Sestak's people power featured in Inquirer

Day after day, Joe Sestak is campaigning with a kind of energy that Curt Weldon couldn't possibly muster. He makes a daily 5:30 AM trek to a local train or trolley stations to introduce himself. He appears at countless neighbor-to-neighbor events at private homes in the district, such as this one pictured in Weldon's former home turf in Aston. Sestak has made it clear that he's always ready to talk and listen to the citizens of the the 7th district. That's what our district really needs.

Today's Philly Inquirer featured an article about Sestak's campaign. Read it carefully. You'll see Weldon campaign manager Michael Puppio, Jr., making the laughable claim that the national party will be calling all the shots in the campaign from Washington.

Actually, we're never sure who is calling the shots in the Weldon campaign. Lobbyists? The Rev. Sun Myung Moon? Tom Delay's PAC or Russian energy companies who hire his daughter? Weldon's one of the best representatives that money can buy.

Taylor Marsh lets Weldon have it!

Taylor Marsh really give Curt Weldon a hard time and with good reason!
It was originally posted on The Patriot Project, cross-posted at Huffington Post, then on her own blog at www.TaylorMarsh.com.


This graphic is really scary! If you see this and still want to support Weldon, you gotta be goofy!


Marsh goes after Weldon on:

• the attack on Sestak about his daughter
• the swiftboating activities
• the jobs for friends and family
• the crazy search for WMDs
• the push polls

The only thing Taylor Marsh didn't catch Weldon on was for bad breath! It love to see Taylor take a look at his voting record too...and maybe the trips to Russia and North Korea.

Zoom-Zoom-Zoom: Racing for Influence

Ken Silverstein put out another illuminating article on how Weldon's children seem to flourish under the patronage of Weldon's key lobbyists. Harper's Magazine: Another Trip to the Curt Weldon Employment Agency

It turns out that Curt's son, Andrew, decided to become a race car driver. Unlike Speed Racer, Andrew does not have a gifted older brother in the same profession (Racer-X) nor an accomplished mechanic for a father. But, he does have a Daddy in Congress who learned much from his years with Tom Delay.

Outside of NASCAR, it is difficult for someone to make a living driving cars (unless it's a taxi or a limo), much less attract a sponsor.

What are the chances that Andrew not only managed to get a sponsor, but one that lobbies his Daddy? (Based on the careers of two of Andrew's sisters, a guess of 100% would not be outrageous.)

Yep, Curt Weldon's son got Schaffer Motorsports to sponsor him.

Who owns Schaffer Motorsports? Tom Schaffer, a senior employee at Boeing.

What a coincidence! (See my: Weldon's Monkeys with Typewriters for more coincidences.)

Guess who one of the sponsors is of Schaffer Motorsports?

One of the sponsors of Schaffer Motorsports is Boeing Helicopters Credit Union, whose logo appears on the racecar Andrew Weldon drives. Boeing, in turn, is Weldon's top career patron, to the tune of $62,050 in donations.

What a coincidence (or a disgrace)! BTW, donations means contributions listed on the books, not employment for friends and relatives.

However, this shouldn't really be a surprise in the Weldon family. Weldon has been a Congressman for nearly 20 years, not because he earned it, but because he was installed by a Republican political machine in Delaware County that is no stranger to corruption and influence peddling. Why should his kids grow up believing in hard work over patronage?

Sestak's daughter is almost five years old. We don't see Schwinn offering to sponsor her tricycle or Hershey giving her a $500,000/year job as a candy consultant. (And I'm sure we never will.)

Let's hope all those voters in the 7th District, who are sick and tired of politics as usual, will start their engines and drive to the polls for the race on Nov 7th, so we can ALL win for a change.

Zoom-Zoom-Zoom.

AFL-CIO backing Sestak; labor support for Weldon crumbling

As reported by William Bender in today's edition of the Daily Times, the state AFL-CIO is backing Joe Sestak. This is noteworthy, as union support has always been one of Weldon's primary tools for splintering the Democratic coalition. This is the first time that the state's executive committee has backed an opponent of Weldon's since 1988.

But as Weldon has moved uptown from his old working class roots, his voting record has become littered with increasingly anti-union votes.

"He's not that far from becoming a (Rick) Santorum, to be honest about it," said (AFL-CIO President William) George. "People are worried about quality of life issues, not gays," he added, referring to Weldon's vote this month in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.

This is a significant development for a number of reasons that go beyond extra votes from union members. Not only will it help with fundraising and additional volunteer support, but it will also tie the hands of a union faction in Delco that still supports Weldon, preventing them from spending any money in support of the Republican's campaign.

