Category: Election 2012

Toeing GOP Line In Welch Endorsement

Toeing GOP Line In Welch Endorsement — The York 912 Patriots have compiled a list of state Republican Committee members who voted to give  Steve Welch  the party’s endorsement  for the U.S. Senate Primary this April 24.

Welch is a Chester County businessman who supported Barack Obama and liberal Democrat Congressman Joe Sestak.

He won the endorsement with 182 votes with the rest being split by Tom Smith, Tim Burns,  Sam Rohrer and Marc
Scaringi  with several abstentions.

The party establishment — and especially Gov. Tom Corbett — put unprecedented pressure on committee members to vote for Welch.

The intimidation reportedly even caused some to break down in tears.

Of course some were happy to put party over principle and didn’t need threats to vote as they were told.

The winner of the primary — who does not have to be the one who the establishment endorsed, and Sam Rohrer, for one, is running  hard for the seat — faces Democrat incumbent Bob Casey in November.

Here is the list compiled by the York 912 Patriots.

Tea Party activist Bob Guzzardi notes that all committee members from Delaware and Chester counties voted for Welch albeit eight from Montco voted for Tom Smith with one voting for Tim Burns.

 

Toeing GOP Line In Welch Endorsement

Toeing GOP Line In Welch Endorsement

Sam Rohrer’s Schedule

Franklin County

Event: Town Hall with Sam
When: 7-9 p.m., Feb.10
Where: Franklin Fire Company Social Hall: 158 West King Street in Chambersburg, PA  17201

Columbia County

Event: Coffee with Sam
When: 10-11:30 a.m., Feb. 11
Where: Budget Host – Patriot Inn: 6305 Columbia Boulevard, (I-80 exit 241A) Bloomsburg PA 17815

Northumberland County

Event: Town Hall with Sam
When: 7-9 p.m.
Where: Where: Old YMCA, 235 Market Street, Sunbury PA 17801

Goldman Sachs Backs Mitt Gay Marriage

Goldman Sachs Backs Mitt Gay Marriage — Bloomberg.com reported, Feb. 1,  that Goldman Sachs Group  workers contributed $106,580 to Mitt Romney’s presidential bid in the fourth quarter of last year and that  Goldie is his largest source of  campaign bucks at a half-million total so far.

Goldman Sachs does like to spread its money around. It gave boatloads to Barack Obama and got Timothy Geithner as secretary of the treasury in return, along with a whole lot of bonus people.

And it gave boatloads to George W. Bush, and got Henry “TARP ’em” Paulson as secretary of the treasury along with a whole lot of bonus people. Bush, by the way, was the one who picked Geithner for  president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In other Goldman Sachs news, its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, became the first national corporate spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual advocacy group.

Blankfein made this video for them declaring his support for anal-sex marriage.

 

 Goldman Sachs Backs Mitt Gay Marriage

Sam Rohrer Schedule

Sam Rohrer Schedule — I’m pretty confident that I will be voting for Sam Rohrer on April 24 but if any other candidate wants to submit a public event schedule, I’ll be happy to use it:

Lackawanna County
Event: Town Hall with Sam
When: 7 -9 p.m., today, Feb. 6
Where: Ramada Inn Clarks Summit820 Northern Blvd., Clarks Summit, PA 18411

Lackawanna County
Event: Coffee with Sam
When: 8:30-10 a.m., Feb. 7
Where: Iron Skillet Restaurant, 98 Grove Street, Dupont, PA 18641

Snyder County
Event: Coffee with Sam
When: 8:30-10:30 a.m., Feb. 8
Where: Wendt’s Pork Palace, 950 Route 522, Selinsgrove, PA 17870

Centre County
Event: Town Hall with Sam
When: 7:30-9:30 p.m
Where: The Ramada Conference Center, 1450 South Atherton Street, State College, PA

 

Sam Rohrer Schedule

Don’t Rule Out Chris Christie Just Yet

Don’t Rule Out Chris Christie Just Yet

By Chris Freind

About the only job better than weatherman –
where you can get it wrong half the time and still remain employed – is
political pundit. These guys make an art out of looking dumb, and doing
so with authority.

