Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
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Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Congrats to Mike Horton!
I'd like to be among the first to congratulate West Point grad Mike Horton on his election as the next State Rep. for the 131st District. Hard-line conservative Justin Simmons may have managed to sweep moderate Karen Beyer out of the way in the primary, thanks mostly to dirty campaigning. Simmons' extremist views should play very well in the general election.
37 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
If Beyer couldn't beat Simmons, how would she have held up against Horton?
ReplyDeleteShe may have struggled, but Simmons will be crushed.
ReplyDeleteWah wah wah. Sore loser.
ReplyDeleteHow's the near beer at the Specter victory bash?
Yeah, just like Beyer was going to crush Simmons. Don't misunderestimate him.
ReplyDeleteWow, did you hit your head with that logic?
ReplyDeleteMisunderestimate?
ReplyDeleteI can guarantee you that Justin Simmons now has my special attention.
You are so simple.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean you will ogle Simmons as if he were a prepubescent boy playing baseball?
ReplyDeleteA Parent
"Does that mean you will ogle Simmons as if he were a prepubescent boy playing baseball"
ReplyDeletewait....you mean he's not a prepubescent boy?
he has no job and he lives with his mommy and daddy. Horton, a real man, served his country and is getting ready to start his family. Which will play with hard-working men and women in this district?
ReplyDeleteHey 3:28, Yes, I really do enjoy watching kids play sports. You apparently like to post anonymous attacks at 3:28 AM. I'll let readers decide what is and is not healthy.
ReplyDeleteWhat! That Simmons gets along with his parents is to be criticized?
ReplyDeleteNo, that Simmons lives at home with his parents with no clue about what it feels like to pay property taxes, or a mortgage, or any bills really....he claims that he understands that the residents of the 131st district want from a Representative, but he can't even relate to the working people.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be overly confident about the results of this election either....all that has happened in this case is a good representative got voted out based on nothing but lies. So now we will wait until November (maybe by then his campaign finance report will actually be available), and the seat will be won by a Democrat...so, congrats Simmons! Great job!
It will be an ironic cruel twist of fate when the same 'conservative voters' who voted for Mr. Simmons realize they just handed the seat over to the democratic party...Good job.
ReplyDeletethis seat could mean the balance of power in the state house. HDCC just woke up this morning and sees defending its small margin in the house as a little bit easier.
ReplyDeleteSimmons needs to get a job, move out from under mommy and daddy and learn about the real world.
Again we lose an extremely gifted moderate to an extreme whacko right wing candidate..Amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteShe was intelligent, thoughtful, and one who voted for what she believed were the best interests of her constituency instead of being a party hack and this is what she gets..She loses to a kid without a real job who lives with mommy and daddy..Give me a break.
I have only met her twice and was extremely impressed both times..It's not only a loss for her but a loss for good government. Hell, I'm not in her party or her district and i can see that..It's too bad that Pennsylvania election law, I believe, prevents her from running as an independent..That law needs to be changed..
My take on the Beyer upset is that she was handpicked and endorsed by the GOP machine to run in the special election after Pat Brown got promoted in 2005. I believe she could not have won any primary spot for Representative absent that first handup in a special election, which had no primary. Before the handup, she had little or no qualifications of her own for the position. Accordingly, she was always vulnerable.
ReplyDeleteThe per deim thing has always been Harrisburg's dirty secret, its either that or letting them pay for leased car, either way, its bad. I expected that issue to come up sooner.
Here's a thought I heard last night at our Sestak victory party: Simmons could end up as the Republican version of Keith McCall, who just retired. (Before 50, with over 20 years in the house.)
ReplyDeleteThe Demographics of the district break favorably for him. Dems are excited at the posibility of taking the seat, but take a look at the County Dem track record in tight races. See anything that inspires confidence? Many od us realize that Horton will have to bust his ass to win.
Lets not forget that Justin Simmons worked his ass off and lined up a very powerful patron, (Elmer Gates) behind him.
