Though Simmons is very conservative, the reason I like him is because he is one of the few state legislators who worked to settle the NIZ lawsuit.
I've met Coyle. After doing so, I checked his voting record and discovered he's pretty much a hit-and-miss voter, especially in primaries. So I find it out that he would showcase himself as a standard bearer for the Republicans, especially since one of the persons who encouraged him to run is none other than Democrat Jennifer Mann.
She wants Coyle to bleed Simmons, while Democrats write someone else in.
He fell for her spiel while paying for her meal at White Orchid.
When Coyle first announced, I sent him a list of admittedly tough questions on February 18. He got them because he sent me an email about them. He has not answered me, and over a month has elapsed Since he is using Robert Kerr as a consultant, my guess is he won;t be answering me at all. So maybe he'll tell Bobby Gunther Walsh what he's afraid to say to me.
.
Will you take the pension? (No answer.)
Will you take per diem? (No answer.)
Will you take state car? (No answer.)
Will you take cell phone? (No answer.)
Will you take mileage? (No answer.)
Since you are running against Simmons because of his term limit pledge. What is your term limit pledge? (No answer.)
What are your thoughts on the Republicans blocking Wolf's budget? (No answer.)
How would you be different? (No answer.)
What are your thoughts on Tom Wolf's 2015 budget? (No answer.)
What do you agree with? What don't you agree with? (No answer.)
What are your thoughts on Tom Wolf's 2016 budget? (No answer.)
What do you agree with? What don't you agree with? (No answer.)
How should we fund increase in school funding? (No answer.)
What should we do with property taxes? (No answer.)
What is your current employment? (No answer.)
Why do you think you can do a better job? (No answer.)
Why should people vote for you? (No answer.)
He dodged the question whether he would send out mailers at taxpayer expense when he was on Gunther's show in February. Gunther has stated he would host an hour-long debate between Simmons and Coyle. According to Coyle, Simmons has missed 60 votes during his time in the state house. I have tried, and am unable to confirm this.
Kerr has Coyle's page locked up tighter than a drum on FB. He continually deletes posts, most are asking these same questions Bernie! Coyle's refusal to answer questions makes him a weak, bleak candidate. I hope Simmons can get that message acrossed to the constituents! Coyle just needs a job b/c his job is in jeapordy, per his wife who is blasting that around the district. Keep up the good work, Bernie!
ReplyDeleteGreat post from Tuscon KR. Camp Simmons was forced to move past Coyle's employment when Justin himself publicly retracted it on Gunther's show. Would be great if he got you cool aid drinkers to focus on the issues, but Simmons is a follower not a leader.
DeleteKept his word???? "I will only run for 3 terms, I promise"....wink wink.
DeleteOn the Legislative front, there are still unresolved petition challenges. Seems like these rulings should be timely.
ReplyDeleteDid little Bobby ask him if the moon landing was a fake or whether the President is a Muslim ? How in the world does any rational adult listen to the conspiracy theory master ?
ReplyDeleteWayne Woodman's new hand puppet. Justin refused to follow orders from Wayne, now he has to be destroyed and replaced with someone who will obey.
ReplyDeleteCoyle doesn't have one convincing argument for running. As a matter of fact, his wife has gone around telling people that her husband his going to lose his job. So, that this is his bases for becoming a state representative. I don't think so....Thanks Bernie for asking all of questions that the constituents have been wanting to ask. Hopefully, Coyle will be held accountable for his groundless campaign.
ReplyDeleteI am voting for Justin Simmons for state representative.
ReplyDeleteGunther exposed Coyle for what he is......no platform candidate.
ReplyDeleteIsnt it punishment enough that this guy had dinner with Jenn Mann......
ReplyDeleteSo who owns Justin? He claims he had no job the year he first ran against a "career politician" but, as soon as he was elected, he moved into a $400,000 house. How did he afford it? Who paid? Maybe that's why he has decided to become a career politician himself?
