If you thought that Pat Meehan and Bryan Lentz would be calling a post-primary truce in their war, taking the summer off before the campaign heats up again after Labor Day, you’d be exactly wrong.
This one is nasty. And yesterday the rhetoric got ratcheted up even more.
Lentz started all this, putting a match to the coals in pointing out problems with Meehan’s petitions. Yesterday Meehan threw a little gas on the fire.
The rest of the nation likely will join us in this watching this battle royal to succeed U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak as the 7th District congressman. Sestak is giving up the seat to run for the U.S. Senate. He beat Arlen Specter – and his own party’s leaders – for the right to face Republican Pat Toomey in November.
In the weeks before the primary, Democrat state Rep. Lentz was having a field day with problems with Republican Meehan’s nominating petitions. Even Meehan, the former Delco D.A. and U.S. attorney, admitted some signatures likely were bogus.
At one point Lentz trotted downtown and held a press conference outside the U.S. Courthouse, where Meehan once toiled.
Yesterday Meehan returned the favor.
There was Meehan holding a press conference in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Harrisburg. His claim? He was looking to link Lentz to the Bonusgate scandal sweeping both sides of the aisle in Harrisburg.
Bonusgate centers on the practice of having staff workers do campaign work with taxpayer money. Meehan yesterday was looking to add Lentz’s name to those under the microscope.
Specifically, he alleged that a Lentz campaign worker received close to $10,000 in taxpayer money to do campaign work, including some for Lentz.
Not only has Lentz not been charged in the probe, no one else has tried to connect him to Bonusgate.
“This is a crime scene,” Meehan said while standing in the rotunda. Meehan is not exactly what I would call a splashy guy. But he was in full splendor yesterday. “From inside this Capitol a massive and illegal political operation was conducted on state time with taxpayer money.”
Meehan believes that more than 20 state workers who have been tied to the Bonusgate probe can also be traced to doing work for the Lentz campaign.
There was one especially interested observer in all this high drama at the Capitol. That would be Lentz.
He scoffed at Meehan’s claims, and told reporters they should bill the Meehan campaign for the mileage if they drove all the way to Harrisburg to hear his claims.
“He has no evidence rendering me unfit for higher office,” Lentz responded.
We did not make the trip to Harrisburg. We have our hands full here in Delaware County.
We will, however, be closely covering the 7th District race. My hope is that it is carried out on a higher plain than we’ve seen so far.
Petition problems. Bonusgate claims.
Think many people in the 7th District really care about those things? I kind of doubt it. They care about jobs, about health care, about education.
I suppose eventually we’ll get around to those things.
I wouldn’t hold my breath.
This one is nasty. And yesterday the rhetoric got ratcheted up even more.
Lentz started all this, putting a match to the coals in pointing out problems with Meehan’s petitions. Yesterday Meehan threw a little gas on the fire.
The rest of the nation likely will join us in this watching this battle royal to succeed U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak as the 7th District congressman. Sestak is giving up the seat to run for the U.S. Senate. He beat Arlen Specter – and his own party’s leaders – for the right to face Republican Pat Toomey in November.
In the weeks before the primary, Democrat state Rep. Lentz was having a field day with problems with Republican Meehan’s nominating petitions. Even Meehan, the former Delco D.A. and U.S. attorney, admitted some signatures likely were bogus.
At one point Lentz trotted downtown and held a press conference outside the U.S. Courthouse, where Meehan once toiled.
Yesterday Meehan returned the favor.
There was Meehan holding a press conference in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Harrisburg. His claim? He was looking to link Lentz to the Bonusgate scandal sweeping both sides of the aisle in Harrisburg.
Bonusgate centers on the practice of having staff workers do campaign work with taxpayer money. Meehan yesterday was looking to add Lentz’s name to those under the microscope.
Specifically, he alleged that a Lentz campaign worker received close to $10,000 in taxpayer money to do campaign work, including some for Lentz.
Not only has Lentz not been charged in the probe, no one else has tried to connect him to Bonusgate.
“This is a crime scene,” Meehan said while standing in the rotunda. Meehan is not exactly what I would call a splashy guy. But he was in full splendor yesterday. “From inside this Capitol a massive and illegal political operation was conducted on state time with taxpayer money.”
Meehan believes that more than 20 state workers who have been tied to the Bonusgate probe can also be traced to doing work for the Lentz campaign.
There was one especially interested observer in all this high drama at the Capitol. That would be Lentz.
He scoffed at Meehan’s claims, and told reporters they should bill the Meehan campaign for the mileage if they drove all the way to Harrisburg to hear his claims.
“He has no evidence rendering me unfit for higher office,” Lentz responded.
We did not make the trip to Harrisburg. We have our hands full here in Delaware County.
We will, however, be closely covering the 7th District race. My hope is that it is carried out on a higher plain than we’ve seen so far.
Petition problems. Bonusgate claims.
Think many people in the 7th District really care about those things? I kind of doubt it. They care about jobs, about health care, about education.
I suppose eventually we’ll get around to those things.
I wouldn’t hold my breath.
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