In the last few years alone, we have been told
that Obama had zero chance of beating Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney was
sure to be the GOP nominee in 2008, and now, the President can’t win
re-election because Romney will beat him. That last prediction, of
course, is predicated upon Romney winning the Republican nomination,
which the pundit brain trust is now telling us is a done deal after
Mitt’s victory in Florida.

But just as it wasn’t over when the
Germans bombed Pearl Harbor, as Blutarsky taught us in ‘Animal House,’
this race is far from over.

And the most comedic part is that the
“experts” don’t even know it. If they just took a walk outside their
ivory towers, they would discover that there are still many elections –
not coronations – yet to come, and that Newt Gingrich hasn’t been
vanquished.

This is not to say that Romney won’t end up the
winner. In fact, that’s a good bet since he has money and organization
advantages over Gingrich. But to say it’s all but over is simply
foolish.

Cutting through the pundits’ white noise, it is worth
looking at where the race really stands. Never before have there been
three different winners in the first three contests, so that alone
should be a caution sign for traditional predictions. Mitt Romney has
won two of the four contests, including the winner-take-all state of
Florida, and yet the total number of delegates awarded so far amounts to
just 5 percent.

Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, for various reasons,
cannot win the nomination, but they can and will garner delegates, as
many states award delegates on a proportional basis based on popular
vote.

Without question, Gingrich will be in the hunt for the long
haul. Following a disappointing fifth-place finish in New Hampshire,
after which the “experts” wrote him off for good, he roared back to a
thundering victory in South Carolina. In all likelihood, he will win a
number of states on Super Tuesday, and in the contests that he doesn’t,
will post strong second-place finishes.

(There is another reason
for Gingrich to stay in the race: the possibility that Romney will say
or do something that would catastrophically implode his candidacy. Mitt
came close this week when he said “I’m not concerned about the very poor
…You can focus on the very poor, that’s not my focus.” Such blunders
run in the family, as his father, former Michigan Gov. George, crushed
his quite viable presidential aspirations by stating he was
“brainwashed” into supporting the Vietnam War. The game was over the
very instant he uttered that word.)

Short of a Romney implosion,
Gingrich won’t win the nomination outright, but the impact of his
candidacy could be substantially greater: he may deny Romney the prize.
If the three “challengers” to Romney can keep Mitt from attaining that
“50 percent plus one” number, it’s a whole new ballgame.

And while such a scenario was unthinkable to many pundits just a few weeks ago, it is becoming increasingly plausible.

An
often overlooked but extremely important factor in determining the
nominee is that many of the states have different legal rules concerning
their delegates. A handful of states, including delegate-rich
Pennsylvania, do NOT require their delegates to commit for the candidate
who won the state. Put in layman’s terms, come convention time,
delegates from the Keystone State can cast votes for any person they
wish, whether or not the candidate won the state or even participated in
the primary process.

Obviously, in normal election years, party
unity is assured because the nominee is determined early in the process.
But this year is anything but normal. And there is precedent for
delegates breaking ranks.

In 1980, George H.W. Bush handily won
the primary election in Pennsylvania over Ronald Reagan. The Reagan
folks knew they weren’t going to win, so they pulled a coup by ensuring
that the delegates elected were loyal to The Gipper. So despite Bush
winning by 100,000 votes, Reagan emerged with roughly 70 percent of the
state’s delegates morally committed to him.

Given that situation,
a major concern for Romney is getting the right delegates to achieve
the right majority. But since Mitt has been running for president for
five years, spent hundreds of millions in that endeavor, and still can’t
come close to getting 50 percent of GOP primary voters, that might be a
daunting task.

While still a “long shot” scenario, don’t be
surprised that, after all the states have voted, no one emerges a
winner. If neither Romney nor Gingrich can successfully make a deal with
Paul or Santorum to acquire their delegates, the country may see two
men who despise each other hold a joint press conference announcing
that, for the good of the Party, they are withdrawing from the campaign
and releasing their delegates.