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that the Coyle campaign refuses to answer policy questions and instead keeps trying to go after Simmons personally. It's ironic because Coyle keeps stating that he is mature and wants to fight on the issues. Where does Mr. Coyle stand on anything? A candidates personal life is off limits. State your positions Mr. Coyle and get out of the gutter!
ReplyDelete"Did little Bobby ask him if the moon landing was a fake or whether the President is a Muslim ? How in the world does any rational adult listen to the conspiracy theory master ?"
ReplyDeleteI generally don't, but will listen on the Internet to interviews with local politicians. I learn more from that than in the news coverage bc there is more detail. I am well aware that Gunther has some sort of agenda, and generally only has people he agrees with as guests.
"... trying to go after Simmons personally"? It was Simmons and his supporters who went after Coyle first by lying to voters at a FOP meeting and while going door to door getting petitions by saying Coyle was fired from his job. That was a lie and a personal attack. Justin Simmons and his toadies should not throw rocks in a glass house, no matter who paid for it.
ReplyDeleteSo is Mr Coyle not planning on taking a salary if he is elected? He owns a $572,000 home with a mortgage. Will he be donating his salary to charity?
ReplyDeleteWhy would you not take a salary and pension and health care if you are taking a job?
ReplyDeleteDoes simmons not take a salary pension or health care?
House wars? Really? How about someone who is running to do the job? I don't think Justin does a good job representing the people of the 131st because with everything he does in Harrisburg he seems to take the most extreme position on the right to curry favor with the most conservative elements of his party. That puts him at odds with most Republicans in the House majority. So I will be voting for Bill Coyle because I think he has a better chance of getting things like the state budget passed because he is more likely to be able to work with other Republicans and, yes, even Democrats, to do an effective job representing the 131st's citizens. I don't care about conspiracy theories about who is backing who, how much their respective homes cost or how they paid for them (I assume both have mortgages). I just want someone who can do the job and won't be a career politician.
ReplyDeleteRepublican voters in the 131 district are smart enough to decide on their own whether they want a rep like Simmons or Coyle. They don't need to be told by Bernie O'Hare, Gunther, campaign operatives or anybody else about who they should support.
ReplyDeleteBernie, I think Coyle answered some of your questions when he was on Gunter's show before because Gunther asked him some of the same questions. Listen to the tape.
ReplyDeleteIO did. He answered that he would not take a term-limits pledge.
ReplyDeleteI don't care about a term limit pledge because I know I can vote for or against my representative every two years if I think they aren't doing the job. However, Justin ran on his pledge and said we should give him three terms to clean up the mess left by career politicians in Harrisburg. Well, we gave him six years and now he says ne needs more time. He ran on a pledge and he has broken it and now wants to be a career poltician himself. I will vote against him because he broke his word and he didn't deliver what he promised. Maybe Coyle can do better. If I don't think he measures up and starts getting something done after two years then I can vote against him. If you set expectations and don't deliver, you pay the consequences. That applies to both Simmons and Coyle in my view.
ReplyDeleteAnyone, that is backed by Robert Kerr, Wayne Woodman or Jennifer Mann shouldn't even run for office. I would never support Coyle. I am voting for Justin Simmons.
ReplyDeleteComing from Simmons headquarters and challenging who someone associates with.....anyone remember campaign manager Sterner? Talk about pretty bold.
DeleteFor me, it isn't about the backers. It's about the candidate and whether I think they can be trusted. Simmons has proved he can't be trusted. I will give Coyle a chance.
ReplyDeleteNo one on this post who supports Coyne is willing to sign their name. No exactly a full fledged endorsement.
ReplyDeleteScott Armstrong
Except for you, same goes for those attacking Coyle, not Coyne.What's your point?
ReplyDeleteI'm voting for Simmons. He has kept his word and fights for the taxpayers. He also has the best constituent services we have every had in the history of the 131st district. Representative Simmons is always available to speak to me when I have concerns or problems.
ReplyDeleteKept his word??? "Only 3 terms, I promise." What great constituent services, the questions about the state lottery, the fishing and hunting information, or the birth certificate applications? Makes a mockery of the position....all times three at each oh his three offices.
