Some Riddles For Congressional Aspirant Sam Bennett

Unless she comes to her senses, I'll be meeting congressional candidate Sam Bennett this morning at 7:30 AM. Below you'll see the questions I've propared. I came up with some on my own, but most of them come from you. That's why they're a little more intelligent than my standard fare. I'll get as many answers as time permits.

1) How does she explain the huge undervote by Democrats in the primary election? In Northampton County, nearly one out of every two Democrats refused to vote for her. Overall, the undervote is 36%. She received only 72% of the vote total drawn by state reps. Bob Freeman (Freeman-7385, Bennett-5323) and Rich Grucela (Grucela-8512, Bennett- 6086).

2) Why are most of her contributors outside the congressional district? Of $177,823 in itemized contributions, about 78% is from outside the Lehigh Valley. Nearly 30% comes from people who live in other states. Reformer Russ Shade has advocated that campaign money should come mostly from people who actually live here, not PACs located in Toodeloo. In his race against state rep. Julie Harhart, Shade noted all but 5% of Harhart's campaign was funded by special interests located outside the district. How can Bennett justify the same practice?

3) Why does a Bennett press release claim, as Pam Varkony notes, that the Democratic voter registration edge has increased from 13,000 to 53,000? There's no dispute that Dems have a huge registration edge over Rs, from 195,800 to 137,526 in Lehigh and Northampton Counties alone. But according to figures supplied from both counties, the total Democratic surge since last November is only about 13,500.

4) Why does Bennett press release also brag that she is the top fundraiser among all congressional challengers in the state? Pam Varkony disputes those assertions, and so do I. According to FEC records, congressional challengers Melissa Hart (R) ($529,081) and Tom Manion (R) ($422,519) both raised more than the $313,108 claimed by Bennett. Even Lou Barletta (R) ($184,664) raised more than Bennett raised ($117,830.64) over the first quarter.

5) Exactly how much was Sam paid last year as executive director for nonprofit Properties of Merit? She had agreed to a fifty per cent pay cut while an independent third party reviewed the propriety of paying her $110,000 to manage a nonprofit whose budget is only $351,000. So was her 2007 salary only $55,000 or was it actually a higher figure?

6) When Sam Bennett's $110,000 salary was determined at POM, she was part of the committee determining her own salary. An "independent third party" has determined that Bennett's salary was properly set. But according to a report from Pam Varkony, independent consultant Steve Langer just happens to be one of the people who determined Bennett's original salary in the first place. Oopsie! How can Bennett claim this is an independent third party? How can she be trusted to make ethical decisions about taxpayer money when it's pretty clear that that she's playing games about an independent review?

7) Has Bennett's husband, Martin Estrada, or his business ever received any payments from POM?

8) Can a school district like Allentown EVER be successful under No Child Left Behind. As a congressperson, what changes would she propose? Can she please give her view on the specific educational needs of our local public schools, instead of just painting a broad picture of the public schools on the national level?

9) Sam worked for Rodale for some time after she first moved to the Lehigh Valley. How did that all play out? Why did it end?

10) Why was Bennett known as Siobhan Loizeaux-Bennett in her first race for Allentown Mayor and then Sam Bennett after she lost and wanted to run again? Is it because Siobhan is so hard to pronounce? Should Barak Obama call himself Oscar Barry?

11) Who do she support in the presidential campaign - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?

12) Is Bennett a Bad Sam-aritan? Bennett's website claims that "we, as a country, have a responsibility to look out for each other." But 78 year old newspaper delivery man, Ali Arkin, claims she ignored him when he was mugged outside her house along his route. He had two black eyes, was suffering from a few kidney punches and asked Bennett to dial 911. She agreed to do so, but no police or ambulance ever came. Arkin amazingly finished his route and then called police. He was scolded for not calling sooner, but told police that Siobhan had promised him she would do so. The responding officer checked with the dispatcher and subsequently told Mr. Arkin that no call had been received from Bennett. Is Mr. Arkin mistaken? Didn't Bennett have a responsibility to look out for him?

13) Will she support elimination of the Bush tax cuts? If so, will she propose a soft landing for married couples who stand to lose $6K in take home pay, or low-earning singles who'll lose $1,500 to $2k?

14) How about the dividend exclusion that put $8 billion in retained earnings into the pockets of the investor class (i.e. 86% of us)?

15) How about the inheritance tax, which Republicans argue is something that hurts family farms and prevents emerging classes from creating and passing on legacies the way the Bushs, Kennedys and Rockefellers did?

16) What is Bennett's take on America's energy situation? What would she like to see as our goals? As oil and our economy are so intertwined, how can government prod the private sector? Does she support domestic oil drilling? What about mass transit possibilities? Did she ever sign onto the LV passenger rail petition? Will she endorse plans like the Bush Cheney's Energy Bill, which provides corporate welfare to Big Oil even though it already makes $Billions of profit per quarter?

17) What is Bennett's stance on nuclear energy? Don't we NEED to be a leader like France? (France has 59 nuclear plants in their country that provide nearly 80% of their total power. As a result, electricity costs in France are among the lowest in Europe. At the same time, France’s carbon emissions are less than 1/10 of neighboring Germany.)

18) What is Bennett's time table on withdrawal from Iraq? What will she do if Iran continues its nuclear program or if peace fails in Iraq? How will we prevent another Cambodia or South Vietnam if we leave? What knowledge does Bennett have of the contents of "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq."

19) How well-versed is she in foreign affairs? Who is the President of China? France's Prime Minister? Germany's Chancellor? India's Prime Minister? Afghanistan's President? Syria's President? Sudan's President?

20) How will Sam work to extend the same medical insurance plan Congress has (which costs members $35/month) to all of us. Does she support a single payer universal health care system? Her website health care video talks about not adding more bureaucracy, but "expanding" the existing programs to include more services and people. How does she propose to fund these expansions, and how will this be more effective and less costly than other plans?

21) Will she propose and support an effort to bring back the Fairness Doctrine?

22) Will she work to decriminalize/legalize marijuana usage?

23) Will she sponsor a bill to make the widescale growing of HEMP for use in paper, biofuels, etc?

24) What will Sam do to ensure that ANY qualified student can receive advanced education using INTEREST-FREE loans?

25) What exactly are her "creative approaches" to fighting crime in our district?

26) Sam spoke in support of Mayor Pawlowski's $10 million dollar loan during his first year as Mayor, which produced a $5 million "surplus." Bennett called this financing arrangement "very creative." Is it good policy for governments to borrow money to cover operating deficits? Has Pawlowski contributed to her campaign?

27) On Social Security, what exactly is her better plan? How does she plan to make a finite amount of tax dollars stretch to cover the huge number of baby boomers in the way she is suggesting she can, and still have money left for the next generations?

28) How can she feel qualified to work on our nation's debt problem when she amassed huge debt in her previous failed campaigns?

29) How does she feel qualified to represent us in the U.S. House of Reps., having never served as an elected official before? (She also has never won a primary in which she ran opposed by another Democrat, but that's another story.)

30) Will she continue to support the GOP's no pharmaceutical manufacture left behind act by prohibiting negotiation and allowing drug companies to set the price?

31) Will she support a tough border policy to keep Americans from going to Canada to purchase the same US manufactured drugs at a lower price?