Weldon, GOP swiftboating likely to backfire

Based on polling and fundraising numbers, Weldon clearly understands at a basic level that he's facing a serioius challenger. One of the miscalculations that the Weldon campaign seems to make repeatedly is that they don't understand how much Democrats, grassroots supporters, and the blogosphere haved lined up behind Joe Sestak. Every time they float a mean-spirited attack into the media about Joe, it becomes what in sports parlance is known as "bulletin board material." More donations and volunters flood in, the blogosphere erupts, and soon the media gives more and more attention to the Sestak campaign.

In the most recent quarter, not only did Sestak outraise Weldon, but he did so by collecting donations from nearly ten times as many individual donors as Weldon reported. Weldon continues to milk a few cash cows. Sestak's campaign is on the verge of becoming a movement.

Blogosphere notable Taylor Marsh posted a detailed chronicle of Weldon's history of absurd actions and low blows at The Patriot Project and The Huffington Post.

When she contacted Senator Kerry's office about the unfounded attacks on Joe Sestak, this was statement:

I'd like to know what these Republicans who never wore the uniform of our country have against those who did. I saw what they did to John McCain. I saw what they did to Max Cleland. I saw what they tried to do to Jack Murtha, and now they're trying the same sick tactics against Admiral Sestak. We've got to knock this garbage back forever. Never, never, never again. These Republican hacks just got on the battlefield with the wrong soldiers and we're going to make them regret it every step of the way. It's up to us to make sure this dog won't hunt anymore. No more lies, no more smears; this time we're not just going to defend our brother vet, we're making the Republicans pay.

Think he's a little bit hot under the collar?

Weldon flip-flops to stem the tide, gets new clogs!

From the Delco Dems hotline today, comes this press release.
Weldon in flip-flops provide by the Dems...funny!

Democratic Party Sends Flip-Flops to Weldon
for Flip-Flopping on Stem Cell Research
His callous disregard for those families afflicted by the terrible diseases that stem cell research can one day cure, merits this sarcastic statement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:Cliff Wilson, Delaware County Democratic Party Chair, 610-566-6427, Delcodems@aol.com

July 26, 2006
MEDIA, Pa. - Today, Cliff Wilson, Chairman of the Delaware County Democratic Party, had delivered flips flops to Curt Weldon for flip-flopping on his vote for Stem Cell Research. Last week, Weldon shocked stem cell advocates and probably even himself when he voted to override President Bush's stem cell veto, the first of his presidency.

"I knew Curt was going to try to figure out how to reconnect with his district this campaign season after so many years of losing touch and rubber stamping Bush and the Republican Congress, even he must admit this hollow gesture on stem cell research was the granddaddy of flip flops," said Wilson. "His many years of callous disregard for those families afflicted by the terrible diseases that stem cell research can one day cure merits this sarcastic statement. I hope he wears these flip flops in good health in retirement. His 'Curt Come Lately' flip flop is too little too late."

Curt Weldon on Stem Cell Research in 2005:
"In the end, Mr. Speaker, this is a very personal decision. It is one that I agonized over. I am not a medical professional. I consulted with all four of my friends who are medical doctors in this Chamber. They have studied medicine, they understand medical research, they understand bioethics far better than I ever will, and I come down on their side. I come down on the side of life." (Floor Statement, 5/24/05)

Curt Weldon voted against increasing public funding for stem cell research on a bill that received broad bi-partisan support. The vote was against the final passage of a bill to loosen restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, siding with social conservatives who call the research immoral over patients who have debilitating diseases. President Bush announced in August 2001 that he would allow the federal government to back the research, but only on stem cells that had already been created. Since Bush's announcement, many of the groups of stem cells that were thought to be available for research have turned out to be unusable, and others are now thought to be unsuitable for experiments involving transplantation into patients. The bill passed, 238-194. ( Los Angeles Times , 5/25/05; Chicago Tribune, 5/25/05)

Curt Weldon on Stem Cell Research in 2006:
"I feel that it is important to use my vote to send President Bush a message that stem cell research, although still largely experimental, has shown promise in addressing the myriad of diseases and illnesses that affect our children and families… In the end, I find it difficult to look a mother or father in the eye who has a sick child and tell them I didn't do everything in my power to try to help them find a cure for their child." (Rep. Weldon press release, 7/19/06)
Curt Weldon voted to override the President's veto on a bill he voted against just one year earlier. After being outraised by his Democratic opponent and criticized for his out of the mainstream position on WMD and ties to corrupt lobbyist contracts, Weldon flipped on a key issue by voting to override the President's veto on stem cell research. (HR 810, vote #388, 7/19/06)

Soul Searching... or Poll Searching?

After voting against an expansion of federal funding for stem-cell research last year, Weldon reversed-himself this year and made a hollow vote to override Bush's veto.