And then it would become the Wild
West. Backroom conventioneering would take on a life of its own, with
countless deals being struck to choose the most unifying Republican
ticket to take on Obama.

And who might top that list? Well, put
it this way. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would do well to start using
a treadmill. More than anyone else, Christie’s ability to tell it like
it is, take no prisoners, and bulldog his way to success – despite major
Democratic majorities in the state assembly – make him a party
favorite. He is one of a very few who commands respect by the
Establishment, rank-and-file grassroots activists, and Tea Parties
alike.

Republicans, Democrats and Independents may not always
agree with Christie, but they always know where he stands, and his
speak-from-the-heart style is a breath of fresh air in a world of sound
bites, talking points and focus groups.

Christie may have
foreseen this scenario, possibly explaining why he declined to run in
the brutal primaries. And for those who predict Christie as a Romney VP,
forget it. He is nobody’s Number Two, and almost certainly would not
sign on to a meaningless ceremonial post when he could have, quite
possibly, captured the top prize for himself had he wanted to do so.

Should Christie decline an offer
made at a brokered convention, the list of frontline candidates grows
relatively thin, but undoubtedly Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Virginia
Gov. Bob McDonnell and, dare we say it – Jeb Bush! – would certainly be
in play.

This scarcity of good candidates is testament to what
happens when a political party refuses to build its bench with folks who
actually believe in things, instead promoting those whose “turn it is.”
Look no further than Bob Dole and John McCain. It’s pretty sad that in
the election many Republicans are calling the most important in American
history, the GOP can muster so few viable contenders.

No matter
how it eventually plays out, the battle for the Republican nomination
will go on for at least the next four months, and that’s a good thing.
Despite the conventional wisdom as postulated by pundits that divisive
primaries only serve to weaken the party’s candidates and needlessly
give an advantage to the opponent, the opposite is true. Combative and
lengthy primaries make candidates stronger, sharper and better prepared
for the rigors of a general election presidential campaign. Barack Obama
proved that in his protracted battle with Hillary.

And given
that Obama is in the driver’s seat to emerge victorious in November, a
long primary season – and even a brokered convention – could be just
what the doctor ordered to energize the Republican Party and unify what
is now a very discontented base.

President Christie, anyone?

Medicare Fraud Connection Mitt’s Latest Headache

Medicare Fraud Connection Mitt’s Latest Headache — Democrats and supporters of Newt Gingrich are now bringing out Willard Mitt Romney’s connection to Damon Corp, a medical testing company, which  paid  $119 million in fines and civil settlements concerning Medicare fraud in 1996.

Damon was taken over by Romney’s Bain Capital in 1989 and Romney sat on its board from 1990 until 1993 when it was sold to Corning Inc.

The fraud — in which Medicare paid for unnecessary lab work, and a lot of unnecessary lab work it was — allegedly occurred during Romney’s tenure.

Here is a link to the web expose produced by Winning Our Future, a pro-Gingrich super-PAC.

Hat tip, Tom Flocco.



Medicare Fraud Connection Mitt’s Latest Headache

Roger Howard Explains Pileggi Challenge

Roger Howard Explains Pileggi Challenge — Roger Howard in his own press release spells out why he is challenging Pa. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9) in this April’s primary.

Here it is, with a hat tip to Bob Guzzardi:

Roger Howard will be challenging Senator Dominic Pileggi in the Republican Primary.  This is the first ever Primary challenge for Pileggi.

Howard, who is seeking to be a citizen legislator, was moved to enter politics after watching the Republican Senate leadership in Harrisburg fail to pass badly needed reforms.  Reforms, he says, which are critical to growing the economy of the District and the Commonwealth.  Unfunded pension liabilities, fraud and abuse of entitlements and a continuation of the Harrisburg ‘political favor factory’ are among top of the list.

“Harrisburg has me worried,” Howard said, “When the Republicans took over Harrisburg in the 2010 elections we, the voters, were promised bold action.  What we have seen is maintaining the status quo; which is to spend now and let future generations pay later.  I can’t sit by and do nothing, as our legislators have done.”