If we Dems are going to beat him, we are going to have to play just as nasty with him as he did with Beyer. (Who now has more time to help her P.I. follow Horton around)
Oh, and here's what crystal ball suggests: Doug Reichley has almost 3000 new voters in his district who don't know him from Adam, and there is a growing segment that is anti all incumbents. I saw an unopposed Pat Slattery at several polling places throughout the day, passing out literature in a pouring rain. Beyer was Reichley's protege at one time. I think he got a strong message.
Horton will have to work to win, I agree.
ReplyDeleteWell of course anyone who runs has to work to win..but this still is a golden opportunity for Dems..It's just too bad Beyer isn't the democratic candidate. She would hand him his head in that scenario...
ReplyDelete"Before the handup, she had little or no qualifications of her own for the position."
ReplyDeleteShe was a legislative aide, served on her school board and served in the military. NLVLogic just went illogical. Your point about her being ordained by the insiders is fair, but saying she had little or no qualifications is just silly, especially when taken in the context of the mommy/daddy shacking boy whose only professional credentials are working as a political hack.
She was a legislative aide, served on her school board and served in the military. NLVLogic just went illogical. Your point about her being ordained by the insiders is fair, but saying she had little or no qualifications is just silly.
ReplyDeleteI may understand incorrectly that she was a first termer on the school board, but in any case, being on the school board does not make one eminently qualified particularly to receive a Party blessing for State Rep without the proper vetting obtained by going through a primary. There should be some mechanisim other than the back room.
A school board and the House of State Reps are two very entirely different things. And the legislative aide stint was what two years? Reichly first took office in 2003. We simply handed a newcomer, his aide, the escalater. That was dumb methinks.
One establishes their qualfications by going through the fire of a contest. This is not to say that Simmons is qualified, but he has shown some metal by defeating an established candidate in a primary.
Frankly, I think the position of State Rep requires more depth than any candidates offers. The job requires knowledge on subjects most of which can only be obtained through experience or education in public administration. It also requires experience in private industry.
Compare/constrast Reichly and Dent's qualifications to say, Beyer or Simmons (I could add more names here). Regardless of any status as conservative or moderate, Reichly and Dent are qualified. The jobs are complicated.
As an aside, I loathe the practice of party endorsements in any primary. It results in weaker candidates and fewer challengers, as more qualified candidates are discouraged to run. The weaker candidate eventually shows, which is what happened here.
You can continue to bash Simmons as a mommy's/daddy's boy. I am not saying he is qualified. I would like to see better qualified candidates, but the voters spoke. So I won't second guess them. Besides, when one makes viscious personal attacks like have been posted here, the attacks should not be anonymously.
Bernie -
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping an open mind for the November election.
Anon said:
ReplyDelete"It's too bad that Pennsylvania election law, I believe, prevents her from running as an independent..That law needs to be changed.."
*********************************
She HAD every right to run as an independent. However, her CHOICE to run in the primary is what precludes her from now running in November as an Independent.
Pennsylvania, like many other states, has a "sore-loser" law which prevents primary losers from running in the general election (thereby splitting their party's vote and handing the election to the other party). That is a fair law and should not be changed.
If Beyer didn't like the law, she could have bowed out of the Republican primary and ran only in November. She also could have taken the honest route and switched to the Democrat party and ran in the Democrat primary (since that's how she usually voted).
I agree with the sore loser law, but also believe primaries need to be open to prevent polarizing candidates from emerging.
ReplyDelete"Regardless of any status as conservative or moderate, Reichly and Dent are qualified. The jobs are complicated."
ReplyDeleteYour points are fair, but ask this: what were Dent's qualifications when he first ran for state house? Don't pretend that Dent got to congress without first growing.
Re: school board-I wish more state reps knew the challenges faced by school board members. there are too many state reps who talk to nobody by the superintendants.
The crux of your argument seems to be more accurately embodied by calling for the reform of the nomination process for special elections. Hard to argue with that. Calling somebody unqualified is very different than actually putting forth the best possible candidates. I'd argue that your comment about Beyer being unqualified diminishes the credibility of your call for such reforms. Anybody who interacted with Beyer never left doubting her intelligence or skills as state rep. they could disagree, but they didn't doubt her.