DeleteAnonymous 10:53 will you explain why you think Coyle will be representing you any differently in Harrisburg? He says he is a very conservative Republican. So where is the difference?
ReplyDeletePretty bold for Coyle to go after Simmons on missing votes when his own voting record is shotty at best, and he only needed to do it two days a year! Although if Simmons did miss as many votes as Coyle has said at least we know Simmons isn't getting people to ghost vote for him. I also wonder how many of those votes were actually something important? If he missed 60 votes I am sure that 50 of them were naming bridges or something stupid like that.
ReplyDeleteI listened to Coyle's first Gunther interview and it was pretty cringe worthy, there were some fairly basic political issues that he didn't know anything about. Luckily for him Gunther held his hand for the rest of the questions after he got busted trying to fake his way through the interview.
I don't like that Simmons broke his term limit pledge, but honestly that is the only thing about him I don't like. His record of fighting against both Democrat and Republican tax increases and his strong 2nd Amendment record will have me pulling the lever for him again. I know what I am getting with Simmons. I don't know what Coyle will stand for, because he doesn't know either.
Your taxes are paying for Simmons to vote, not Coyle. Interesting rationalization. Say you are right and 50 of those 60 missed votes were for naming bridges. What about the other 10, still not important?
DeleteBernie, you either don't want to validate Simmons shotty voting record, don't want to blog about it, or aren't looking very hard. Google "pa state representative voting record" and it is the first site that comes up. Very public, very transparent, and very damning. When Simmons was on with Gunther, he explained the absurd number of missed votes by saying most were in December 2011 when he got married. Guess he didn't think anyone would check. Two thirds or more of his missed votes happened in 2013 or later. He lied about his term limit pledged, lied about his voting record, lied about Coyle's employment and then publicly retracted it....open your eyes district 131, what's next?
ReplyDeleteIf anyone follows the State Legislature they would know that sometimes there can be 50 to 75 procedural votes in a given day. If a Legislator is sick for a couple of days, they can miss quite a few votes. You can't vote by proxy when you aren't able to be there physically. At least he didn't ghost vote like Representative Schlossberg!
ReplyDeleteIf that were the case, which it is not, check the website, why would Simmons be compelled to lie about it? Pathological? Ego? Too lazy to check for himself?
DeleteIt's really sad how Mr. Coyle won't talk about the issues facing Pennsylvania, but instead puts up a smoke screen with personal attacks on people. Unfortunately, that is a HUGE character flaw and frankly I was going to vote for Coyle, but now am completely turned off by him.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, no one endorses Coyle here with their name. That speaks volumes.
ReplyDeleteScott Armstrong
"pa state representative voting record"
ReplyDeleteI was unaware of this site. i will be checking it quite closely.
You should if you are really looking into the issues. Welcome to 2016. This Google thing is amazing, it's going to be huge.
DeleteWhen you do check Bernie, please see if the Legislators happen to be "on leave" which has been granted by the Speaker of the House and is perfectly acceptable.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me all the attacks on Simmons is just a deflection to the real issue in this article with is about Coyle's inability to respond to questions.
ReplyDelete8:13..... yet again, Kerr, Coyle and Woodman are clueless when it comes to constituent services. I can't imagine how the mother of a 9 yr old boy felt when her dr. was unable to get the proper medication for her son, and the dr. himself reached out to constituent services and within 24 hrs the child rec'd the necessary medication that saved his life. It's pathetic to attack constituent services. No matter how big or how small a need is, it's still a need. To minimalize it shows your lack of compassion, lack of knowledge, and flat out lack of understanding. Good luck Coyle, if this is how you truly feel about the constituents of the district!
