Meehan asks D.A. to investigate his ballot petitions (Updated)

Former U.S. Attorney and GOP congressional hopeful Pat Meehan has asked the local District Attorney in Delaware County to investigate some of the ballot petitions he filed this week, acknowledging that at least four sets of signatures gathered by one local Republican “are questionable and have the potential to not be legitimate.”

The request came in a letter that Meehan’s campaign said it was hand-delivering to county District Attorney Mike Green Thursday morning. The campaign…

March 11, 2010 at 10:19 am | Comments (13)

Callahan, Lentz on first ‘Red to Blue’ list

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan and state Representative Bryan Lentz (D-Delaware) are reportedly among the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s first round of “Red to Blue” candidates, a list highlighting the party’s highest-priority House challengers and open-seat candidates in the country.

Callahan, a White House recruit, is challenging Congressman Charlie Dent (R-15) in the Lehigh Valley. Lentz is seeking to hold the seat being vacated by Democrat Joe Sestak, and is the Democrats’ presumptive nominee to take…

March 10, 2010 at 9:28 am | Comments (17)

Meehan hits Lentz on missed hearings

Republican Pat Meehan this week criticized state Representative Bryan Lentz (D-Delaware) over Appropriations Committee hearings Lentz missed last month, continuing what is quickly becoming a heated congressional contest between the two even before the general election officially starts.

Meehan’s campaign noted that Lentz missed three committee hearings on Feb. 24, after missing one the day before. On Feb. 24, Lentz was in Washington for a candidate training session run by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.…

March 9, 2010 at 11:26 pm | Comments (10)

Meehan’s early fundraising haul was fueled by governor’s race

After former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan jumped from the race for governor to a congressional bid last fall, his nascent House campaign trumpeted a fundraising haul of more than $200,000 in just 16 September days. Though his campaign never explicitly said so, the subtle implication was that early money raised had come from scratch, a “groundswell” of support for his new race.

But recently-published records make clear that most of Meehan’s…

March 4, 2010 at 5:20 pm | Comments (6)

Lentz uses Hannity to raise cash, NRCC hits comments on health care (Updated)

Democrat Bryan Lentz’s 7th District congressional campaign was talking about Fox News host Sean Hannity in an effort to pump up the fundraising on Tuesday. Noting that Hannity will be headlining a major National Republican Congressional Committee fundraiser next month, campaign manager Vincent Rongione wrote to supporters that “our likely Republican opponent was hand-picked by these Washington insiders and will no doubt benefit greatly from this fundraising event.”

He went on to highlight comments by…

February 9, 2010 at 3:18 pm | Comments (16)

4 fun facts from the 4th quarter

About a week after fourth-quarter FEC reports hit the Web, here are some interesting items that caught our attention.

1. Spending on one’s own campaign is all the rage, and why not? Surely no one believes in a candidate as much as the candidate himself. Be they in-kind expenditures, direct donations or campaign loans, House candidates in Pennsylvania kicked more than $700,000 into their own races in late 2009, according to campaign finance data. There’s…

February 9, 2010 at 10:56 am | Comments (6)

Meehan takes to the op-ed pages

Former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan seems a tad op-ed-happy today.

The Republican candidate in the 7th District has not one, but two pieces running in area newspapers.

He’s in The Philadelphia Daily News arguing against civilian trials for suspected terrorists.

And he’s in the local Delaware County Daily Times calling for a payroll tax holiday and tax write-offs for new businesses.

Who said old media was dead?

February 8, 2010 at 12:47 pm | Comments (3)

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 full story

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

Home run: Philliez prez donates to Meehan

The man who likes baseball also like former Pat Meehan.

Philadelphia Phillies president David Montgomery contributed $500 to the former U.S. Attorney’s GOP campaign in the 7th Congressional District. It was only a tiny drop in the $580,000-bucket that Meehan raised in the last three months of 2009. Nonetheless, Montgomery was one donor of at least two locals who could be called quasi-celebrities in the area. The other? Radio talk-show host and columnist Michael Smerconish,…

February 1, 2010 at 9:00 am | Comments (0)

From leaders to rank-and-file, Dems pitch in for Lentz

Whether it’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, freshman state Representative Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery) or recently-defeated judicial candidate Nancy Rhoads Koons, Democrats from the top of the party hierarchy to the bottom are giving money to Bryan Lentz.

Lentz, the second-term state Representative from Delaware County, is running to replace Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7), in a conservative-leaning district that will be tough for the party to hold. But even with Lentz likely to be outspent by presumptive…

February 1, 2010 at 8:30 am | Comments (2)