Team Meehan

From P-G politics editor Jim O'Toole:

Team Meehan sends along the order of battle for its anticipated assault on the governor's mansion:

As you'd expect, there's lots of Specter and Santorum alumni in the group.

Chris Mottola and Mike Hudome will be consultants on media.

Mr. Mottola's worked on campaigns for John McCain, former President George W. Bush, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Arlen Specter, who's also Mr. Meehan's old boss.

Mr. Hudome is president of MH Media, and was a founding member of Foxhole Productions, the media team for Mr. McCain's presidential campaign.

Craig Snyder, managing partner of Ikon Public Affairs signs on as general consultant. He's a former chief of staff to Mr. Specter,

Vince Galko gets the title senior advisor. He's been around the block in Republican state politics. A former executive director of State Committee, he was campaign manager for Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta in his unsuccessful bid to oust Rep. Paul Kanjorski last year. He worked in the Department of Education during the second Bush administration and he's also served on the staffs of former Sen. Rick Santorum and Mr. Specter

Tony Fabrizio's the pollster. His resume goes back to the Bob Dole '96 presidential campaign and more recently worked for Minnesota's Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the GOP rising star who was supposedly on the McCain short list for VP.

Mindy Finn's handling new media. She played a similar role for the Mitt Romney presidential bid and once handled digital duties for the Santorum Senate staff.

Another Santorum alum, Virginia Davis, modestly listed herself last on the press release. Pennsylvania reporters remember her as a patient and cheerful presence as Rick was heading off the cliff, trailing warnings of Islamo-facist Armageddon behind him, during the 2006 Senate race against now Sen. Bob Casey.

American Idol Democrats

Timothy McNulty | March 31, 2009

Another react on Toomey-Specter from last weekend's Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, this time from conservative journal Human Events (via GrassrootsPa):

But did this switch really help Specter on the right? Not by a long shot -- not with this crowd, at least. PLCers for the most part seized on Specter's read-the-fine-print statement that "I would be willing to consider [EFCA] when the economy returns to normalcy" as a sign he could go back to supporting the measure once renominated. As State Rep. Curt Schroder of Exton said, "It's never a good time to infringe on the secret ballot."

The other case heard for renominating Specter is nervousness about the big edge Pennsylvania Democrats now have in registered voters.

"My biggest concern is whether Pat Toomey can win in November," Pittsburgh CPA Bob Doddato said, emphasizing that he is neutral in the primary, "At a time when Democrats had a 1.2 million voter advantage over Republicans, there is something to be said for Specter being able to draw more Democrats in the general election. And if [Democratic Gov.] Eddie Rendell senses Toomey will win the nomination next May, he could strongarm a heavyweight Democrat like [State Auditor General] Jack Wagner into the Senate race." (So far, the lone Democratic Senate hopeful is former Constitution Center CEO Joe Torsella; all signs are Wagner will run for governor next year).

But, as always seemed to be the case with arguments for conservatives to swallow Specter, there were second opinions. Over coffee following Toomey's speech, Lancaster County GOP Committeewoman Ann Womble told me: "These new voters who have registered since '08 are like those who turn out for American Idol. They were motivated by one ‘star,' Barack Obama, but they won't be driven to turn out the same way in an off-year for a lower office. The people who will be motivated are the people you see here who stood up and cheered Pat Toomey."

PS, Toomey is supposed to appear with Joe the Plumber at the Capitol today, after appearing in Pittsburgh last night.

Politics on oversight board

Timothy McNulty | March 31, 2009

Republicans had submitted former Erie congressman Phil English's name for Gov. Ed Rendell's stimulus board, but his Democratic successor blackballed him, according to the Morning Call:

Gov. Ed Rendell officially created the Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission last week, a 13-member panel charged with overseeing the state's allocation of federal dollars within the stimulus plan.

Among the appointees are members of the state House and Senate, as well as federal lawmakers. Noticeably absent, though, is former Republican Rep. Phil English, who the Republican delegation in D.C. nominated to the panel. English's successor, Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper, was apparently upset about the nomination and word got through to Rendell that Democrats weren't happy, staffers say.

The governor's office says it has not yet spoken directly with English to confirm the appointment.

