Judge rules Touey can’t be on ballot, leaving Lentz alone in 7th District

Let the general election begin in the 7th Congressional District.

A state judge ruled Thursday that Democrat E. Teresa Touey had only 992 valid signatures on her nominating petitions, less than the 1,000 required. Commonwealth Court Judge P. Kevin Brobson’s decision kept Touey off the May primary ballot, leaving state Representative Bryan Lentz (D-Delaware) as the only Democrat in the race. He will face former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan in November, and the two have…

April 16, 2010 at 3:06 pm | Comments (14)

Conner drops out of 7th District primary

Environmental lawyer Gail Conner has withdrawn from the Democratic primary in the 7th Congressional District, leaving just one candidate between front-runner Bryan Lentz and the party’s nomination.

When Conner entered the race in November, some party insiders thought her longstanding ties to area churches could make her a formidable candidate. But she never raised any significant amount of money, nor did she build much of a campaign on the ground. Her spot on the ballot…

April 7, 2010 at 12:44 pm | Comments (6)

AFL-CIO backs Pike, others in contested House primaries

The statewide AFL-CIO has made its picks for Congress.

The umbrella labor organization endorsed five candidates in Democratic primaries when its Executive Council met Tuesday. Perhaps most notable was the AFL-CIO’s backing for 6th District hopeful Doug Pike, who is locked in the party’s most competitive House nominating contest against Manan Trivedi. Pike already enjoyed deeper labor support than Trivedi, and despite Trivedi’s recent surge of local party support, the AFL-CIO endorsement effectively puts the…

March 30, 2010 at 2:07 pm | Comments (3)

Touey ‘disgusted’ by Lentz ballot challenge

Democrat E. Teresa Touey wants 7th District primary opponent Bryan Lentz to withdraw the ballot challenge against her, saying the signatures she gathered to get on the ballot are valid and that voters are “angry at both parties for these kinds of tactics.”

“This is the kind of behavior that voters do not want,” Touey said in an interview Monday morning.

After a few days of silence following the challenge filed by supporters of Lentz,…

March 22, 2010 at 9:09 am | Comments (6)

BALLOT CHALLENGE UPDATE: Hearings scheduled, one case closed

While we continue to look into some of the more high-profile ballot challenges, here are some updates.

A petition to keep Republican Jean Craige Pepper of the primary ballot for Lieutenant Governor has already been set aside. We’re still trying to figure out exactly why, but from a quick review of court documents, it looks like the complaint was simply withdrawn. That means a whopping nine Republicans will indeed vie for GOP votes for Lt.…

March 19, 2010 at 6:08 pm | Comments (5)

Ballot challenge, spearheaded by Lentz, alleges widespread fraud in Meehan’s petitions

The nominating petitions that Republican Pat Meehan’s congressional campaign submitted to get on the May primary ballot are so rife with invalid signatures and outright fraud as to warrant keeping the former U.S. Attorney off the ballot, according to a complaint filed in Commonwealth Court.

The 15-page complaint, filed by Republican supporters of Meehan’s likely Democratic opponent Bryan Lentz, details a litany of problems with the more than 3,600 signatures collected by Meehan’s campaign, as…

March 17, 2010 at 11:11 pm | Comments (21)

Restoring Glass-Steagall

We need to restore the Glass-Steagall Act now. Enacted during the Great Depression, it separated commercial banking from investment banking, providing our economy with stable economic growth for nearly 70 years. Large amounts of federal dollars have since been spent to stabilize a wrecked economy, including the TARP money approved by the Congress over the last three months of the Bush administration in 2008 and the economic stimulus package enacted by President Obama.The rationale sold…

March 3, 2010 at 3:09 pm | Comments (4)

DelCo Dems back Lentz

The Delaware County Democratic Committee endorsed state Representative Bryan Lentz for Congress in the 7th District Tuesday night, further solidifying Lentz’s status as the party’s overwhelming front-runner three months before the primary.

The Lentz campaign said a roll-vote wasn’t needed, with overwhelming support coming in the form of a standing voice vote. Environmental lawyer Gail Conner and political consultant E. Teresa Touey are both running, but neither have been able to gain much traction in…

February 17, 2010 at 3:00 pm | Comments (8)

Let’s fix our bridges—now

We have an absolute responsibility to ensure public safety in the Commonwealth. We can do this, create jobs, and spur business while doing what we need to do anyway. Let’s fix our bridges and let’s fix them now.

Pennsylvania leads the nation in structurally deficient bridges. If elected, I would use my congressional office to bring a sense of urgency to solving this problem. There are 41 historic Delaware County bridges tgat lie in the…

February 14, 2010 at 4:13 pm | Comments (0)

Less than $500 for Touey

State Representative Bryan Lentz (D-Delaware) finished 2009 with more than 140 times the campaign cash enjoyed by both of his primary opponents combined.

Newly-filed campaign finance data shows that political consultant E. Teresa Touey raised about $6,000 for her 7th District congressional race. But she spent almost all of it, and had only $437 on hand at the end of the year. Environmental lawyer Gail Conner, meanwhile, finished the year with…

February 2, 2010 at 1:09 pm | Comments (17)