Bennett's Top Ten List

In a news release aimed at LV Congressman Charlie Dent's refusal to agree to more than four or five debates, challenger Sam Bennett ticks off ten reasons why she thinks she is a better candidate.

Unlike a Letterman Top Ten, there are no jokes.

"1. Our country needs change. Dent has had it his way in Washington for four years and four out of five times Charles W. Dent with George W. Bush.

2. Folks want to bring that change home. Dent attacks Sam’s work to help clean up Lehigh Valley communities as “money wasted” while his only two legislative accomplishments in four years are renaming post-offices.

3. Pennsylvania has suffered 1400 casualties in Iraq. Dent went to Washington, knowing there were no WMD’s and still votes to use trillions of dollars in Iraq.

4. When our troops are gone, Dent votes to tax military families, and when they come home, he says NO to their healthcare and job training.

5. Wages are falling and the wealth gap is growing while Dent makes three times the income of the average Lehigh Valley voter. Then he votes NO for fully raising the minimum wage and ensuring equal pay for equal work.

6. 212,000 Pennsylvania kids are uninsured as Dent accepts taxpayer-funded healthcare. Then he votes NO for expanding it for kids and military reservists.

7. Companies like Mack Trucks cut jobs in the Lehigh Valley and their mega millionaire CEO’s still cut checks to Dent for thousands of dollars. Then he votes NO to stopping CAFTA deals that trade Pennsylvania jobs for corporate profits and NO to the Employee Free Choice Act to give workers a fair shake.

8. Special interests are trying to take over Washington, and Dent accepts more than $90,000 from lobbyists. Then he refuses to give it back.

9. Gas prices are soaring and so are Dent’s campaign contributions from Big Oil. Dent accepts more than $75,000 from Big Oil and gives Big Oil $14 billion in tax breaks instead of investing in renewable energy, says NO to renewable energy, and says NO to efficiency and conservation.

10. Prescription drug costs are skyrocketing while Dent accepts tens of thousands of dollars from Big Pharma. And he votes NO for negotiating drug prices for Medicare patients and NO to allowing seniors to import FDA approved prescriptions from Canada."

Sounds pretty good on its face, huh? But much of what she is saying is simply untrue.

If you look at the very first statement, for example, in which Bennett complains that Dent supports Bush 80% of the time, the reality is much different. Congressional Quarterly (Vol. 66, page 2050) analyzed 2,646 roll call votes. Its determination is that Dent is actually the 11th most independent Republican in the House. His votes have supported Bush just 60% of the time.

And so it goes with the rest of that misleading list.

Dent not only supported children's health care, but voted to override a presidential veto. He has been a minimum wage rubber stamp, and was one of thirty Republicans who opposed adjourning until that was accomplished. His supposed connection to Big Oil is in reality a connection to many Lehigh Valley residents who work for utilities and alternative energy companies like Air Products. Dent's grandfather, a long-time UGI worker with an 8th grade education, was one of these people. "He thought that was honorable work and my opponent clearly thinks that people who work in the energy sector are dishonorable." As far as Iraq is concerned, Charlie worked with Democrats and Republicans to try and pass legislation that would have enacted the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group into law.

The Dent camp has told me it will no longer respond to charges without citations.