Campaign Robocalls

Enjoy the Republican rhetoric!

More mail in PA State House District 16

Some great Kathy Coder negative mail that was sent out recently. Since she is distorting Rep. Rob Matzie's record, I see nothing wrong with going after tax issues like this. I believe many personal issues should be left our of politics, but paying your taxes and arrest records aren't personal in my opinion.

 

More negative mail from Kathy Coder

Kathy Coder continues her attack of State Rep. Rob Matzie. In this mailer she claims that Rep. Rob Matzie raised 'your' taxes by $1 billion. Ms. Coder and the PA GOP point to budget votes that Rep. Matzie made. I know the personal income tax level hasn't been increased since 2003, so what taxes if Ms. Coder referring too? If it is all about corporate taxes, I wonder what other revenue that the GOP and Ms. Coder would have had to raise to offset those businesses taxes? I believe she is referring to a vote against a cut in the corporate tax rate, and not a vote to 'raise' taxes, but I'm not positive.

 

To claim that a Democrat that spoke out against the cuts to education in Mr. Corbett's budgets proposals didn't vote to 'restore' education funding is just ridiculous. If people believe these twists and turns they haven't paid any attention to the way Governor Corbett and Ms. Coder's Republican friends have been governing Pennsylvania over the last 2 years.

 

Also, I believe that picture that is used in this mailer is from PCN and should not be used for political purposes. I have spoken about PCN's rule before. 

 

 

Do Republican voters not have to show ID for the August 7th Special Election?

SPECIAL ELECTION - AUGUST 7, 2012 - PA STATE SENATE, DIST. 40

Here is another mailer that Rep. Randy Vulakovich sent out to Republican voters. Other than Mr. Vulakovich running with his lie that he doesn't take 'perks' from Harrisburg, there is a interesting little thing about the absentee ballot application that is included. This is what the official PA Department of State absentee ballot looks like. It includes a section asking for your PA Driver's Licence number or the last 4 digits of your Social Security number. However on the Randy Vulakovich absentee ballot application, there is no section asking for identification numbers.

The Democratic candidate, Dr. Sharon Brown, is using these absentee ballot applications that clearly ask for identification numbers.

So why don't the Republicans have to go by the same voter identification laws (that they created and Mr. Vulakovich voted for) and claim that the Voter ID legislation isn't about suppressing the vote?

Why does Randy keep getting away with his lie about not taking 'perks?' When will candidates stop lying in campaign materials? When will the press call them out for these lies?

The Short Memory of the American People

As we have heard every single argument out there against the Affordable Care Act of 2010, the most prevalent complaint is always about the individual mandate. For all those people out there that think they are libertarian (but also want to tell people how to live life by their white Christian morals), penalizing someone for not buying something is a ridiculous overstepping of federal power and unprecedented.

Some examples from the talking heads and candidates about Obamacare being unprecedented:

Bachmann:

On Starting Point this morning, Rep. Bachmann argued that Obamacare was an “unprecedented” way to force Americans to buy a product or service “because that individual breathes.” http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rep-michele-bachmann-bashes-unprecedented-wildly-unpopular-obamacare-on-cnn/

Rush:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/04/02/the_obamacare_mandate_is_unprecedented

The question I want answered is how the ‘Obamacare’ penalty is any different than the Medicare Part B and Part D penalties that have existed for years?

The Medicare Part B penalty was put in place in 1965 and the Part D penalty was put in place in 2003. In fact many of the current Republican Congressman and Senators voted in favor of the part D penalty that punishes you for not purchasing a part D prescription drug plan from a private insurance company.

Would one Republican please take the time to tell me how the Affordable Care Act penalty is different than the Part B and Part D penalties that exist for Medicare?

From the PG: New charges filed against Janine Orie

New charges filed against Janine Orie
Justice Melvin's staff offers testimony

Saturday, December 17, 2011
By Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Leaning on new testimony from several current and former workers for state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, prosecutors filed a slew of new charges in the ongoing corruption probe against her sisters Janine, her former judicial aide, and state Sen. Jane Orie.

Detectives for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. filed five new charges against Janine Orie, one of them saying she directed a judicial staffer to destroy campaign computer files before they could be seized by investigators in late 2009.

A grand jury report also includes claims from court workers for Justice Melvin that they have been doing political work for her on state time over two decades in office. No charges were filed against the Supreme Court justice, and a spokesman for Mr. Zappala would not comment on whether any were forthcoming.