ReplyDeleteCoyle, Why not answer the questions that Bernie sent you? What is the mystery? They are not "got you"questions but questions that someone running for State Rep should clarify. I have created 60 jobs with a plan to create 40 more. The Simmons way of thinking promotes job growth. I will continue to support Justin because he is the best candidate for job growth in PA. I met Coyle once. He is a nice guy but I don't know if he really understands PA government, specifically because he hasn't answered any of these questions in detail. Simmons is the best candidate for job growth and PA government issues. Chris J
ReplyDeleteMr. Coyle does your employer know that you charged a meal to them while you were in Harrisburg to watch where your name was placed on the ballot? You showed the receipt to Gunther. If that's how you treat your small business employer what will you do with our tax money?
ReplyDelete8:41 please share more? Are you saying that Rep. Simmons was able to get medication that a child's physician couldn't and that it actually prevented the child from dying? When did this happen and what type of medicine was it?
ReplyDeleteI never said it was Simmons, I was referring to constituent services in general. That is a very true story, the medication was an antibiotic that the child needed in suspension form, not pill form. Without the antibiotic, per the dr., yes he would have died! You don't often get a dr. calling a leg. office, so when it happens, you get on board and jump thru the hoops needed to make things happen! I have a ton more stories, but this is all a deflection of the real story which is Coyle needs to answer Bernie's questions! A poster made light of constituent services, and that statement clearly is from someone who has no clue about the hard work that leg. staffers do. ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTONS COYLE!!!!!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteBernie, has Coyle answered any of your questions yet? Surely by now I would think he would have at least answered one of the softball questions you asked him. If he hasn't answered anything yet why do you suppose that is?
I told him "no rush" when he said he would work on them over a weekend. But he's playing me.
ReplyDeleteI heard that interview. It was awful. When gunther asked him why he was eunning he said a whole bunch of conservative talking-point-type stuff. Gunther said "Well, you just described Justin Simmons." Coyle didn't really have much of an answer to that.
ReplyDeleteIt was a bad interview.
ReplyDeleteThe Simmons interview was no better. He said he wished he had never made the term-limit pledge he used to get elected, retracted his lie about Coyle's employment status, lied about his voting record, and lied that his earlier robo call went to every constituent in the district. The recording is still available, go listen to it if the point of this blog is to facilitate real dialogue about the candidates.
DeleteCoyle will never answer the questions. He is just into character assassination and baseless comments.
ReplyDeleteFaking a customer visit to cover campaign expenses. I wonder how the IRS and Mr. McKee will feel when they see your expense report? You may have had a job before...But guessing you won't have one much longer.
ReplyDeleteI just deleted several anonymous attacks aimed at some Simmons' supporters by name. Let's be a little nicer, shall we?
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is in order to hear these interviews you have to suffer through the Bobby Gubber Walsh nonsense show. The guy is just nuts. Sadly in order to get traffic and weather info you need 790 but the price is having to listen to whack job Walsh.
ReplyDeleteWhat is with the station, does anyone under 75 even want to hear what he has to say? The guy is a world class jerk, who spins more conspiracy theories than a spider spins webs.
Sorry but his heavily crazy influenced and opinionated "interviews" are essentially worthless.
I am by no means a Bobby Gunther Walsh fan and have criticized him several times. But what local radio station do you know that is actually willing to cover local issues? Lehigh Valley Discourse is a snoozefest. There is nothing out there besides him.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bernie for asking all of these questions. The constituents in district 131 have a right to know about the Coyle campaign, his platform, his views and if, there are any differences with his counterpart. Instead, we only hear derogatory comments about Justin Simmons.So, I think that there comes a time when Coyle should grow up, have some integrity and answer the questions. Then he should proceed to explain his idea of real life experiences and how real life experiences will make him qualify to be a state rep. Because, the voters want to know and have a right to know. We just want to be able to evaluate this candidate to see if, he is fit for the job.
ReplyDeleteAt 6:26 AM you are a gullible person. I shouldn't have to google the issues. Coyle needs to act with some maturity, integrity and discuss the issues. Coyle just comes across as weak and feckless, when he verbally attacks people. He needs to take a long look at himself in the mirror. He lacks any moral character.
ReplyDeleteBoys and girl, I am ending comments on this thread.
ReplyDelete