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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Sunday, March 18, 2007

The Lehigh Valley: Home of Taxpayer Heroes

Thanks to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, we know our Lehigh Valley delegation to the state house has two true taxpayer heroes. State reps. Julie Harhart and Doug Reichley spent $406,000 of your money for "public service" ads in 2005 and 2006. That's more than anyone else, bippy. These ads have been criticized as little more than another way to increase name recognition at taxpayer expense. But guess what? Both Harhart and Reichley were easily re-elected in 2006. Advertising pays!
Update: A reference to the Trib story did appear Friday in John Micek's Capitol Ideas. But I never knew two of our very own locals led the pack! To put this in some perspective, consider this from Bernie Kieklak, chief of staff to state senator Lisa Boscola.
Sen. Boscola (and every single member of the State Senate) is ONLY allowed to spend $4,800 per year on public service announcements (PSAs). So, if EVERY single one of the 50 State Senators spent the MAXIMUM amount on PSAs, all 50 of them would still spend less than ONE State Rep. (Reichley) did over the course of a year!

14 comments:

Julian Stolz said...

fear not Bernie, the reformers picked up on that earlier last week. Reichley was already in their crosshairs and now, so is Harhart.

Chris Casey said...

Don't worry BOhare, There will be a little comment soon on the Poliblog!

Anonymous said...

Harhart will do what she always does play the victim.

Anonymous said...

shudda paid De Paul`s bill

Anonymous said...

The reformers, Chickenhawk Stolz....what reformers?

Anonymous said...

Bernie!

YOU, my fearless friend, are the only one picking up on this story locally.

The local newspapers, for some reason, don't think it's really "news" unless one of their reporters stumbles on it first. And, to be fair, John Micek did report a paragraph or 2 on his blog. But, that's all his "big city" editor would allow (because it involves REPUBLICANS?? hmmmmm...).

Let me put this into some kind of perspective...

Sen. Boscola (and every single member of the State Senate) is ONLY allowed to spend $4,800 per year on public service announcements (PSAs). So, if EVERY single one of the 50 State Senators spent the MAXIMUM amount on PSAs, all 50 of them would still spend less than ONE State Rep. (Reichley) did over the course of a year!

Doesn't anyone think that the GOP Leadership only spent all that money to protect Reichley because he voted FOR the pay raise and TOOK IT?

Doesn't anyone else see a HUGE difference between spending $4,800 a year on PSAs and $250,000?

Doesn't anyone else see that Reichley was LYING HIS FUCKING ASS OFF when he said he "didn't know" how much it cost to run those PSAs?

Reichley and Harhart claim to be conservatives, but the facts show they spent a half-million dollars of taxpayers' money without blinking an eye.

The fucking arrogance of these Reps just sickens me.

Bernie Takes No Prisoners

Anonymous said...

Reichley is a phony. Always was and always will be.

Anonymous said...

Bernie!

It's not just "more than anyone else." It's a HELL OF A LOT MORE BY 50 TIMES more than anyone else!

It's obscene, it's disgusting, and it shows what a little nasty sneaky bastard Reichley really is.

He voted for the pay raise.
He took the pay raise.
He increased his pension.
And he spent $250,000 of your tax dollars on public service spots.

By the way, a House district is 50,000 people. A Senate district is 250,000 people. Sen. Boscola spent $4,800 while Rep. Reichley spent $250,000. You do the math and tell me what's very, very wrong with that picture!

Bernie Takes No Prisoners

Bernie O'Hare said...

Bernie, I agree it's outrageous. Two Lehigh County legislators lead the list. Both of them spent obscene amounts for these ads, and as you point out, far in excess of what was permitted in the senate. This is newsworthy. It is something LV residents need to know about their legislators, especially since Reichley now wants to be a judge. People should not have to go to Pittsburgh to read a story about a LC legislator.

Anonymous said...

Bernie!

I can tell you 1 thing for certain:

IF it was Lisa Boscola who spent $250,000 on public service ads in one year, that shit would've been on page A1 for 4 straight weeks!!

I mean, Bill White ripped Lisa for mailing out ONE fucking POSTCARD in 2002 to help local volunteer firefighters by urging people to VOTE FOR the bond issue on the November ballot! That postcard and postage cost less than 1/20th of Reichley's budget for 24/7 PSAs!

The bottom line is that Pete Fucking Lefler coddles Republicans (I mean, can his tongue get any further up Dent's colon?) and despises local Democrats.

So much for FAIR or BALANCED news coverage!

Let's go on radio together and tell it LIKE IT IS!!!!

Bernie Takes No Prisoners

Anonymous said...

No one reads newspapers anymore.

And this is exactly why.

Thank God for the Internet.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Bernie TNP, I'll tell you what. Angle has been after me to do a day to give him a break. Give me some days when you're available (Mon - Thurs, 8 to 10 AM), and we'll give the FCC probable cause to shut down Jolly Joe. "

Ho! Ho! Ho! His name was Jolly Joe. Ho! Ho! Ho! He doesn't have a show."

Anonymous said...

I know Lefler and his tongue knows no bounds as far as ass probing goes, as long as you're a Republicamn. Arrogant asshole and reason why circulation is down as much as his tongue is up some Republicans' ass.

Anonymous said...

Bernie!

Since the Senate is in session Monday through Wednesday, I can only be available on a THURSDAY.

Pick any Thursday that works for you and I will be there!

1) I've already told Sen. Boscola that I will NOT be going with her to Congress--so maybe some radio experience would help me in my next career;

2) I will personally attest to how your blog (and others) has taken away the "agenda-setting" role of the local print media; and

3) I'll just naturally provide your audience with enough "EXPLETIVES DELETED" during the course of our conversation to force Jolly Joe to go back on the Polka circuit for a long time just to pay off the fines from the FCC!

Sacred cows make the best hamburger,

Bernie Takes No Prisoners