The Pennsylvania Progressive

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Romanelli Admits Knowing $$$ Was From Republicans

Carl Romanelli, the short lived Green Party candidate for Senate admitted on a radio program he knew the $100,000 he received in contributions was from prominent Republicans:

Yes, well, the bottom line is that I needed money. I have been trying to fundraise for the Greens for five years, and Democrats and progressives just aren’t giving us any. It was my intention to elevate the level of discourse on the issues in this senatorial race. And let’s not give Rick Santorum credit. Let’s not blame the Green Party. Carl Romanelli put this operation together, and I had the understanding with a handful of Republican friends of mine who helped me that we were both using each other. I needed money, because I had none, and I was well aware that they thought that my presence would help their candidate.

So he needed money and he  wasn't ahamed to "use" the Republican dodnors since it suited each of their needs.  He knew he couldn't use the state Green Party and intentionally set it up so the Luzerne County organization would accept all funds.  Romanelli was completely implicit in planning and organizing something that is against everything the Green Party purports to stand for.  He took money from the owner of Blackwater while running on a ticket opposed to just such corporations and war profiteers.

What bothers me so much about thisis the Greens' holier than thou attitide, especially toward Democrats.  They are always quick to condemn the acceptance of corporate cash contributed through PAC's then turn around and take it when it suits them:

I took it upon myself to use our local, which performed the task normally performed by a state party. And also, all of the money that I collected from the Republican donors did go, as you pointed out, to the Luzerne County Green Party.

Rendell Still Raising Cash

The Inquirer reports that Governor Ed Rendell continues raking in the campaign contributions.  I find this extremely interesting.  The Guv has already raised over $30M for this race and is sitting on $5.7M compared to Swann's measley $318,000 as of the last reports.  He obviously doesn't need any more money to cruise home with a 22 point lead in the polls.   Why is he still raising money at record clips?

There's an old adage in political circles that there are two certain ways to kill a career:  be found in the back seat of a car with either a dead girl or a live boy.  Rendell is so certain to win this race I doubt even one of those incidents would derail his quest for re-election.  The man is the ultimate teflon candidate.   Of course the total incompetence of his opponent certainly helps.

I can think of two possible explanations for the continued fundraising:  one more run for office or to help state house and senate candidates in 2008.  Though Ed says this is his final campaign this makes me wonder if he has designs on being the VP on a national ticket.  A large personal campaign war chest wouldn't hurt.

It would also enable him to help fund local races to secure Democratic majorities in Harrisburg.  Being his final term Rendell has to be looking at his legacy in terms of what can be accomplished the next four years.  The thought of dealing with friendly faces in the state Capitol has to be dancing in his head.  A large campaign fund coming out of this election cycle could make that a reality.

My bet is the latter possibility. 

Hazleton Is Sued for Immigration Laws

The City of Hazleton was sued for their new anti-immigrant laws by the American Civil Liberties Union.  The ACLU points out in their legal action that only the federal government has jurisdiction over immigration issues under the constitution.  This is only one of what many forecast as a litany of litigation arising from Hazleton's attempt to force immigrants out of their town. 

Mayor Lou Barletta, of course, has political ambitions that surpass the town limits and has received loads of free publicity from these events.  I have to wonder if he isn't using this issue solely to gain personal political capital at the expense of Hazleton's homeowners.  It's they, after all, who will foot all the legal bills.  Too many political hacks are more concerned with their own ambitions than the messes they leave behind for taxpayers to bear.

Update:  A federal judge issued a restraining order today barring Hazleton from enforcing these new laws:

U.S. District Judge James Munley ruled that landlords, tenants and businesses that cater to Hispanics faced "irreparable harm" from the laws and issued a temporary restraining order blocking their enforcement.

GOP Abandons Weldon

The Republican Party is cutting the cord on Crazy Curt Weldon, finally.  With today's latest revelation about the longtime Congressman and his corrupt practices, TV money is being shifted to other races.  The NRCC was spending heavily in the expensive Philadelphia media market to save Weldon.  No amount of money spent could overcome the bad news reports of pay to play politics in Washington though.

The GOP is desperately trying to stave off losing control of both the House and Senate a week from today.  All the trends seem to be working against their efforts.  I see a minimum of four House pickups in PA and, of course, the Senate seat.  Depending on the voter wave one or two more seats might flip.

I don' think turnout is going to be large in certain areas and this may hurt some down ticket races.  The Neo Christian Republican base is going to sit this one out in many areas, especially Lancaster, and I suspect Democratic voters in the 17th CD could be complacent. 

The 17th Congressional District really has no race and voters there will look at what seem like uncompetitive gubernatorial and senate contests and not bother voting.  The state house and senate candidates there have their GOTV work cut out for them.