Dressed in a red jacket and black skirt, Janine Orie said just one sentence following her arraignment before Magisterial District Court Judge Nancy Longo: "My faith will get me through this."

Her brother, Jack Orie, used slightly stronger words to describe the new charges. "My family is quite disappointed in the amoral district attorney for filing charges with no merit against my sister Janine."

Janine Orie was released Friday night on her own recognizance and is due to appear in court again on Tuesday.

The 29-page grand jury presentment released Friday contains loads of new material claiming Janine Orie -- while an aide to then Superior Court Justice Melvin -- played a key role in working on her sister's successful 2009 Supreme Court run. Her sister Jane, a Republican state senator from McCandless, has been charged with doing similar work in her state office.

The presentment said Janine Orie worked on the 2009 campaign and another in 2003 in court offices; directed other court workers to campaign, sometimes under orders from her two sisters; and when investigators began looking into the work, directed another aide to copy and then destroy campaign-related files on the court computer network.

Read more: http://www.postgazette.com/pg/11351/1197578-54.stm#ixzz1go1sqq4m

Raja sure acts like a politician

Just saying 'I'm not a politician' is not enough to convince me you aren't going to act like the stereotypical politician.

Example 1: Misleading negative ads

I have been very frustrated by the attack ads that Raja have been running against Rich Fitzgerald. One of the most frustrating claims that I have heard Raja repeat over and over is that Rich Fitzgerald is a 'career politician.' I would like to know what Raja believes the definition of the word career is. Fitzgerald graduated from college in 1981 so I will give him about a 30 year professional career. He has been on Allegheny County Council since 1999. 11 years out of 30 is hardly a political career when most of the first 19 years were spent not working in politics. On another note, a county council member makes $9,000 a year. I don't know anyone that would call a job that only pays $9,000 a year a career. Let me re-word that, I don't know any American that would call a job that pays $9,000 a year a career. Maybe that is good money to workers in India that work for Raja's company.

Example 2: More misleading negative ads

I also can't stand the ad with lies that no one, including the media, will take the time to fact check.



The largest tax increase in Allegheny County? Might want to check the revenue from the RAD tax in the 1990's. Haven't we heard this unchecked lie before? Oh that's right, our current Governor hammered Onorato with this same lie last year.

The Corbett campaign even would give credit to the Tribune Review as the source for this so called 'fact.' If you take the time to actually check the article you will see that the 'largest tax increase in Allegheny County history' quote is nothing more than a comment made by an uninformed lobbyist that had an agenda. Glad to see the Tribune Review fact checked that one.

Example 3: Forcing us to read between the lines while denying an accusation.

So the Fitzgerald campaign has gone hard after Raja's company for outsourcing, not paying the minimum wage to his workers, and for suing his employees. I have yet to see a response that either actually denies these accusations or gives enough of an explanation to make me doubt the Fitzgerald camp's attacks.

Some of Raja's responses:

My opponent is trying to distract you from my awesome plans!

My opponent should be ashamed of attacking me about my cutthroat business decisions!

94% of my payroll is in the United States! (No, I'm not going to tell you how much of that 94% is mine, and how cheap it is to employ people in my hometown in India)

I have created thousands of family substaining jobs! I think you are stupid enough to ignore that I don't have to pay as much in India to substain a family.

I could have taken my company anywhere, but I choose Allegheny County! However, I'm also going to tell you how horrible it is here because of 80 years of Democrats being in charge. Wait, why did I pick Allegheny County again?

At the end of the day, Raja sure looks, acts, and talks like a politician. One that is having a hard time not tripping over his own feet.

Is a local Republican using government for personal gain? Again?

Back in March, the North Hills Exposure blog pointed out that Ross Township Commissioner Grace Stanko could be in trouble for a violation of the Ethics Act. You can read more about this issue at the Tribune Review also.

A recent article was written at the North Hills Patch about a $142,500 federal grant that Ross Township received for the Perrysville business district. In the article Ross Township Commissioner Stanko is mentioned as lobbying for the grant. Why wouldn't she have asked for this grant? The printing business that her husband owns and prints for government materials for Ross Township will benefit from that federal grant.

The ironic thing about Commissioner Stanko is that she is a proud Republican. So that same grant that she is happy about came from many federal officials that she doesn't support. (Dems: Obama/Altmire/Casey - Republican Toomey can get credit for this too as a federal official for Ross Township)

Isn't the GOP strongly against programs like this when our government is in debt? The grant itself came from HUD. Most Republicans want to get rid of HUD! I guess government spending is only wasteful to Republicans if these programs are benefiting someone other than themselves.