BREAKING NEWS: Schneller will be on the ballot—setback for Meehan

It’s officially a three-man contest in the 7th Congressional District.

A legal challenge seeking to keep independent Jim Schneller off the ballot was withdrawn from Commonwealth Court late Thursday, shortly after a judge issued a key ruling against supporters of Republican candidate Pat Meehan, whose campaign spearheaded the challenge. The resolution of the case in Schneller’s favor is a setback for Meehan, who now stands to lose at least some votes…

September 2, 2010 at 6:22 pm | Comments (6)

Lentz gave to Santorum in 2000

For almost a year, Democrat Bryan Lentz and his supporters have worked to equate his Republican opponent with former Senator Rick Santorum, the conservative who got washed out of office by the Democratic wave in 2006. Pat Meehan, Lentz’s rival in the 7th Congressional District, was a campaign manager for Santorum, and counts the former senator as a close supporter.

But Lentz, a two-term state Representative, was briefly a Santorum supporter himself—at least financially.

Lentz…

September 1, 2010 at 3:33 pm | Comments (8)

LEFTOVERS: Sestak & earmarks, Casey does SEPA, Marino on tape

Democrat Joe Sestak found himself under new scrutiny on that pesky subject of earmarks Monday, after The Morning Call reported that money Sestak earmarked for a non-profit foundation could instead end up benefiting a for-profit wind energy company.

At issue is $350,000 requested for the Thomas Paine Foundation, money to develop a new prototype, offshore wind turbine. The money was never actually appropriated, but long story short, the head of the…

August 30, 2010 at 7:23 pm | Comments (5)

Lentz camp goes hypocritical… to cry hypocrisy?

A simple campaign press release had never made my jaw literally drop—until I saw what Democrat Bryan Lentz’s campaign laid on my table recently.

“Lentz Campaign Calls For Meehan to Try and Win Votes with Ideas, Not Courts,” the headline screamed.

This is, of course, a reference to the fact that Republican Pat Meehan’s campaign in the 7th Congressional District has spearheaded a ballot challenge against Jim Schneller, the…

August 27, 2010 at 11:00 am | Comments (9)

Schneller wants in on the debate

Even as he fights a legal challenge seeking to keep him off the ballot, independent Jim Schneller is letting it be known that he should have a chance to participate in campaign debates in the 7th Congressional District.

Democrat Bryan Lentz and Republican Pat Meehan already came together for their first debate last week, a half-hour affair that was broadcast Sunday evening on the Comcast Network. The two will debate several…

August 26, 2010 at 12:31 pm | Comments (10)

Meehan press aide returns for home stretch

The press secretary who worked on Republican Pat Meehan’s exploratory gubernatorial campaign last year has returned to handle media for the duration of the former U.S. Attorney’s congressional bid.

Virginia Davis, who is also an aide to former Senator Rick Santorum as he mulls a run for president, will be the campaign’s day-to-day spokesperson for the next two-and-a-half months. Davis worked on Santorum’s 2006 campaign, and took maternity leave from Meehan’s campaign shortly after he…

August 17, 2010 at 12:47 pm | Comments (1)

Lentz camp unveils new site hitting Meehan

Democrat Bryan Lentz’s congressional campaign is up with a new Web site that seeks to tell voters about his opponent’s “real record.”

The Web site, Pat Meehan’s Real Record, was formally unveiled Monday morning. Clearly designed to look like the GOP nominee’s official campaign homepage, the site aggregates and organizes the entirety of the political and policy attacks Lentz has made against Meehan over the last year,…

August 16, 2010 at 12:30 pm | Comments (13)

Dean headlining fundraiser for Lentz, Trivedi

The Democratic Party’s liberal conscience is coming to southeast Pennsylvania next month to raise some campaign cash for Bryan Lentz and Manan Trivedi.

Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, Democratic National Committee chairman and presidential candidate, will be in suburban Philadelphia on Sept. 22 for a joint fundraiser benefiting the two congressional candidates. The evening event is set to be held at state Senator Daylin Leach’s home in Wayne.

Trivedi is running in the 6th…

August 13, 2010 at 1:30 pm | Comments (6)

A Bonusgate doc, and a 7th District self-appraisal

Loyal readers will surely remember our coverage of Republican Pat Meehan’s June news conference in Harrisburg, when the 7th District congressional candidate said he’d call into question his opponent’s “fitness” for office but then mostly rehashed old Bonusgate info.

We got some flak at the time, not surprisingly so. But we made one important promise: The Meehan campaign referenced a court document as evidence to back up its claims that Lentz…

August 13, 2010 at 1:18 pm | Comments (8)

Schneller will represent himself in ballot challenge

Jim Schneller is ready to go into court on his own.

The independent candidate in the 7th Congressional District told pa2010.com Thursday that he will serve as his own lawyer in fighting the ballot challenge spearheaded by Republican Pat Meehan’s campaign.

“At least for the time being,” he said, “I intend to represent myself.”

Schneller may have little choice but to do so; defending ballot challenges is expensive, and he has…

August 12, 2010 at 4:46 pm | Comments (13)