Abe Kassis Spends $37,600 for Convicted Campaign Consultant

Abe Kassis

Abe Kassis is hungry for a Northampton County judgeship. He poured $25,000 of his own money into his campaign. That's something we can all respect.  But he's so hungry that he's doing other things, too. One of them was to consort with tea party extremists while circulating his nomination petition. He himself solicited support from its most radical members, like Ronnie Del Bacco, on the same night that he was making one of his speeches to Easton Democrats. He's so hungry that he later appeared on a right wing talk radio show hosted by a man being sued by the Lehigh County DA for defamation. He then sent out what I call his integrity  mailer, posing with a woman and three children, creating the false impression that she is his wife and they are his children. It's misleading and somewhat insulting to candidates Sam Murray and Vic Scomillio, who actually have real families of their own. Now this veteran prosecutor, who has claimed he will be tough, has filed a campaign finance report revealing that he has given more than half of the money he's raised to a consultant who was convicted in 2010 of filing fraudulent campaign expense reports.

Sam Murray

Kassis' pre-election report, filed in Harrisburg with no courtesy copy provided to the Northampton County elections office, reveals he's raised $66,906 in his judicial quest. In addition to the $25,000 coming from his own pocket, he's received considerable support from the Lebanese community, including his own affluent family.

The sum Kassis reports is nearly twice the $36,873.10 raised by Sam Murray and considerably more than the $44,480.80 donated to  Vic Scomillio. Together, all three judicial hopefuls have raked in $148,000, according to papers filed with the Department of State. That's no surprise. What amazes me is that Kassis, who holds himself out as tough on crime, has spent $37,600 for political consultant Tom Severson.

He was fined $14,000 and placed on three years of probation after a guilty plea in 2010 to filing fraudulent campaign expense expense reports, as well as tampering with public records.  Now, a few short years later, a judicial candidate is paying him for the same kind of work that resulted in a criminal conviction.

Vic Scomillio

Severson has actually received more money from Kassis than Sam Murray was able to raise.

Seversoin was also convicted in 2009 of misdemeanor harassment after a strange outburst during a funeral mass.

Why would a judicial candidate pay such a huge sum to a disgraced (and convicted) political consultant?

Maybe he thinks Severson has paid for his mistake.

In 1994, before he was a judge, Emil Giordano accused Severson of "sleazeball politics," calling him the "leader of the pack."  For a judicial candidate to use Severson, and pay him so much money, is an insult to the voters, most of whom will never know that a "tough" prosecutor is using a convicted criminal to garner a judgeship. This poor decision is also an insult to many fine Lebanese families who put their faith in Kassis.

Vic Scomillio has raised $44,480.80, with the largest sum coming in the form of a $5,000 check from L Anderson Daub. His law partners have helped with generous $2,000 contributions. He even picked up a $500 check from Wilson Police Chief Steve Parkansky.

Scomillio has spent $27,541.31, including $5,000 for polling. He has sent out at least two mailers, and has $16,939.57 left in the closing days of the campaign.

Scomillion has also lent $7,275 to his campaign.

Sam Murray raised $36,873.10, including $5,000 out of his own pocket. He has spent $33,319.54, leaving him with $3,553.46 in the closing days of the campaign. In contrast to Scomillio and Kassis, Murray has relied on numerous small contributors who were able to give between $50 and $250. That's where he got $13,000 of his warchest. The Palmeri family has been generous, and so have several attorneys with whom Murray has worked closely over the years.

Murray has received in-kind donations from Abe Atiyeh (billboard) and developer Gary Strausser (opening announcement). He is employing H Street Strategies and Joe Welsh for campaign consulting. So far, he has sent out three mailers.