“We are truly a grassroots movement against politics as usual in Harrisburg.  People are fed up and are being energized and involved to secure the financial future for our children and grandchildren.  We are tired of seeing our kids grow up here, get the best education here and then have to leave because there are no jobs,” Howard said.

Roger Howard is a retired chemical engineer who has lived in the 9th Senatorial District for over 20 years.  He served honorably in the 82nd Airborne Division.  He is the proud father of 5 daughters and grandfather to 8 grandkids.  As a patent holder and small businessman he understands how to support entrepreneurs and small businesses.   He is a member of the Coalition of Advancing Freedom in Chester County and has volunteered on local campaigns.  In addition, Howard teaches free Constitutional classes with a focus on securing the blessings of liberty by being informed and involved in government at all levels.

 

Roger Howard Explains Pileggi Challenge

Coalition For Romney

The forces pushing for Mitt Romney to be the Republican nominee include — as one expects — the don’t-rock-the-boat crony capitalists and government insiders for whom the status quo has given comfortable lives.

Joining them, however, are erstwhile firebrands such as Ann Coulter and Matt Drudge, whose DrudgeReport this morning, Jan. 26, featured nine wildly anti-Gingrich stories.

What’s up with that?

It seem the common denominator for Romney supporters are the never having felt the fear of meeting a payroll filled with people one knows and likes, or wondering how one is going to stay in business with the cost of transportation, energy and supplies exploding.

Or working for someone one knows and likes and sees sweating over what sacrifices to make.

Drudge, by the way, is not simply anti-Newt. He was hard on Rick Perry and Herman Cain as well.

I’d vote for Paris Hilton over Barack Obama, but Willard Mitt Romney is my last choice as the GOP nominee.

Rohrer To Hold Town Hall In Newtown

Republican candidate for the US Senate, Sam Rohrer, will hold a town hall meeting, 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 1 at Knights of Columbus Mater Dei Hall, 327 N. Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, PA 19073 in Newtown Township.

For information or to RSVP, please contact Dale Kerns at
kerns4office@gmail.com

GOP Bosses Back Candidate Who Voted For Obama, Sestak

GOP Bosses Back Candidate Who Voted For Obama, Sestak

By Chris Freind

To say the Republican presidential primary has become interesting
would be a gross understatement. With three different winners in the
first three contests—an unprecedented situation—everyone is asking why
the frontrunners keep falling and why the GOP base cannot unite behind a
leader.

Well, hold on to your seat, because here’s a big question: Would you
believe that both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich voted for Barack Obama
in the 2008 primary? And after they became disenfranchised by the
Republican Party for moving too far Left, they decided to do the only
logical thing: become Democrats? And in addition, does it blow your mind
that besides voting for the Big O, they took out their frustrations
over a too-liberal GOP by financially supporting the most far-left
Democrats in the entire Congress?

Seem far-fetched? Well, it is—and it isn’t.

No, of course, Romney and Gingrich didn’t switch parties, vote for
Obama or support liberal Democrats. If either had, it would, without
question, be lunacy for any element of the Republican Party to endorse
them. To many in the GOP, Obama is not just a political adversary but
the Devil Incarnate who must be defeated at all costs. So running
someone against Obama who had previously supported him would be a
surefire recipe for disaster.

In some respects, Jon Huntsman fell victim to this exact situation.
Many Republicans refused to trust him after he served as President
Obama’s ambassador to China, and his candidacy tanked. Likewise, one of
Romney’s biggest obstacles to winning over Republicans stems from his
implementation of an Obamacare-type health-care system in Massachusetts,
since many feel that he would be unable to effectively run against
Obama on that critical issue.

Enter the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

There are seven candidates vying for the opportunity to take on
incumbent Bob Casey. The election is in April, but it’s this Saturday,
January 28th, that may well determine the nominee. That’s when the
Republican State Committee convenes to decide whom it will endorse—if
anyone.