According to the Delco Times a Weldon spokesman (not Weldon himself) said that Weldon "changed his mind after hearing from medical researchers and constituents".

Well, the medical researchers and constituents have the same opinions they had last year (and the year before that). Weldon didn't listen to them until he checked the recent polls and began searching for ways to pretend he hasn't been a Bush cheerleader and enabler these past six years.

It has been known for YEARS that the existing federal stem-cell lines were contaminated and less useful than Bush originally pronounced them.

Before Weldon voted, it was already known that the override wouldn't pass. Weldon's vote had no real purpose beyond a feeble attempt at political cover of his support for the Bush adminstration and its flawed policies.

Weldon's spokesman claimed (that Weldon claimed) that it was one of the hardest decisions Weldon's made in 19 years in the House.
Really? One of the hardest decisions?

Was it harder than...

• Senting boys into Iraq without adequate body armor, or even a plan?
  
• Harder than voting against minimum wage increases that would help millions in poverty?
  
• Harder than making prescription drugs less affordable?
  
• Harder than voting for a tax break for the richest one-percent?
  
• Harder than voting for flawed Economic, Engery and Education policies?
  
• Harder than voting to write discrimination into the Constitution?
  
• Harder than planning a secret hunt/photo-op for buried WMD?
  
• Harder than taking money from Abramoff?
  
• Harder than embracing terrorist Quaddafi as a "role model"?
  
• Harder than voting against Terri Schiavo's husband's right to end his wife's suffering?
  
• Harder than campaigning for Bush in 2000 and 2004?
  

Really, Curt? Harder than all that?

Curt, it seems like you've worked too hard and are in need of a LONG rest.

Fortunately, an energetic, young Admiral recently retired from the Navy and is more than happy to relieve you of duty.

Listen to Joe Sestak on Radio Times (WHYY)

Marty Moss-Coane's first hour this morning was an hour-long interview with Joe Sestak!

You can listen to the program via downloadable mp3 or Real Audio if you missed it.

If you can't say something nice... use a Push Poll

Philly Inquirer: Dastardly push polls need to get heave-ho
Most of us can probably remember our moms telling us, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.".

Lest anyone thing I'm being a hypocrit, there is a big difference between satirical criticism of my least favorite congressman on a blog, and that same congressman paying a polling organization to call voters with smears and innuendo about his opponent.

According to the article in the Philly Inquirer, the Weldon camp would have you believe that they did not hire the push poll company (Venture Data) directly. However, Weldon hired Progressive Opinion Strategies which appears to have hired Venture Data (according to the article "are often aligned in polling operations"). Venture Data isn't making the calls for free. And who else besides Weldon's campaign would be interested in the data and paying for it?

If Sestak were to get the campaign equivalent of the PDB (Presidential Daily Briefing), the title would likely be
"Weldon Determined to Attack us by Flying Rumors into Voters".

What kind of rumors?

• Implications that Sestak let Bin Laden get away. Weldon must have Sestak confused with George Bush, who diverted forces to Iraq and let Bin Laden escape.
  
• Soft on terrorism? This from a congressman that bases his policies on a discredited source that claimed Bin Laden was dead.
  
• Tool of the trial lawyers? As opposed to tool of Big Oil, pharmaceutical industry and Russian's biggest energy company?
  

Gee, Curt, you are going to have to do better than that, but the problem is you can't.

The American people want to turn this country back in the right direction and you've voted for the wrong direction too often. Just like a full diaper, it's time for a change.

Weldon dons cool shades, auditions for 007 role

Okay, not really.
But we thought you'd like this photo...


Thanks Wonkette....Priceless!

CQPolitics upgrades Sestak's chances in PA-7

Congressional Quarterly Inc's July 20 2006 article says they are upgrading Joe Sestak's probability of winning the PA-7 Congressional seat.

CQPolitics.com has changed its rating on the race to Leans Republican from the less competitive Republican Favored — a move spurred by the exceptionally strong fundraising numbers that Sestak recently reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), along with other factors suggesting that his bid is increasingly competitive.

The changed ranking means that Weldon still has an edge, but that the race is highly competitive, and an upset by Sestak is at least a plausible possibility. CQPolitics.com presently places 37 districts — 26 held by Republicans and 11 by Democrats — in its most competitive categories of No Clear Favorite and Leans Democratic or Republican.

Sestak is making his first foray as a political candidate, but has quickly emerged as one of the best-financed and most impressive challengers in this year’s national House campaign.

In other news about the overall Dem efforts, today's CQPolitics.com article says:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) reported raising $10.3 million in June and ended the month with $31.9 million left to spend in this year’s competitive national House campaign, according to documents filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission.

