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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Thirty Pieces of Silver for Pennsylvania's Greens

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Yesterday, I told you Greta Browne, Queen of the Lehigh Valley Greens and candidate for Congress, was the recipient of $200 funneled her way by Republicans. Three other Pennsylvania Greens running for Congress received much larger sums.

Well, I was right and I was wrong. In addition to the $200, an $855 independent expenditure was made on her behalf. Browne and three other Greens running for U.S. Congress also benefited from at least some of $42,000 in "coordinated expenditures."

Big Money Republicans with links to mercenary outfits like Blackwater USA channeled the money to Green congressional candidates with a whopping $156,899 in contributions to Luzerne County's Green Party. Attytood tells us how the money was spent.

"What did the conservatives buy with their money? A lot of it -- tens of thousands of dollars -- went to JSM, the Republican-oriented ballot access firm with a highly controversial history, and another large chunk went for lawyers. According to the records, the funds also supported four Green Party candidates running for U.S. Congress -- the 2nd District's Dave Baker, the 14th District's Titus North, the 15th District's Greta Browne, and the 19th District's Derf Maitland. In other words, the Republicans -- desperate not to lose control of the U.S. House, and with Pennsylvania the key swing state -- may be using the Green Party again to rob votes from the Democrats."

I don't blame Republicans. They don't know any better. But I can't help wondering if the Greens' money is still dripping with blood.
Yesterday's report about the "appalling sell-out of the Pennsylvania Green Party" was picked up by Attytood, LiveJournal, Phawker, and even The Michigan Liberal under the "weird news" category. Those bastards don't even know me!

2 comments:

LSTresidentPIA said...

What is a ballot access company?

Bernie O'Hare said...

These are companies that specialize in petition drives. They hire "volunteers" to get signatures to nomination petitions and voter initiatives. They are usually paid per signature. Hence, the more signatures you get, the more money in your pocket. It's not a very democratic way of doing things. The company hired by the greens is not even local, but from Florida, and has a checkered history.