Even if a person decides not to run in the primary, according to the current law, they are not allowed to run as an independent in the subsequent general election unless they were registered as something other than a republican or democrat prior to the primary. This according to a Lehigh County election official when asked last year after the municipal primary.
ReplyDelete>what were Dent's qualifications when he first ran for state house?
ReplyDeleteIf I understand correctly, Dent had a degree in Foreign Service and International Politics from the Pennsylvania State University and later, a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Lehigh University, info shameless copied from his website, I admit. Also worked as aid to various public officials
Dear anon 2;08
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely no reason they shouldn't open up election law to permit candidates to run again in the fall. That way a few nut case right or left wingers do not put someone in who might be so far from the values of all the voters in the district that they, the voters, don't have a real choice. Isn't the general idea that the candidate who wins should be the one who is preferred by the majority of that districts voters not just some left or right wing lunatics?? Look at Crist in Florida..If the Voters still want Rubio overall than he should have no problem beating Crist.
"If I understand correctly, Dent had a degree in Foreign Service and International Politics from the Pennsylvania State University and later, a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Lehigh University, info shameless copied from his website, I admit. Also worked as aid to various public officials."
ReplyDelete(aside: PSU doesn't even list Foreign Service as a degree: it lists International Politics... hopefully he's not pulling a Fleck and lying about his college degree credentials)
So, Beyer had military experience, not the pieces of paper and worked for a shorter period of time as a hack than Dent. I see very little difference. And that is the point: relevant experience is a subjective matter (which is more relevant: military service and a degree or a degree on a specific topic). Overall, your attempts to paint her as inexperienced deminishes the contention that the party bosses shouldn't be locking in candidates. Elections should be about choices. The voters, not party bosses, should be determining who is more qualified and who is not. On that, I can agree. Calling Beyer inexperienced when she first ran, well, to me that is just not accurate. Your reasons may have precluded her from earning your vote, but she did beat a very experienced D in Linda Minger, so it clearly didn't preclude other people from seeing her as experienced.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete> relevant experience is a subjective matter
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, which means I have no contest with you for making a determination which differs from mine as to whether or not she was qualified in her first partial term.
As an aside, I was a committee person at the time she was selected to run in the special election. I recall working for her campaign, but I was not overwhelmed with the GOP's process or selection. It was like, here she is. Now go pass out flyers, etc.
Certainly she was the better candidate than Minger. I dont think being a local tax collector or even a Township treasurer makes one qualified for State Rep either. The tax collector/treasurer does not set policy or agenda and has a very limited focus mostly on bookeeping.
Beyer got what she deserved and had coming, it's called "Karma".
ReplyDeleteI have no respect for what she did to my friend Mike Horton who BTW is an upstanding guy not just in character but who's the kind of guy who wouldn't talk bad about anyone.
Trust me voters, you will NOT go wrong voting for Mike Horton, he is extremely gifted, intelligent and hardworking. He has served the voters well as constable and serves the courts in Allentown honorably.
I don't know much about Mr. Simmons but I wish him luck, I just feel this isn't his time but I could be wrong I never thought he would have upset Beyer.
Fred Schoenenberger
Constable, Wilson Boro
Anon 4:27 PM
ReplyDelete"(aside: PSU doesn't even list Foreign Service as a degree: it lists International Politics... hopefully he's not pulling a Fleck and lying about his college degree credentials)"
List it or not, there's a lot of folks out there who claim to have the same degree.
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Foreign+Service+and+International+Politics%22+%22penn+state%22&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7HPND_en
Beyer should have pulled a Specter, and switched parties. She should a better chance with her liberal ideals.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty weak choices for the 131st District. Justin Simmons and Mike Horton; come on Justin Simmons young lacking life experiences and Mike Horton Military Educated / Profiteering from from human crisis. How do any of these people represent average American Values. I haven't seen any talk or walk in this matters.
ReplyDeleteNo matter who wins out of these two; we'll get a more out of control police state, more freedoms taken away, weaker quality of food and water - not to mention a much weaker job opportunities for average working families.
The People are tried of the Bull Sh$t of Party Politics!
I don't consider a West Point grad a weak choice.
ReplyDelete