On both counts, the DCCC outpaced its partisan counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which took in $9.5 million last month and has $26.5 million left to spend.

I think it's simply that people...lots of people...have had enough!

Weldon's Monkeys with Typewriters

Some of you may have heard that if you had a room full of monkeys typing randomly, they would eventually type out the complete works of Shakespeare. (Of course the catch is that it would take many times the life of the universe itself to get even one play.)

Well, the monkeys running Weldon's campaign seem to have beat the odds and typed out exactly the same content for Weldon's campaign site that appears on his taxpayer funded Congressional website. What a coincidence!

In 2003, Jack Abramoff funnels $2000 to Weldon's election campaign. Many votes later... on January 3rd of this year, Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to corrupting public officials. The next day, Weldon donates his Abramoff $2,000 to a local charity. The following day, a Weldon supporter donates exactly $2,000 to Weldon. This is the only individual donation listed for Jan 2006. What a coincidence!
From Weldon's own FEC filings:
Weldon's contribution, #8 from bottom.
Donations, see entry #5


In 2002, Weldon gave a speech on the House floor praising a Russian natural gas company, Itera. Four days later, his daughter's "consulting" company lands a half-million a year contract with (you guessed it) Itera. What a coincidence!
LA Times, Feb 20, 2004

After 6 years as a Bush cheerleader, the failed policies that Weldon supported have anchored him to the now unpopular president. It is not a coincidence that voters in the 7th are looking for a change this November.

P.S. This entire blog entry was typed by monkeys.

Weldon quickly chops up his campaign website to cover ethics violation.

After reading the July 19, 2006 article in The Hill, a little investigation on the Wayback Machine at www.archive.org (a pretty cool site that archives old versions of websites) shows that Weldon's web developers had to scramble to hastilty get rid of the photos and bio info taken from his Congressional website, in violation House ethics committee rules. Check out these before and after screen shots from Weldon's congressional site, his old website, and his new chopped up site. You can click each photo to go that web page.
































And the bio pages:

































So in the grand scheme of things, this is a relatively minor ethics violation from Weldon. It really just shows his contempt for the rules in general. We'll get to the bigger ethics violations soon enough!

What's this? Weldon campaign website with public funds?

Until a recent article in "The Hill" exposed him, Curt Weldon was using public funds to supplement his campaign website, a definite no-no. The website's first line was "Welcome to the Weldon Victory Committee website dedicating to helping re-elect Congressman Curt Weldon to represent local Chester, Delaware and Montgomery county residents." It also included his official Congressional photo and bio that your tax dollars paid to create.

Since he was exposed the website has been changed without comment (that I can find) or apology. I guess you could say it was a WMD campaign website (With My Dollars).

Weldon with another "predictable attack"

So Sestak gets added to the DCCC's "Red to Blue" program, and Weldon's response is to try to bash Sestak and the Democrats because of a DCCC ad. Weldon must be very worried at this point to be lashing out at anything Sestak does in typical angry and nonsensical fashion.

From the Delco Times July 15 2006, in which they called this a "predictable attack" by Weldon:

... Weldon’s campaign said Friday Sestak should return any money he receives from the DCCC, which has already raised $3.8 million this year for its candidates through the Red to Blue program.

With 34 Red to Blue Candidate and $3.8 million raised so far, one could estimate that Sestak could get $100,000 now and at least that much later.

A well thought-out response from the Sestak campaign from The Hill, July 18 2006:

“While he may not have chosen to use several of the reported images in the ad, Sestak also would not have done many of the things that Weldon has done in this campaign: a shameful ‘Swift boat’ operation and personal attacks on Admiral Sestak and his 31 years of military service to his country,” spokesman Ryan Rudominer said.

I think Weldon should think twice before he tries to "swiftboat" Sestak!

So Sestak is not supposed to take money from his own party? I'd suggest that Weldon set a good example by giving back the large amounts of PAC money he's received, and maybe the money he got from Tom DeLay's PAC, and from any other Republican supporter or group.

Sestak vs. Weldon makes Salon's 10 Great Races of 2006

Salon describes Weldon as "the hawkish 10-term Republican, obsessed with finding Iraq's elusive weapons of mass destruction, who is an odd match with the affluent Philadelphia suburbs (Delaware County) he represents."

The piece continues:

As Ken Mehlman, the Republican national chairman, put it in an interview last week, "What has always been a conundrum for guys like me who are running presidential campaigns is that we don't win in the Philly suburbs in recent elections, yet they vote Republican for Congress and they vote Republican in local legislative elections."

