Alaskans drill Williams

In response to Craig Williams' piece in the Aug 6 2008 News of Delaware County advocating drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Eleanor Huffines, the Alaska Regional Director of the Wilderness Society wrote to the paper this week. (The response is not online.)

In short, Huffines debunks not only Williams' conclusions, but his methods. In typical Republican fashion, it appears that Williams listened to all the "pro-drilling partisans" and "vociferous pro-drilling forces" while ignoring invitations from native groups and environmental groups (including the Wilderness Society) to meet with him. One of the groups that Williams met with was called Artic Power, whose website says "The organization is committed to securing congressional and presidential approval of legislation opening the Coastal Plain of ANWR to responsible oil development. " As Huffines notes, it's "a front group who sole purpose is to lobby Congress to drill..."

Williams went there in favor of drilling in ANWR, met a bunch of people who agreed with him, and came back with the same notion. Williams got "a skewed picture of what drilling would entail." Kinda like watching Fox News.

This is not the kind of work that would make him a good Congressman. But it does give the voters of PA-7 some idea of how he would operate - he'd fall right in line with the Bush - McSame - oil lobbyist clique that is screwing up our country right now.

Williams' Alaskan Adventure - Drilling for the Eskimo Vote in ANWR

PA-7 Watch is back!

Just in time to find Joe Sestak's opponent Craig Williams returning from his Alaskan Adventure to "steal the show" at a McCain rally, according the Delco Times.

Turns out the "rally" - later described as "the event, which drew a crowd of about 60 in the retirement community's Cardinal Clubhouse auditorium." Wow, I bet Williams rallied the seniors for McCain, since McCain is one of them!

But I got off track. Seems that Williams is having a hard time finding supporters in the PA-7 district, so he took his campaign to Alaska. According to the DelcoTimes story, "Williams discussed his recent trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the need for the United States to decrease its dependence on foreign oil by expanding drilling options and developing alternative fuel sources,..."

So Williams wanted to investigate first hand what would happen to ANWR if we drilled there. I'm not sure, but I think the idea is to figure out what would happen after the drilling happened.

Anyway, he wrote a bit in the News of Delaware County (not available online) where he talked about going to various Eskimo villages, including the village of Kaktovik, where he says the villagers are all for drilling.

So Williams thinks it's a good idea to campaign in Alaska when he has just a few months to go in an uphill battle against a popular incumbent in a Pennsylvania Congressional district. If he's trying to drill hes way to votes here by working the Eskimo voting block, it looks like his campaign is going to come up dry.

Joe vs The Sidekick?

From Today's Daily News:
GOP delays nominations

The Delaware County Republican Party's nomination convention has been postponed from today until next Tuesday, putting off the selection of candidates for the 7th Congressional District and other races.

The party is considering nominating W. Craig Williams, an assistant U.S. attorney working under U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan in Philadelphia, to run against Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, according to party sources.


So, if true, the GOP scramble to "duel" Sestak has resulted in the GOP's primary dueler failing to show up and leaving his "second" to take the bullet.

The "W" stands for "Wendell". Wendell Williams does satisfy one of the comic book staples of having names with alliteration. (Lex Luthor, Peter Parker, Lois Lane, etc.)

Bye-Bye to Another Bat-Villian

In an unsurprising move, Upper Darby Police Chief Michael Chitwood officially dropped out of the race he never officially entered in the first place.

Choice Quotes from the Delco Times article:
"Congressman Sestak and the Democrats don’t have to worry about me," Chitwood said. Duh! We didn't worry about him before.

Chitwood said the scales really tipped on his decision against the congressional bid about three weeks ago during a search for a 4-year-old girl who had gone missing in the Stonehurst section of Upper Darby. Me thinks 5 weeks ago Chitwood saw that Sestak had 1.4 Million in the bank.

The Times noted that "Chitwood has also several times expressed a dislike for fundraising. Sestak apparently does not share that outlook — as of October, the freshman congressman had a war chest of more than $1,420,000."


"It's too early to think about the election; Joe is focused on change from Iraq and the economy to health care," said Sestak spokesman Clarence Tong upon hearing news of Chitwood's decision. Too early to think about election? When during raising the 1.4 mill did Joe stop thinking about re-election? Spokesman is a crappy job, like a pimp without the cool hat.


Finally:
Delaware County Republican Party leader Thomas Judge Sr. said Tuesday a few other potential candidates had also recently fallen off, but there are about three names left on a "short list" of possible Sestak challengers the party is still looking at.

"Nothing's been formalized yet, but we are looking at some individuals," he said.

individuals = "lambs to the slaughter"

Podcast - Inteview with Joe Sestak by Robert Henson

Here is a radio interview/podcast from The Big Show with Robert Henson in Chester County.

Three New Bat-Villains

In today's Philadelphia Daily News, Bill Bender takes a peek at three new names being floated to take on Sestak, especially Michael Chitwood.

Chitwood confirmed yesterday that he has been asked by Upper Darby Republican leader John McNichol to consider running for Congress.

If McNichol is backing him, what's McNichol hoping to get out of it? The GOP is certainly desperate to knock out Sestak now, while he is still a freshman, and they perceive him as vulnerable. (Clue: Joe was most vulnerable last year when he had no money, no name recognition, no political experience and running against a popular 20 year incumbent.)

Also on the list are John McMeekin II, a Philadelphia attorney and Radnor school board member, and Stephen Elliott, a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department.

McMeekin said he is "very serious" about a congressional bid, but would back anyone the GOP selected. Elliott could not be reached for comment.

How serious is McMeekin if he will just go along with whomever the GOP machine picks? There's a little thing called a Primary for those that are "very serious".

The rest of the article focuses mostly on Upper Darby Police Chief, Chitwood. (Let me guess, he's going to run on a platform of "law and order".) I don't know a lot about Chitwood's politics (yet) and it's unclear how his local experience will translate on nation issues like energy policy, education, Iraq, environment and health care. I wonder if he is for or against gun control. Does he think that terrorism is a military or police matter? Would people be concerned that a cop-turned-legislator would be a good defense against the trend to turn the US into a police state?

The article also mentions that Chitwood turned down an opportunity early last year to enter the gubernatorial race in Maine, where he had served as a police chief.

Now, that is interesting. Would the former Weldon-zombies repeat their chant of "carpet-bagger"? While I suspect that Chitwood is tough-as-nails and in good shape for his age, that I doubt he is ready to run a marathon campaign. Chitwood is 63 and I doubt he can maintain the same level of energy as Sestak (who outlasted his staff of twenty-somethings).

My recommendation for Chitwood: end your career with successes in Upper Darby, not as a sacrificial lamb for the Delco GOP machine.

Papa's Got a Brand New bag Blog.

Since there is nothing interesting going on in the PA 7th race (yet), and we have a lot of local elections... I'm branching off to start a NEW BLOG!

My blog is PA Delco Watch (at PADelcoWatch.com)

My new blog will focus on the races and politics of Delaware County. As far as Joe goes, I'll be free to hold his feet to the fire, if the situation warrants.

Also, NO anonymous blogging:
If you want to post comments, strap on a pair, get a free blogger account, and quit hiding.