Broken Iraq

Iraq is broken and George W. Bush is responsible.  Republicans in Congress and the Senate have refused to provide oversight and accountability.

Warning:  this video has disturbing graphic images of death and destruction.  Watching it could ruin your entire day.  This is part of the reality of what we've done in Iraq, reality you don't see on ABC, CNN, or in Newsweek.

Are We Safer?

Since Rick Santorum seems so obsessed with fear let's review what parts of the 9/11 Commission recommendations he's helped pass:

Passing the Buck

President Bush continues in his state of denial about Iraq.  He claimed yesterday:

"However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses,"

I have news for W, he already lost this war.  He and his band of incompetent fools, led by Rice, Rumsfeld and Bremer made every bad decision possible and paved the way for the failed state of Iraq, the chaos in the Middle East, and a ruinous foreign policy.  He allowed the insurgency to start, take hold and flourish.  Every mistake possible to fuel the situation for the insurgency was done in his White House.

The failure of Iraq is George W. Bush's and his alone.  It is shameful of him to try and pin it on Democrats, especially those who have yet to even be elected.  Just as everything before was Clinton's fault he's now trying to pin his failed Iraq policy on the new generation of Democratic leaders in Washington.  This is simply one more of his pre-emptive attacks.

I can hear W now in 2008:  Iraq is a failed state because of the Dems elected in 2006 and had nothing to do with unguarded stockpiles of explosives, the disbanding of the Iraqi Army, the heavy handed methods of our troops, our insensitivity to Muslim culture, to the de-Baathification of Iraq's bureaucracy.  No, it didn't have anything to do with the dearth of translators, the murder and rape of civilians, the torture policies of Abu Ghraib or the massive corruption fueled by no bid contracts and lack of accountability.

It's political season and George W. Bush is playing his favorite game:  Pass the Buck.

Rick Santorum: Drowning in Quicksand

An increasingly desperate Senator is reinforcing the reasons voters are rejecting him this election cycle:  fear mongering, war mongering and hate mongering.  Bob Casey has it right:  Rick Santorum's rhetoric is nothing more than "fear and smear."  Ironically this is why Pennsylvanians are fed up with Rick.  They're fed up with his "holier than thou" attitude and his condescension toward everyone who isn't a radical theocon.

He's a Senator stuck in quicksand.  Seriously behind in the polls a week out he's doing exactly the opposite of what someone stuck in quicksand should do:  thrash around some more.  This is only serving to sink him further.  The result is in Sunday's Inquirer poll:  he's losing ground instead of making it up.

Santorium didn't figure out early on that he wasn't able to run to the center this year successfully.  He attempted his tried and true six year attempt at moderation but his twelve years of rigid ideology, extreme religious views, ridiculous public statements, awful voting record, and assorted other issues combined to make this impossible.

When he spent five million on TV over the summer and the polls didn't budge it dawned on him the center had rejected him.  Since then he began becoming the Rick Santorum we all know and despise once again.  He started with the "Islamic fascism" talk and cranked it up notch after notch until this weekend when he made some truly outrageous comments.

He said electing Bob Casey would aid and abet terrorism and genocide.  He said it would result in a mushroom cloud.  He'll say anything to hold onto power.  Who does that remind you of?  George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld?   These are the same wild accusations Santorum and others made to sell the invasion of Iraq.  Condi Rice said if we didn't topple Saddam there'd be a mushroom cloud over an American city.  Bush and Cheney made the same ridiculous claims. 

They knew at the time Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and no nuclear program.  The CIA in the person of Ray McGovern told them so.  Scott Ritter and the UN weapons inspectors told them so.  In their quest for power they chose to inflame the American electorate with fear mongering and lies instead.

They lied about why they sent our soldiers to die on foreign soil.

Now Rick Santorum is lying to keep his power in the Senate.  A desperate man desperately trying to escape the quicksand he created.  His inexcusable rhetoric will only sink him deeper as it reinforces in voters this image of an irresponsible, power mad man.

HRC Fires Employee Who Outed Foley

The entire FoleyGate scandal erupted when ABC News aired Congressman Foley's salacious emails.  The truth is ABC found those emails on an anonymous blog.  The writer of stopsexpredators.blogspot.com has now been fired by the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent gay rights organization.

Their explanation is that the blogger misused the group's resources.  In other words, he used an HRC computer and/or time to post his blog.  Of course people misuse business and organizational resources all the time.  Punishing this man for doing something courageous and exposing a predator should have garnered him credit and honor, not termination.  Shame on HRC for this action!

A hat tip goes to Bernie at Lehigh Valley Ramblings.  Bernie does a great job covering the Lehigh Valley and Northampton County on his blog.  It's must reading every day here.