I'm sure Mehlman knows better. The Philly suburbs have changed demographically. And to understand the voters there as diehard Republican base is folly. There are leftovers of an entrenched machine in the 7th District, but the true party loyalty exists almost solely at the County level, and it's patronage-based. But stand around and talk to your ward's GOP committee person next election day. They're often social moderates--more Specter than Santorum. In fact, in 2004, they didn't wear any Bush regalia at our local Republican ward. They only wore Specter swag, who had just come through a tough primary challenge from his right flank.

Weldon's reelection fight against Joe Sestak -- a retired admiral who raised more money in the second quarter than the incumbent -- will be a prime test of these vestigial GOP suburban loyalties.

Vestigial is a good word to describe the true GOP loyalists. But it's the independents and large numbers of disaffected Republicans that are going to do Weldon in, especially as Sestak's name recognition increases in the fall.

Weldon has never faced a challenger like Joe Sestak.

Weldon Phones-It-In for Town Meeting

For at least the past two nights, Weldon has tormented telephone owners in the 7th District with giant conference calls and labeled them as Town Meetings.

Tuesday night, I was at the home of a leading Delaware County Democrat when a call came in to join a Weldon town meeting. We declined as we were too busy plotting a massive defeat for Weldon and Santorum. Curt, way to go on targeting!! (more campaign money well spent)

Wednesday night, Weldon called the home of a leading Montgomery County Democrat. This Dem actually listened to the call. It didn't end until 12:15 am (after fours hours). The Gitmo prisoners cannot receive Weldon's calls because prisoners of war are protected by the Geneva Conventions from torture.

Here are a few highlights that my friend sent me from the Town Meeting:

..[Weldon]used the example of how he was responsible for taming Quaddafi and for turning him into "a role model." That's a direct quote - he called the guy who authorized the deaths of 189 Americans aboard Pan Am Flight 193 a "role model."

Soft on terrorists or soft in the head? You decide.

[Weldon] says he now feels that we should have gone in with more troops, but he is satisfied that the circumstances [for going into Iraq] were discussed adequately beforehand.

When were they adequately discussed? At the chicken-hawk ranch?

[Weldon] claimed that they called 21,000 homes in Montgomery County tonight and that there were "thousands" of listeners during the evening.

Weldon's best hopes in Montco are that the many more thousands of phone victims hung up before he praised Quaddafi and that they don't read this blog entry.

As informed residents of the 7th District know, Weldon's been phoning-it-in for years. I guess we have to add town meetings to the list of things Curt can do without setting foot in the 7th.

Sestak in DCCC’s "Red to Blue" program !

According to today's Delco Times, Joe Sestak will be added the DCCC’s "Red to Blue" program. On top of the great fundraising numbers, this is very good news.

After proving he could hang with U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon through five months of fund raising, Joseph Sestak will almost certainly be added to a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee program that will send even more money his way.

The updated list of candidates included in the DCCC’s "Red to Blue" program -- which raised $7.5 million for 27 candidates in 2004 -- has yet to be released, but party sources say Sestak is in. He will join Lois Murphy and 21 other Democratic challengers identified in April by the DCCC.

This is very good news for Sestak and very good news for the people of PA-7! And good news for the country - increasing the odds of Dems taking back this seat and contributing to the "perfect storm" to take back Congress from the Republicans.

WMD (part 2): Weldon's Management Disarray

Yesterday, I posted a Philly Inquirer quote from Weldon's campaign manager that Weldon has raised only $400,000 this previous quarter.
In today's Delco Times, the Weldon campaign is now claiming $645,000 for that same quarter.

What kind of disarray does a campaign have when the manager himself doesn't even know how much they raised when asked by reporters?

A little math on
a) the amount of money the Weldon campaign had on hand last quarter
b) what they claim to have on hand now
c) what they've raised

...reveals that Weldon spend about $330,000 this past quarter. That is more than 50% of what he supposedly raised in the same time frame.

Considering how Weldon votes have helped to increase the National Debt, this sort of spending pattern should come as no surprise. How many more Republican contributors will continue to throw good money down this black hole?

WMD: Weldon's Minimal Donations

In an historic first, Joe Sestak, the Democratic challenger for the 7th Congressional District, blew away Weldon in fundrasing this quarter.
From Today's Philly Inquirer:

The retired Navy admiral, a political novice, took in $700,000 in the quarter that ended June 30, his campaign staff said yesterday.

By contrast, Weldon raised $400,000, said the Republican's campaign manager, Michael V. Puppio Jr.

Instead of planning a trip to Iraq to search for imaginary WMDs, Weldon should have planned a trip to the reality that the 7th District is tired of having a Bush cheerleader mis-representing them in Congress.

What's Weldon going to do for fund raising this quarter? Considering how blind he has been to the needs of the 7th District, I suspect a pair of dark glasses, a tin cup, and a handful of pencils might be appropriate.

