| Washington County Democrats, unhappy over the apparent rigging of the special selection process due to begin at 9 AM this morning in Westmoreland County, will not participate. The meeting at the Lamplighter Restaurant is to select the preference to run in the May special election to succeed the late John Murtha.
This entire affair has turned into a tawdry, corrupt, back room operation worthy of the old political bosses of the 19th century. It was staged by Gov. Ed Rendell likely at the hands of those who were profiting handsomely from the corrupt operations of the Murtha offices.
John Murtha was considered by ethics groups as one of the most corrupt Members of Congress. A revolving door of defense contracts and campaign contributions ran through him as Chair of the powerful Defense Committee in Congress. I believe he steered many of these firms to Johnstown where they propped up the local economy and poured money into his re-election coffers. It was pay to play on a massive scale for a single Congressional District. Mark Critz ran Murtha's District Office in Johnstown. Now he's running to replace the late Congressman.
This leads me to believe the people who have been profiting handsomely from the relationship have chosen Critz to continue their gravy train. How else do we explain the rigging of today's vote? Instead of the 50 members of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Executive Committee selecting the person to be the nominee the Governor packed today's meeting with another 50 hand picked delegates. Last week Critz bragged to PoliticsPA that he already had those 50 votes. The problem was they delegates had yet to even be determined. How do you know in advance someone is going to vote for you when they haven't ben selected to do so? Because the process has been rigged, that's how.
Therefore Washington County is boycotting today's meeting. Kudos to someone who feels the need to stand up for integrity.
Former State Treasurer and Auditor General Barbara Hafer wants to run for this seat but is being screwed by Gov. Rendell. If you recall she was forced out of the 2006 U.S. Senate race when the Governor "cleared the field" for Bob Casey. She owes him nothing and his tawdry involvement in this affair may leave him as lame a duck as Harrisburg has seen in decades. In fact Delmont may be Rendell's Waterloo. How many State Committee people will take a stand against the corrupt practices of the 12th Congressional District? If they don't this seat becomes Republican in May. |
