I was wondering why we really hadn’t heard much from Anne Chapman in her campaign to try and unseat Steve Santarsiero for the latter’s PA-31 State House set. And now I know why.
It seems Chapman (aside from taking pot shots at Planned Parenthood like every other Republican) would rather let the slimy bottom-feeders of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania do it for her.
CAP is just another Teahadist-simpatico, “limited government,” glibertarian band of fools and frauds who, more often than not, performs the “circular firing squad” bit at Republicans who aren’t crazy enough for their liking.
However, this time, they have decided to circulate a mailer making the truly scurrilous charge that Santarsiero approved funding for the “Second Mile” charity run by convicted pedophile (and former Penn State football coach) Jerry Sandusky (story is here – CAP also put together a mailer listing the salaries of the teachers of the Neshaminy School District, taking a page from the truly odious Simon Campbell of the Pennsbury School Board…oppose what the Neshaminy teachers are doing if you wish – on balance, I don’t – but keep such Rovian garbage out of our beloved commonwealth).
Fortunately, a synapse of an actual journalistic impulse by the Courier Times editorial board snapped to life, and they wrote the following about the CAP/Santarsiero mess today (here)…
While Santarsiero’s votes on state spending are legitimate fodder for debate — the broad allegation in the mailers — such discussion should be grounded in fact. Instead, the mailers fudge a most important fact leading to this reckless allegation: that Santarsiero cast an “irresponsible” vote awarding $3 million of taxpayer money to (Second Mile) “AFTER it was revealed that (the charity) was under investigation for being the place Sandusky used to find his future child victims.”
Fact is, that vote was cast in 2010, well before the abuse scandal broke. And Santarsiero was but one lawmaker among many, including several from Bucks, who approved a grant for The Second Mile charity, which at the time was not widely known to be associated with Sandusky — hardly a household name anyway. Additionally, none of that money made it to Second Mile, which is supposed to benefit poor kids, as lawmakers withheld the funds when the allegations against Sandusky became known.
Here is a link to the vote in question (119 Yeas and 75 Nays…in addition to Steve, Repugs Gene DiGirolamo, Frank Farry and Mike “Mitt Romney Will Win PA Because of Voter ID” Turzai are also on the list in the “Yea” column…so they supposedly helped fund Second Mile under aid and abet Sandusky also?).
(By the way, though the Courier Times editorial board deserves credit here for doing the right thing, I have to wonder why they stepped up on this occasion but allow publication in their Op-Ed section of such a torrent of demonstrably contestable right-wing lies on a routine basis.)
Considering all of this, what does Steve’s challenger Anne Chapman have to say? The news story tells us the following…
“CAP is an independent organization. They can do what they do. I have nothing to say about it,” said the Lower Makefield resident. “Tell (Santarsiero) to take it up with CAP.”
But Leo Knepper, the executive director of CAP, said his group’s representatives met with Chapman to discuss issues “that are important to CAP” before deciding to take aim at Santarsiero.
So we’re supposed to believe that, somehow, Knepper spoke with Chapman but didn’t mention the upcoming mailer?
If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to one of the five New York City boroughs to sell to you; as far as I’m concerned, that makes Chapman both a liar and a coward for not denouncing the slimy tactics of Leo Knepper and Bob Guzzardi of CAP.
This is Leo Knepper, by the way (pic is from philly.com – I think it’s important to identify these cretins as completely as possible).
The best way to respond to this idiotic garbage is to help Steve, and to do that, please click here.
The Liberal Doomsayer 