My advice is that Curt should spend the rest of the campaign planning for his retirement.

Push Polling? Desperation time already for Weldon?

Push polling is the rancid campaign tactic where a phone caller pretends to be a legitimate political pollster, but then asks leading questions that plant a doubt or falsehood in the poll-taker's mind. I believe this was the tactic that the Bush campaign used against John McCain in the 2000 GOP primary race in South Carolina, where they asked "Would you think less of McCain if you knew he had a black baby?" The pollster never really lies and says the subject of the question is true, but the implication is powerful.

Today's Philadelphia Inquirer's piece about push-polling in the PA-7 race shows that Weldon supporters are very concerned about this race and are trying to use this sordid technique to bolster Weldon's sagging poll numbers. According to the article:

Dennis Berry of West Chester said that Venture Data L.L.C., a Salt Lake City polling company, asked him a series of negatively framed questions about Sestak, including one he described as outlandish. Berry said he was asked if he would be more or less likely to vote for Sestak if he knew Sestak "had an opportunity to capture Osama bin Laden in Sudan and passed."
...
Venture Data didn't return phone calls. Michael Puppio, Weldon's campaign manager, said that the polling company was not working for the Weldon campaign.

So I guess the Venture Data company just thought they'd call a few people in our area to see how they were doing?

The funny thing about this is that according to this 2002 Washington Post story:

U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight
Failure to Send Troops in Pursuit Termed Major Error
The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge. ... The Bush administration has never acknowledged that bin Laden slipped through the cordon ostensibly placed around Tora Bora as U.S. aircraft began bombing on Nov. 30.

So maybe there should there be a push poll that asks:
"Would you more or less likely to vote for Weldon if you knew he supported the Bush administration that let bin Laden get away just a few months after 9/11?"

Weldon Doesn't Understand Small Business

Yesterday, Weldon staged a walking tour of small businesses in Ridley Park and said "We’re seeing an increase in small businesses". I think he has confused "more small businesses" with "more businesses becoming smaller" due to competition from the big businesses.

During the 2004 election, Bush talked about tax breaks that would help small business owners. However, his definition of small business owner included himself for having a stake in some small business venture in his portfolio. If guess Bill Gates would also qualify if he bought a 10% interest in a local pizza parlor.

As we all know, Bush and Weldon have put in place tax breaks and other incentives that have helped the biggest businesses at the expense of the smallest.

According to the Delco Times, John Sammartino (director of small business programs for the Delaware County Commerce Center) admitted that top 2 percent of businesses are big retailers and rake in 50% of the profits.

Reminding voters and small business owners how out of touch he is with their needs and reality, Weldon said "Small businesses can supply Boeing, I want the same thing from Lockheed Martin.".

Yeah, Curt, Boeing and Lockheed will be a real help to a local hat shop, bookstore, furniture store, etc. Oh, yeah, let's not forget about that helicopter-blade store on Main St.

It often seems that Curt thinks Boeing and Lockheed are the only businesses in this area. Is is really good for the 7th District if Boeing adds a few hundred employees and the rest of the district loses a thousand?

I think it's time for the voters of the 7th District to decide if they want a corporate pitchman or a real Congressman.

Defense Industry Backers of Weldon

Today's article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "N. Korea's missile tests a pitch for Exton software firm" talks again about a disturbing relationship, that Congressman Curt Weldon's campaign finance reports show the connection between Weldon and the defense industry contributors to his campaign. In this case, they talk about Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI) and their contributions directly to Weldon's campaign and to CURT PAC.

The Inquirer reported in May that AGI was the largest local fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, powerful vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, rainmaker for defense firms, and a staunch supporter of the country's
missile-defense program.
Since last year, 14 people associated with AGI contributed a total of more than $5,000, and a company political fund added $8,500 to Weldon's campaign kitty and CURT PAC, a campaign fund for Weldon's Republican colleagues.

The Inky's previous article on May. 08, 2006 "For Weldon, a military campaign" describes in detail how many defense contractors, who fate (and contracts) are directly related to Weldon's work on the House Armed Services Committee. The article states:

The biggest local source of funding for Weldon has been Analytical Graphics Inc., an Exton firm with 250 employees that makes software for mapping and visualizing space objects. Fourteen people associated with the company have contributed $5,250, and a company political fund has added $8,500 to Weldon and CURT PAC.

In August 2004, records show, Analytical Graphics paid his expenses to travel to Huntsville and Jacksonville, Fla. Weldon's office said the main purpose of the trip was for him to speak at a missile defense conference in Huntsville. Shortly after, Weldon reported having received $28,300 from Huntsville-area donors.

Officials at Analytical Graphics did not respond to requests for an interview.

