Bennett Campaign Vainly Tries Some Damage Control

"Nice guys finish last!"

Those are words Northampton County Exec hopeful Ann McHale lobbed in the general direction of incumbent John Stoffa last week. He genuinely believes in open and inclusive government, but council members constantly misconstrue his honest civility as weakness. When they attempt to take advantage, as they certainly did last week, they end up looking like a petty and mean-spirited bunch.

They think we don't notice, but we do.

There's been a lot to notice recently. State senator Lisa Boscola tolerates a chief of staff who degraded three women on this blog and advocated dropping nukes on Iraq. Ed Rendell, in a game of chicken with the state legislature, was willing to put 25 thousand state workers on indefinite furlough, and no one in the land of midnight payraises has achieved any kind of meaningful property tax reform. People are disgusted with all levels of government. About the only thing lower than Bush's 29% approval ratings, is Congress, which tanks at 24%.

That's why Sam Bennett, touted as the Lehigh Valley's Democratic nominee for Congress since January, is so disappointing. She's part of the same old tired bunch of insiders who think we owe them something. She's demonstrated convincingly that she's a blatant opportunist. I'll spare you the details. They've been chronicled extensively by The Morning Call, and here in the Lehigh Valley's own Blogistan by AJ's Weblog, Aphrodite's Daughter, Addicted and Maddy. An excellent essay was recently posted, giving us a woman's point of view, at Pam Varkony's Perspectives. Of course, I've had a word or two to say myself.

Much of the criticism has come from fellow Democrats. It's friendly fire.

Bennett, if she had any sense of ethics, would listen. At the very least, she'd take a leave of absence from her nonprofit to keep it from getting mired in politics. But her campaign has instead reacted with damage control. It distributed "talking points" and even tried to use them as a comment on yesterday's post.

I'm flattered.

I recognized it the moment I saw it. You see, BethDem posted a copy on his own blog. And a few Democratic committeemen were kind enough to send me these "talking points." First, Vince Zoppi, secretary of the Allentown Dems, tells us Sam Bennett has made the "ultra sacrifice." Did she finally withdraw for the good of the party? Nah. She just agreed to a paycut because the heat is on over her excessive $110,000 salary at nonprofit Properties of Merit.

Then he gives us the official spin from TeamBlue Politics, Inc., a Washington-based political consulting firm that seems to specialize in losing close races. Here's what hotshot Walter Ludwig, a principal in that non local firm, tells the locals to say.

It is already clear that Charlie Dent is running scared this time, because he faces a formidable opponent who will be well-funded and articulate. His political people are trying hard already to get Sam Bennett out of the race, so he can get a free pass. These efforts will include using the press to plant embarassing [sic] and misleading stories, such as the one last week. (And whatever the reporter's motivations in writing the story, the quick involvement of Sen. Pat Browne shows there was a political component.)

It is important for us to remember, and to remind others, that this is politics-as-usual for Republicans in general and Charlie Dent in particular, a so-called "nice guy" who nevertheless doesn't vote "nice" and is surrounded by some pretty nasty political advisors. We only have to go back to the last election to recall that Dent and Shawn Millen spent over a million dollars bludgeoning Charles Dertinger.

We have to be prepared to defend against these tactics whenever and however they occur. All of you have significant "spheres of influence," both in and out of politics. We ask that you take every opportunity to remind them of the following:

Dent is scared; Karl Rove and he both know he is one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House. He will do anything, say anything to win re-election.

He may be a "nice guy," but his people are nasty politcal [sic] hacks.

He may be a "nice guy," but his votes on the war, on health care, on the environment and almost ever other issue are straight down the line with Bush.

The national Republican party has already promised Dent millions in extra help with his race; we need to make sure our side has the financial resources to fight back.

Incidentally, Bennett has already paid this outfit $6,895.00 for a lousy attempt to resuscitate her failing campaign. I could have written a better letter than that for free! It would even be spelled right.

Let me translate what this email really tells us.

It's hard to believe, but Sam Bennett's campaign is imploding and she doesn't even have a primary opponent! Let's blame the press for her ridiculous salary, and claim Republicans leaked it. Yeah, that's the ticket! We know that Dent is keeping his powder dry until after the primary and is actually praying that Santa gives him Sam as an opponent. But you're a bunch of gullible idiots and we're sophisticated spinmeisters. We know Dent is popular in the Lehigh Valley, so we'll just call him a 'fraidy cat. Then we'll tie him to Karl Rove and that bastard Millan. Everybody hates him. Hopefully, some of you morons will be stupid enough to kick in a few more bucks so we can continue drawing $3,000 per month from Bennett's campaign. Hey, life in DC ain't cheap. Not that you would understand. Hugs and kisses.

I decided to call the evil Shawn Millan, Dent's campaign manager, yesterday. He was upset because I interrupted him trying to fry some ants with a magnifying glass, but he agreed to speak to me. He immediately confessed that the nasty political hack who called him a nasty political hack is right. "But I wish he'd spell my name right. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm watching this hilarious video I picked up real cheap from Channel 69 ..."

Actually, nice guys are finishing first these days. People are relieved when they find someone who is actually a decent person. Charlie Dent is a "nice guy," and people from both parties really appreciate that. Politicos have a rough time comprehending that normal people are totally disgusted by our local, state and national politicians. By comparison with most of them, Dent is a breath of fresh air. That's the way it is here in the Lehigh Valley. Many of you will scream "heresy" at me for saying that. Dep down, you know it's the truth.

That's why this Democrat will vote for Dent.