Eat your heart out, Keith Olbermann

Mackenzie Carpenter | March 30, 2009

Here's some news guaranteed NOT to make Keith Olbermann happy:  According to an email that just arrived, Bill O'Reilly's show, "The O'Reilly Factor has made television history by marking an unprecedented 100th consecutive month as the number one program on cable news, according to Nielsen Media Research."

According to the ratings tracker, Mr. O'Reilly's show "led all programs with an average of 3,443,000 viewers in March, commanding the 8PM time slot and beat all the competition combined in that hour."

Not only that, the program has posted a 29% year to year growth in viewership and a 44% increase in viewers age 25-54.

There are more numbers, but they all same the same thing, basically:  that Bill O'Reilly -- and Fox News -- is kicking some serious butt around cable TV in age of the Obama administration.  Heck, even the New York Times has noticed.

Aw, shucks, said Mr. O'Reilly, in response to the news: "I think it's because we give stuff away or maybe folks just find the hour honest and fun to watch."

Fun?  Ahem. I wonder what U.S. Rep. Barney Frank thinks about that...

Wine, gift boxes and Lexuses

Timothy McNulty | March 30, 2009

More on Murtha, PMA and a federal investigation today in the NYT:

That impresario act - pulling bottles from the private wine locker labeled "Mags" to entertain lawmakers at the clubby Capital Grille steakhouse, sending gift baskets or wine to lawmakers and their aides, or leasing each of his lobbyists a Lexus - helped Mr. Magliocchetti, a protégé of the powerful Representative John P. Murtha, build his lobbying firm into one of the 10 biggest in Washington.

Now, however, Mr. Magliocchetti's generosity is coming to an abrupt halt: his firm, the PMA Group, is closing its doors next week, after reports that federal prosecutors had recently raided his office and his home.

. . . The ethics code bars lawmakers or staff members from accepting free meals or gifts worth more than $50 or a total of more than $100 over the course of a year.

And several former PMA lobbyists and former Congressional staff members, speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation from lawmakers close to Mr. Magliocchetti, said that for decades he sought loopholes to shower food, drink and gifts on the members and staff members of the House defense appropriations subcommittee.

He regularly arranged food deliveries for late-working committee staff members, for example, taking advantage of an exception written into the fine print of the ethics code, the former PMA lobbyists and Congressional staff members said. And each year he hosted lawmakers and their staff members at a legendary Christmas party at the Alpine or, more recently, at the Army Navy golf club, that fit into a gift-rule exception for "widely attended events."

Mr. Magliocchetti helped pioneer the lucrative specialty of helping contractors lobby for military earmarks, the several billion dollars in pet spending items that members of the panel insert in annual spending bills, often with little oversight.

Mr. Magliocchetti came to know Mr. Murtha more than 20 years ago, working as a Navy budget analyst for the subcommittee during the Reagan boom in military budgets. Both grew up in Western Pennsylvania - Mr. Murtha in Johnstown, and Mr. Magliocchetti in Pittsburgh.

And when the aide left to start his lobbying firm in 1989, he helped Mr. Murtha recruit major military contractors to attend a new annual trade fair in Johnstown that became the cornerstone of the lawmaker's effort to steer business to the area.

Mr. Magliocchetti set up shop at the busy intersection between political fund-raising and taxpayer spending, directing tens of millions of dollars in contributions to lawmakers while steering hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarked contracts back to his clients.

Since 1998, for example, employees of the firm and its clients have contributed more than $40 million to lawmakers, including more than $7.8 million to members on the House defense spending panel and $2.4 million to Mr. Murtha, its chairman. The same lawmakers, meanwhile, have helped finance hundreds of pet projects sought by PMA clients, including earmarks for more than $300 million in the military spending bill passed last year alone. And PMA, still owned by Mr. Magliocchetti until its collapse, grew into a K Street powerhouse with more than $15 million a year in lobbying fees.

Questionable contributions linked to PMA employees appear to be one subject of the federal investigation, which came to light with reports that teams of F.B.I. agents had searched Mr. Magliocchetti's home and the offices of PMA in Northern Virginia in November. For example, lawmakers have reported more than $150,000 in tandem contributions over the last four years from the sommelier, John Pugliese, and the golf club marketing director, Jon Walker, both of whom live near Mr. Magliocchetti's Florida vacation home and are sometimes listed as PMA employees. Campaign finance reports include another $1.5 million since 2000 from Mr. Magliocchetti's family. And about $95,000 over the last three years was credited to Julie Giardina, a 30-year-old lobbyist who joined PMA after a stint as a Defense Department employee working for Mr. Murtha's staff.