From 2000 to 2005, Analytical Graphics won 29 US Government contracts totaling over $11.7 million. Source: governmentcontractswon.com

And if you check on the 57 trips taken by Curt Weldon and his staffers from 2000 to 2005, you will see that many of them paid are for by defense contractors, including AGI.

If you go back a few years, you will also find that Weldon has been involved in connecting AGI to Russian interests. Reviewing the program for the "Russian IT Seasons" gathering in Nov, 2002, you will see that Weldon was the keynote speaker, and AGI was on the program pitching their wares to the Russians.

So what's the point here? Maybe AGI is a good company that offers good products. Maybe the defense industry contributions to Weldon are simply their way of saying "good job Curt!"

Then again, maybe there is some connection between the contributions and the contracts.

Either way, in PA-7 on Nov 7, 2006, we get to decide if this is how we want our representative in Congress to work.

Weldon: No Way Out

Last night, Weldon was on Larry King Live in a group discussion about North Korea. It was hardly a suprise that he advocated bringing in Russia to help us out. He seems to think Russia can solve many of the problems we cannot.

In April, Weldon touts energy bill amid protesters’ chants. Weldon's suggestions for solving our energy problems included "... decreasing U.S. dependency on Middle Eastern oil by striking an energy alliance with Russia."
What would we do without those Russians and Gazprom (the Russian state-owned energy operator, the world's largest gas company)? When have monopolies kept prices low? How about raising fuel efficiency standards?

In 2004, the LA Times reported, 4 days after Weldon gave House colleagues a glowing report on Itera in a floor speech, his daughter's "consulting" firm got a $500,000-a-year contract with Itera (a Russian energy company with a checkered past).
How much is that in rubles?

In the movie, No Way Out, the hunt for a deep cover Russian spy involves processing a blurry picture to make it clearer. Well, voters in 7th Congressional District are getting a clearer picture of Weldon.

This is the year the voters will tell Weldon, "Nyet!".

Sestak on the 4th of July

So what's a hard-working candidate for US Congress do on the 4th of July? He goes out and meets some voters who are also celebrating Independence Day of course.

Here's Joe at Coopertown School in Haverford Township talking with a voter, with a future voter in the foreground , and some Sestak supporters in the background.

Happy 4th of July!

Weldon Vote Watch: Roll Call! (Week ending June 30)

In a toothless-yet-telling vote this week, Weldon sided with fellow Republicans on a non-binding resolution to condemn the newspapers that reported on the anti-terrorism program that tracks financial transactions, despite the fact that the administration itself had touted its success at conducting precisely this sort of intelligence gathering.

Said Congressman George Miller (D-CA):

The President promised to hold those accountable in his Administration involved in leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent to the press. He has yet to do that. Instead he and his rubberstamp Congress choose to go after leaked information only when it suits their political agenda.

James McGovern, (D-MA):

How many times have we heard the Bush administration talking about the need to monitor and disrupt terrorist financial transactions? How many times have we heard them bragging about their success in doing so? Too many to count. So it doesn't even pass the laugh test when members of Congress start using words like 'treason.' When they start calling for criminal prosecution against newspapers.

Typical red meat for the right wing. It's Independence Day, and those liberals and their sympathetic media are so terribly unpatriotic.

Weldon - a politically expedient Flip-Flop?

Maybe Weldon ... or somebody with some sense who advises him ... figured out how riduculous he looks by the proposed WMD safari to Iraq. Maybe they figured out he would look good in a pith helmet. But today's story in the Delco Times has Weldon eating his own words on the proported trip and his speculations on WMDs. Excerpts:

The former Air Force investigator who told U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon about four potential chemical and biological weapons caches in Iraq is threatening to go public with the site coordinates after Weldon’s office said Friday his information is bogus.

It is the latest development in the fallout between Weldon, the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee who wants a new search for WMD in Iraq, and Dave Gaubatz, a Denton, Texas, man who says he knows where they are.
...
Citing Gaubatz’s information, Weldon said last month that the "jury is still out on WMD," which triggered a sharp rebuke from a veterans group backing Weldon’s Democratic opponent, retired Navy Adm. Joseph Sestak. The group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America PAC, called on Weldon to acknowledge that Saddam Hussein did not produce WMD after 1991, something the congressman will not concede.

But Weldon, R-7, of Thornbury, is now distancing himself from Gaubatz.
...
"Congressman Weldon stated if we go to Iraq and locate the WMD, it would help with the upcoming elections," Gaubatz writes on his Web site, recounting what he says was a May 4 meeting.

