann O'Keefe lives in a house and shares in the taxes/bills/etc., however the deed to the house is not in her name. So, of course Ann would not be listed in the County records that Gina Sage is misusing to mislead the voters. (Can anyone explain how/why a Springfield Planning Commission can supposedly "search" every property tax record looking for a name, particularly for a Haverford resident? Is this information freely available to the public?)
  
• The attacks on David Landau are trite. Landau did some work for the ACLU when he was just out of school. Gina says that Landau opposed mandatory sentencing guidelines. Considering that GOP shills like Gina want to impose a life-sentence on people that support civil rights, Delco voters should be wary of GOP candidates opposed to civil rights, due process and Judges actually using their judgment. The point of a guideline is that is it not mandatory (otherwise it would be called a rule, not a guideline).
  
• Landau must really have the GOP worried, because Gina repeats the already debunked claim that: Landau has also received no bid legal work from Nether Providence, where he is a Democrat leader, and the Democrats control the government. The fact of the matter is that Landau won the legal work from a 3-Dem + 3-GOP board, did the work at half his standard rate at the time, the work was paid for by Insurance (not the township) and it was a case on behalf of the township against a GOP developer. Gina deceptively tries to confuse Landau's and the Democrats' current leadership in Nether Providence, with their role in the 1990's.
  
• Gina (through the Republican dis-information machine) keeps referring to John Innelli as solicitor in Darby Township. John is NOT the solicitor but rather the "assistant" solicitor (a position specifically recognized and permitted in the Borough Code).
  Gina disengenuously claims that John Innelli has received extensive legal work as a result of a no bid contract. Well, not only did John work at only 1/5 his normal rate, but his bills to Darby Borough averaged $3,000/year, which is less than the minimum dollar amount for any contract bid process in the county. Seems like the only extensive thing here is Gina's exaggerated claims.
  
• Finally, Gina claims that The candidates being put forth by the Democratic Party simply do not match the ideals and priorities of Delaware County voters.
  This is simply absurd, because 3 of 5 Delco voters picked Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Rendell, Casey and Sestak. Voters can rest assured that Ann O'Keefe, David Landau and John Innelli support those same candidates and beliefs. Those 3 out of 5 voters deserve 3 out of 5 Council members that will look out for the voters' values and priorities, for a change.
  

Nowhere is Gina's letter does she actually list a single specific Democratic proposal, but rather makes false/misleading attacks on the Dem Candidates' background or character. As far as the GOP, the attitude seems to be "stay the course", "all is well" and "nothing to see here folks".
Gina did make one statement with which I do agree: an examination of the facts will not allow voters to be misled [misled by the GOP that is]

BTW, a note to my GOP mortal enemies adversaries friends: This is some pretty weak tea you are brewing. You guys are putting me to sleep with these lame/same attacks. I guess if you have no record to run on, it must be hard to come up with topics.

Looking for a Few Good Men

This is not a posting about Senator Craig!

Today The Hill reported that Rep. Sestak’s staffers keep jumping ship.

According to the article: Thirteen staffers have quit this year, say former aides citing public records.

Apparently the staff is expected to work as though they were in the military.

Aides are expected to work seven days a week, including holidays, often 14 hours each day, going for months without a day off. These are very long hours even by Capitol Hill standards
....
Sestak does not attribute staff resignations to problems of his own making.
... [however]....
The environment was so difficult for some aides that they quit without having found a new job.
Five former staffers who spoke to The Hill on the condition that they not be quoted cited excessive work hours and Sestak’s temper as reasons for their departure.

Sestak's district director, William Walsh [he was "Bill" during the campaign] said: "I don’t accept the premise that something is wrong systemically. We’re trying to create an environment that requires the same level of effort and effectiveness as" in the Navy. Bill William Walsh is a 30-year Navy veteran himself and used to these sort of hours.

However, the staffers are civilians, not military, and certainly not stuck on a ship in the ocean or subject to court martial. They can walk away (and have).

To be fair, Sestak is tireless and does work harder than everyone else, but that's his choice. If he also chooses to burn out his staff, he'll have to work even harder replacing and training them.

This one made me laugh at the irony:
"He's a very demanding guy, but he is pretty up front with his expectations," Clarence Tong, Sestak’s new communications director, said.

New! What happened to the previous communications director?

The reason I mention this is that during the 2006 campaign, Sestak's management style and "poor command climate" was frequently brought up by Weldon's supporters. Their contention was it made Sestak unfit for Congress. My reply was basically: Who cares if he is a bad boss? It would matter only to his staff, and they can walk away if they don't like it. In a free, competitive market, the problem would be self correcting.

My other point was that once elected, Sestak became OUR employee. He's already got a few dressing downs of his own from voters upset over his Iraq vote and his reasons against impeachment.

As regards the 2007 Delco County Races, the Democratic candidates can always use more volunteers (and they won't make you work 14-hour days). Even a few hours a week would be greatly and genuinely appreciated.

DelcoTimes editorial on Dem upswing

Phil Heron's editorial in today's Delco Times describes the Democratic surge (oops...maybe that's term reserved for GOP initiatives) in Delaware County, focusing on the race for the 3 open seats on County Council. John Innelli, David Landau and Ann O'Keefe are the Dems in this election.

Heron describes the long-running trend in Delco, moving from a completely GOP-dominated area to more balanced representation, saying, "Then something strange started happening. At least here in Delaware County. Democrats started winning elections. ... Now the Democrats have their eyes on the one prize that has eluded them: The Media courthouse."

The trend began from the top down in the 90s with Clinton winning in Delco, starting a long string of strong showings by Democratic Presidential candidates in the area. Of course, Joe Sestak's victory in 2006 set a new high water mark. And of course there are many Democratic local and state representatives with strong followings.

Heron says:

This very well could be a new day in Delco politics. Who would have thought that Democrats would be taken seriously, let alone considered a threat, in a race for county council?

Buckle your seat belts, voters. It’s going to be an interesting couple of months.

And we’ll all likely be better off for it.

It's true that the residents of Delaware County would be better off with 3 Democrats in there to bust up the Tamany Hall den of corruption that have cost the taxpayers of Delaware County millions of dollars in patronage jobs and crony contracts.

Put the Dems in and we get a shot a cleaning things up.

Keep that in mind when you pay that big County tax bill and get next to nothing in return!

Heron thinks this will be an interesting race. We hope the DelcoTimes provides good coverage of the election. But what would really be interesting would be if the DelcoTimes would do some investigative reporting on the issues. It's one thing to publish the accusations of corruption and the GOP rebuttals. It would be a much different (and interesting) story if the Times digs into these accusations.

Tips for the Delco Times: start with the County Prison, move to the contracts for various health care facilities, and see about the no-show jobs. And just for kicks and giggles, interview a few county employees who are directed to report for campaign duties.

That very well could be a new day in Delco political reporting!