Should Corbett step down?

Timothy McNulty | March 30, 2009

Pa's House Majority Leader Todd Eachus sends off a trial balloon to PoliticsPa today -- to avoid a conflict of interest, shouldn't Tom Corbett think about stepping down as AG if he's running for guv? Another GOP contender, Pat Meehan, seems to be wondering the same thing:

HARRISBURG- House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne County) questioned Monday whether Attorney General Tom Corbett should continue as the states top prosecutor while running for governor, asking if the presumed Republican gubernatorial front-runner can balance each full-time commitment.

Eachus cited the example set by Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, who stepped down as the states attorney general in February because he said he could not balance both responsibilities.

"A campaign for governor demands a full-time candidate," McDonnell said when stepping down from his position, according to The Washington Times ."The office of the attorney general is the commonwealth's law firm and demands a full-time attorney general."

The Virginia gubernatorial election is this fall.

Eachus clearly meant to send a strong signal by citing McDonnells case, but he declined to ask Corbett directly to step down.

. . . Eachus statement on Monday meant he is the second high-profile Pennsylvania official to publicly question whether Corbett should resign. In an interview last weekend with PoliticsPA.com at the Pennsylvania Leader Conference in Harrisburg, GOP gubernatorial rival Pat Meehan said he stepped down as a U.S. attorney while prosecuting former state Sen. Vince Fumo because he did not want even the appearance of partisanship.

I think politics and prosecution are a very dangerous mix, he said.

Like Eachus, Meehan declined to say whether Corbett should step down, but his comments were the sharpest so far in the race for governor from either party.

When asked by a reporter whether Meehan was similarly a good example for Corbett to follow, Eachus responded, I think you could use that example if you wish.

Traction for Murtha ethics probe

Timothy McNulty | March 30, 2009

Republicans are inching closer to securing an ethics investigation of Jack Murtha, due to increased votes from conservative Democrats (including those in the Blue Dog coaltion), Politico reports:

A trickle of defections has Democratic House leaders wondering how long they can hold off calls for an investigation into the PMA Group and its ties to Pennsylvania Rep. John P. Murtha.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) got only 17 Democratic votes when he introduced a privileged resolution in February calling for an ethics investigation into "the relationship between earmark requests already made by members and the source and timing of past campaign contributions."

But Flake has kept trying - the sixth version of his resolution comes up for a vote this week - and he's picked up support from eight Democrats who voted against his initial resolution.

And that has Democratic leaders worried.

"We are keeping our ear pretty close to the ground on this," said a senior Democratic aide.

The aide noted that there has been "no groundswell of support" for Flake's resolutions - and that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) remains dead set against an investigation. Still, he said, House Democrats - who took power promising to "drain the swamp" in Washington - "may only be one bad story away from seeing some big break."

"It's a very slow trickle at this point, but that could change," the aide said.

. . . Four similarly positioned Democrats joined them on the second vote: Alabama Rep. Bobby Bright, whose conservative district requires him to vote with the GOP on most controversial measures; Illinois Rep. Bill Foster, elected last year to the seat vacated in 2007 by former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert; and two first-term Democrats who knocked off incumbent Republicans last fall - Idaho Rep. Walt Minnick and Florida Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, who made ethics a centerpiece of her campaign against then-GOP Rep. Tom Feeney.

. . . Then, last week, South Dakota Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and Indiana Rep. Baron Hill - co-chairmen of the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs - sided with Flake and other Republicans to call for a vote on the resolution. Days earlier, Hill had signaled his unease by voting "present" on another version of Flake's privileged resolution. They were joined on this most recent vote by Washington Rep. Adam Smith, who runs the New Dems' political action committee.

The liberal blog DailyKos has called for an investigation too.

If you missed it, see Dennis Roddy's story on Murtha, PMA and earmarks here, which was also linked by Politico today.

