Along with chrysanthemums and marigolds, a batch of new political signs are blossoming throughout the Pa. 07 Congressional district. They are "Bob Brooks FRAUD" signs, some of which are planted next to Brooks' own signs. Paid for by the Ryan Mackenzie campaign, the signs contain the web address BobBrooksFraud.com.
The webpage starts with "Meet the Real Bob Brooks", and asserts he has a "documented history of putting himself and his personal profit before others." It then goes on to list eight verifiable examples, including links
1. "Bob Brooks signed an agreement to pay his family for a property, lied about it in court, was found liable, and ordered to pay back over $130,000.
2. "Despite claiming to stand up for workers, Bob Brooks didn’t carry legally required workers’ compensation insurance for his own employees at the company he owns… for four years. That means Brooks pocketed the savings and his employees got stiffed."
3. "As a union president, Bob Brooks took big extra money for himself at the exact same time he cut the services he was supposed to provide to union members. Once again, more money for Brooks while others got denied."
4. "Bob Brooks lied on official government documents to get himself a $15,000 taxpayer-funded COVID grant. The penalty? Up to 5 years in jail and a $250,000 fine." (Blogger's Note, Brooks actually got $30,000 and appears to have lied twice on two separate applications.)
5. "If you want to know about Bob Brooks’ real character — or lack of it — imagine this: Bob Brooks called volunteer firefighters in our community “shitbags” and “scabs.” That’s people who volunteer to run into burning buildings for all of us."
6. "Bob Brooks has been credibly accused of racism for enforcing a “white-only” membership policy as the Steward (manager) of a local social club."
7. "Bob Brooks says he’ll ban stock trading in Congress. But in his own life Brooks is a millionaire who is getting richer from trading stocks — including in the mega-corporations he says he’s against."
8. "Bob Brooks likes to act like he’s a working-class everyman. The fact is he’s a longtime political insider and registered lobbyist who was hand-picked by the political bosses. Brooks even admits they “called me into a backroom meeting” to be their candidate."
As Bethlehem Fure Union President Bob Brooks negotiated away positions which the our union is fighting to bring back. Brooks has been invisible in our current fight to get more firefighter positions. Brooks is a hack that was never available for duty. Not when driving the beer truck or when driving the firetruck. Way too many instances of being unavailable for duty, due to workman comp claims.
ReplyDeleteHe's always been a scumbag!
DeleteCrooksy. A wannabe Stone Cold Steve Austin
DeleteBrooks lost a lot of votes when he decided not to debate. Guy should fire his team.
ReplyDeleteHe's a coward!
DeleteIf you watched his performance in the Primary, you'll understand why he backed out- the guy has trouble stringing a 5th grade sentence together- he's a complete embarrassment!
DeleteThis guy has all the stuff to make a great political leader He will fit right in Congress.
ReplyDeleteI can’t verify that points 7 and 8 are legitimate, but the other charges made here ARE. I’ve read enough evidence to prove those.
ReplyDeleteEither way, Brooks is a very poor choice to send to Washington.
Should Brooks actually win, I expect him to accomplish very little down there except be a guaranteed vote for the Democrat-Socialists already calling the shots in that political party. In other words, another 2 years of inaction in Congress except for more ridiculous impeachment efforts and various hearings.
I am one who believes our election process is not secure enough. So, despite Brooks many flaws, I do expect him to be installed into office, and America’s downward spiral continues.
"I expect him to accomplish very little down there except be a guaranteed vote for the Democrat-Socialists" Sounds good. I'm in. Still better than voting for a supoorter of a grifting con man pedo who has had no interest in supporting our country and only lining his own pockets while doing everything he can to distract form the Epstein files so he doesn't end up in clink (as deserved).
DeleteIn my vision for Congress, I believe in hand marked paper ballots.
DeleteBernie, thank you for repeatedly posting my talking points in detail. You and I will make America great again.
ReplyDeleteMAGA,
Ryan
The truth doesn't matter to blind "Ds". They just press the D button regardless.
ReplyDeleteThe truth doesn't matter to blind "Rs". They just press the D button regardless.
DeleteIt goes both ways.
Yes it does, Bernie. That’s because LYING is at an epidemic level in America. Particularly troubling is the obvious downfall of journalistic integrity. The public has to work very hard to find accurate information.
DeletePropaganda works, and too many will not take the trouble to break through it all. They’ll just tune into the View and other mind-numbing places. It’s easy to parrot others, even if what one repeats is actually false.
MacKenzie and McClure are strange bedfellows on this one.
DeleteRyan is growing increasingly desperate. Maybe he should have stood up against unconstitutional tarriffs, massive deficit spending, and an illegal war.
ReplyDeleteI smell LaHoud all over this. And LaHoud smells good!
DeleteWith his background he will make a great Rep.
ReplyDeleteBrooks-Shifty at best, possibly criminal. Won’t debate Mackenzie. Lame.
ReplyDeleteMackenzie-Spineless- voted per party bosses/MAGA until last November’s Blue Wave scared him.
Sheesh. Brooks will likely win by default. Hopefully a one-termer.
Ryan Mackenzie and Joe Emrick are so desperate. They are going to lose bigly and that’s what they get for being Maga!
ReplyDeleteJoe Emrick is useless, but goofy Jeff Warren is a shit show!