So Weldon, who joined forces with Rick Santorum to declare that the "jury is still out on WMD", then cited a few drums of degraded chemicals as proof that the Iraq War was justified, is now not sure.
Again from the Delco Times, June 30 2006:

"I want to be absolutely clear about what we are talking about here. These 500 chemical munitions are weapons of mass destruction," said Weldon, R-7, of Thornbury. "Some may want to play down the significance of this report or even deny that WMD have been found in Iraq."

Sestak's response:

"Curt Weldon is once again looking backwards at a vote that was in support of the president for a war that was wrong and trying to justify his mistake by holding onto the past," said Sestak, a former defense adviser to Bill Clinton. "Let’s look forward."

Another whacky Weldon episode, and another good reason to support Joe Sestak.

I find it annoying that Curt Weldon has so obviously lost his moral compass, if he ever had one, and is now openly and brazenly handing out lucrative jobs and contracts to family and friends. It is inconceivable that his position on the Armed Services committee is beneficial enough to this district to overcome his lack of connection to the issues that are important to us.

Give up already, Curt, on the search for WMDs. Even George Bush, who staked our country's billions and over two thousand American lives has given up on them.

This man wants to be a lobbyist. Let's help make his dream come true.

Ruth

Agent Double-Oh-Zero

I often wonder if Curt Weldon watched James Bond movies as a teen and said to himself, "Yeah. I could do that."
Unfortunately, two things happened:
1) Curt wound up with all the skill and intelligence of Inspector Clouseau.
2) He became a globe-trotting Congressman (and not the cool basketball kind of globe-trotter).

This has led Curt into many run-ins with the State Department and Intelligence Community. Back in May 1999, "In an effort denounced by the Clinton Administration as 'uncoordinated free-lance diplomacy', a bipartisan group of House members asked for congressional support Thursday for a Kosovo peace plan they negotiated privately with a delegation of Russian lawmakers....Federal law prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments...The State Department has publicly maintained that it opposes such free-lance peacemaking missions." Source: CNN

As recently as March 2006, Weldon touted his own great spy network (one unreliable informant) and announced that Bin Laden was dead. A month later, Bin Laden was alive (again).

Does Curt think that Bin Laden rose from the dead? Will Curt worship Bin Laden over his buddy Reverend Sun Myung Moon as the new Messiah?

Remember, this is the same informant who provided the basis for Curt's widely discredited Able Danger book. In the world of espionage, Curt's the spy equivalent of the guy that buys a $10 Rolex from a street vendor.

If Curt grew up today watching Vin Diesel, he'd aspire to be Triple-Zero.

Weldon on safari for WMDs?

Curt Weldon has done a lot of whacky things, and we'll be commenting on those as we go forward, but this recent one is just so bizarre that we had to jump in with a post on this now, while it's strangeness is still new.

So it appears that Weldon wanted to go on a safari for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, following a hot tip, hoping to score big political points for himself and Bush. Can you just see the potential headlines? Weldon finds the long lost WMDs!

Check out the piece by Tom Ferrick Jr. in the Philadelphia Inquirer, excerpted below. Then check out the Weldons of Mass Destruction cartoon by Tony Peyser on BuzzFlash. Reprinted here by permission, copyright 2006 Tony Peyser.

Indiana Jones? No, it's Weldon
By Tom Ferrick Jr., Inquirer Columnist
Wed, Jun. 28, 2006

It's a scene out of an Indiana Jones movie - or an Indiana Jones parody:

A caravan of jeeps and heavy equipment crawls across the Iraqi desert, headed for a secret location on the banks of the Euphrates River.

Their mission: to dig 25 feet down into the riverbed and unearth concrete bunkers filled with chemical weapons produced by Saddam Hussein's regime and hidden before the outbreak of the Iraq war in 2003.

And who's that, dressed in a safari jacket and a pith helmet, supervising the dig?

None other than our own U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.), leading a secret mission to unearth the Holy Grail of the war: the weapons of mass destruction that have eluded every other U.S. search team since our troops invaded three years ago.

In this article, Weldon is quoted as saying that he viewed this trip to look for WMDs as a "personal political venture".

So once again, instead of being an international hero, daredevil, and adventurer, Curt Weldon was once again exposed as the cariciture of a real Congressman that he is. Full of political motivations too. Is anybody surprised?

C-SPAN’S ‘Washington Journal’ covers PA-7 race

On July 5 at 8:30 AM, C-SPAN’S ‘Washington Journal’ will cover the Pennsylvania-7 Congressional race, Rep. Curt Weldon (R) vs. Joe Sestak (D). This is one of a only a few races congressional contests they are covering nationally.

I heard that the Philadelphia Inquirer's Tom Fitzgerald will be involved in this TV segment, and that people can call in to the show to ask questions. Give them a call! I don't know if the candidates themselves will be there or not.

More info from The Hill.