Reid reached out to Specter

Timothy McNulty | March 30, 2009

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talked to Arlen Specter about switching parties, but it went nowhere, CQ reports (via GrassrootsPa):

Reid acknowledged that he had reached out to Specter, a moderate Republican, to try to convince him to abandon the GOP. Democrats have long courted Specter, who is expected to draw a primary challenge in 2010.

But Reid said Specter effectively answered the question on March 24 by announcing he would vote against limiting debate on a major Democratic priority - so-called "card check" legislation that would ease union organizing rules.

"Yes, I've talked to him," Reid said about Specter. "But I think he - in coming out against card check - kind of stopped everyone from being able to help him."

GOP: hitting each other with sticks

Timothy McNulty | March 30, 2009

We've known all along that this Arlen Specter reelection race is going to be fun. (It already is: his early announcement last week about opposing card-check was the first unexpected turn.) Check out all the juicy stuff in this Inquirer story about a conservative conference in Harrisburg this weekend, including anonymous attack flyers about guv candidate Pat Meehan, the Messiah-like treatment of Pat Toomey, alleged double crossing of Senate candidate Peg Luksik, and the need for men to hit each other with sticks:

In a keynote address to the group, Toomey fell short of a formal announcement, but he fired up a crowd of about 600 with a denunciation of the government's "lurch to the left." The passion to topple Specter even spilled over into the part of the program dedicated to hearing from three likely Republican candidates for governor.

First, an anonymous attack flier on all the tables listed former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan's connections to "Liberal Benedict Arlen." Then, during a question-and-answer period, several audience members demanded to know where each candidate stood on the primary.

"We have our own situations we're worried about," joked Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.), who said he was there to discuss gubernatorial issues. State Attorney General Tom Corbett also passed.

"I'm not going to duck the question," Meehan said, adding that he had worked for Specter and would probably vote for him, though he does not always agree with the incumbent. "I'm sure he can stand on his feet and defend his record, as we are, and we should be judged on our own individual records," Meehan said. He earned a round of respectful applause from parts of the room.

The conference brought together activists from different elements of the conservative movement: homeschoolers, creationists, antiabortion groups, business interests, small-government libertarians. Organizers said this year's attendance was a record.

Earlier, Toomey said that Specter had to go because he had been complicit in programs that violated GOP small-government ideals.

"Now I don't often quote Barack Obama . . . but in this case I'll make an exception: It's time for change," Toomey told the crowd. "I believe that a Republican senator from Pennsylvania ought to stand up for the commonsense conservative principles that are at the heart of the Republican idea, that really are at the heart of the American dream."

He ran against Specter in 2004, coming within 17,000 votes of toppling him.

Toomey was preaching to the choir in the ballroom at the Four Points Sheraton in Harrisburg.

"The biggest problem I have with Arlen Specter is he's not defined," said Lou Petolicchio, an activist from Myerstown, in Lebanon County. "I can't trust where he's coming from. I don't know who he is. For the first four years of a term, he votes like Ted Kennedy, then for two he tries to show he's a Republican."

Peg Luksik, an antiabortion activist who ran for governor three times in the 1990s, already is in the race against Specter. She spoke on a panel about pro-family policies, and told reporters she would stay in the race. Some conservatives said they needed to rally around the one candidate with the best chance of winning, to avoid splitting the anti-Specter vote.

Luksik, 53, said that Toomey told her directly in February that he was not going to run against Specter and instead would try for governor. Some of her backers have suggested that Luksik was double-crossed, but she said yesterday that she would not regard Toomey's reversal as a betrayal.

"Believe me, I have five boys, so I understand that these two men have a long personal and rather vindictive history, and that there's a real desire for the two of them to go and hit each other with sticks," Luksik said. "I get that."

Nearly everyone at the conference was wearing a Toomey for Senate button, the P-G's Tom Barnes notes.

The limo promise

From Rich Lord:

Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Carmen L. Robinson is asking high school seniors to submit their ideas for keeping talented youth in the city. Ms. Robinson, a 40-year-old Hill District attorney, is offering the three seniors with the best ideas "a limo package for their upcoming prom," her campaign announced in a Sunday evening news release. Ideas are due by April 19 to info@carmenformayor.com, and winners will be announced two days later.

Ms. Robinson faces Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, 29, and Councilman Patrick Dowd, 41, in the May 19 Democratic primary.