Incomprehensibly, but not surprisingly, certain factions within the
GOP leadership are pushing to endorse Montgomery County’s Steve Welch, a
candidate who:

A.  Became a Democrat because the GOP wasn’t conservative enough.

B. Financially supported (former) Congressman Joe Sestak, one of the most liberal members of Congress.

C. Voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

For those who may think this is also a fairy tale to illustrate a point, think again.

Steve Welch voted for Barack Obama and supported Joe Sestak. So why
on earth would the state committee want to endorse Welch, and in doing
so become the laughingstock of the nation?

Good question. And since committee members are elected officials, perhaps they should be asked that before Saturday’s vote.

This is just another example of brain-dead GOP leadership choosing
laziness over hard work. Since Welch is a millionaire who could
self-fund, GOP leaders wouldn’t have to engage in fundraising activities
(AKA “doing their job”) nearly as much as they would for other plebian
candidates—no matter how much more qualified they may be.

Many GOP faithful want to believe that the majority of the state
committee sees a Welch endorsement for what it would be: a political and
public relations disaster, one that would seriously erode what
credibility Pennsylvania’s Republican Party has left. Such an
endorsement would also cement the growing perception—not incorrect, by
the way—that the only thing of importance to the GOP hierarchy in
choosing a candidate is the size of his wallet. Qualifications? A lot of
money. Period. Republican values? Irrelevant.

Brilliant.

******

Given his recent support of leftist Democrats, would Steve Welch make
a good Republican senator? Tough to tell, but Pennsylvania’s Republican
voters should be the ones making that determination, not party leaders
in a smoke-filled backroom who only see dollar signs from a candidate.

Republicans deserve straight answers from Steve, and to this day,
they really haven’t received them. Did he vote for Obama to spite his
“true” party. Did he truly support him? Or did he do it to stop
“Hillarycare,” as was reported? We don’t know. With those significant
questions unanswered, and by extension, character and judgment issues
swirling around Welch, an endorsement would only serve to muddy the
waters and foster an anger among Republicans that hasn’t been seen in
Pennsylvania in decades.

Amazing as it now seems, Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater girl,
supporting Barry in his presidential election. It took years for her to
evolve into the more liberal Hillary that we know today. So perhaps most
disconcerting is the speed in which Steve Welch evolved with his party
loyalties—and then back again.

If one was disgruntled with the Republicans not being conservative
enough, fine. Many felt the same way. But that’s why God made the
Independent Party.

If one is truly seeking more conservative values, where is the wisdom
and good judgment in switching to a party that, for years, has
unabashedly moved further to the Left? And regarding Obama and Sestak,
give them credit where it’s due: Both were crystal clear about where
they stood on issues. Nationalized health care? Absolutely.
Redistribution of wealth through higher taxes? Yep. More government
spending is the answer, as a paternalistic government knows best?
Without question.

So someone abandoning the Republicans to join the Democrats, and
march behind people such as Obama and Sestak, may well indicate that
person’s true political leanings. All the more reason for such a
candidate to be vetted by ALL Republicans, not just the state committee.

There are some on the right who seem opposed to the endorsement
process every time it rolls around. Yet in many instances, it has its
rightful place, a key instrument in a political party advancing its
vision through whom it deems the best candidate. When candidates are
vetted correctly, with the best interest of the party in mind and not
the selfish agendas of individual leaders, endorsements can be
critically important in winning elections.

But when unprecedented situations arise that scream for an open
primary, endorsements should never be forced, as they will virtually
always backfire.

Given this situation, it absolutely boggles the mind that Tom
Corbett—the Republican governor of Pennsylvania—would not only get
involved in a primary, but would choose to endorse someone with Welch’s
background, as he did last week.

For the good of its party, the Republican State Committee should do
the right thing this weekend by voting for an open primary. If it
chooses to self-destruct by endorsing Steve Welch, that laughing you’ll
hear will be Bob Casey as he wraps up another six-year term 10 months
before the election.

 

GOP Bosses Back Candidate Who Voted For Obama, Sestak