DeleteThat’s Congressman Brooks to you. And, it will be a total embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteNice guy. He’ll fit in perfect in the swamp.
ReplyDeleteCrooksy BROOKSy is the worst possible candidate for ANY OFFICE. One look at this fat slob on his Harley tells you everything you need to know. My Party claims to be for the little guy, but hand picked this loser in a backroom deal with our phony Governor. Croswell would've won handily, but leave it to the Dems to pick another loser.
ReplyDeleteCrosswell ? The guy from Pottsville who moved out of Allentown to Philadelphia 2 seconds after he lost. What I love for Crosswell is that Wallace is giving Mueser all he wants in the District that Crosswell actually grew up in and would have been a good fit for. It also would have been a good District to accept his inevitable switch back to R.
DeleteBrooks has been a fraud his entire adult life- a grifter from day 1.
ReplyDeleteHow rich is it for MAGA supporters to call Bob Brooks a fraud when their own President himself was convicted of 34 felony counts of fraud. The hypocrisy is deafening.
ReplyDeleteTrump was convicted by left wing radical shit by the way it was overturned because everybody knows the left wing is idiots' and losers besides being deranged.
DeleteIt is so exhausting. justifying a poor candidate because of TDS. Who will you all blame and ignore facts when Trump is out of office. Voting for a poor candidate can not be justified. At least Bernie won't vote...more ethical than voting for someone based on party and not merit. And Republicans do vote for democrats if they're centric decent people who can compromise. This election pur freedom is on the ballot. I pray republicans go out and vote
DeleteExcept, each of the 34 counts was for a different, single sheet of paper presented as evidence under the same exact charge. It was pretty much one single charge made to look like 34 separate charges.
DeleteAs an Independent, I only vote for convicted felons, as a matter of principle. No exceptions. It's legitimate protest against lawfare (by both major teams) and abuse of the courts. Ilhan Omar is going to set records and she's yet to be convicted.
Deleteyou definitely need meds for your TDS.
Delete@11:43
DeleteYou’re preaching about “voting on merit” while ignoring how consistently Trump supporters rally behind candidates because of loyalty to Trump rather than qualifications.
If qualifications, ethics and experience really matter, apply that standard to your own candidates too. And criticizing Trump or a Republican candidate isn’t TDS, it’s called evaluating their record.
You don’t get to demand merit from one side while giving your own side a pass because of a party label or Trump endorsement.
@12:06
DeleteNice try, The 34 counts weren’t simply one charge copied 34 times, they were 34 separate allegedly false business-record entries: 11 invoices, 12 ledger entries, and 11 checks.
But keep twisting yourself into a pretzel to rationalize the actions of the pedophile-in-chief.
1143. You're missing the point..... but I cant help you see it
DeleteThe day after the election Trump is lame duck. This is about Bob Brooks he’s a scumbag.
DeleteSoon Momma Mac will seek revenge. She’s 10 times tougher than Baby Mac.
ReplyDeleteThe choice is a Trump toady versus Brooks.
Brooks will win. He's awful but he will win.
I just can't vote for this sleaze bag- everything about him is phony.
DeleteBrooks won't win if you don't vote for him.
DeleteBrooks is no angel, we know that. Mackenzie has been an empty container for Trump to fill. Even Trump couldn’t remember his name when he was here. Brooks is capable of doing better, but I think it will be a short run. He should have debated.
ReplyDeleteSo why are his people already messing with the signs? I’ve seen them moved to places they weren’t.
DeleteIt’s interesting that only #2 led to a sufficient level of outrage from his campaign to cause him to back out of the debate. I wonder what that says about the other seven accusations.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I’ve heard some of his supporters say he didn’t have any employees at the time so didn’t need the insurance. Others have said his son was working for him at the time. I wonder where the law actually stands on any of that.
the guy is a real scumbag- NOT the volunteer firefighters!
DeleteBernie, when a nation would rather spend billions of $$ on candidates running for office instead of feeding kids and making health insurance affordable for the elderly and others who need it (to name just 2 issues) there is something drastically wrong with the system.
ReplyDeleteAgain. Dana for Mayor
DeleteHe would've been so much better than Wee Willie!
DeleteThis will be a major blue wave due to trump. The dems are coming out big and all pressing d straight ticket vote. I don’t think it matters who is on the ticket but I predict brooks will win and it will not be close. The primary was the real election this year. The people are mad, the house and senate will flip.
ReplyDeleteThose signs are everywhere! Great way to educate the public!
ReplyDeleteWhen you have a biased media, you end up with poor quality candidates-like Brooks- Croswell was so much better. This guy is a real scumbag.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Dana and that’s why I am voting straight Democrat this year. We need cheaper health care and better working benefits with a defined pension plan for all workers. I will vote for Brooks and if he doesn’t perform I will vote him out next term.
ReplyDelete12:41 You need your head examined! I'm a registered Dem and the Party is too far gone since it's led by coastal elites & socialists! The last time we were in charge, inflation was around 10% & my healthcare tripled. Brooks isn't the right guy for the job.
DeleteLast time Dems were in power, my Healthcare doubled and millions of illegals were getting it for nothing.
DeleteYou can vote for democrat but NOT for Brooks
DeleteThe progressive left of the L.V. Democrats must be going into conniptions in private while supporting this guy in public. That's not water or sweat on Brooks' firefighter uniform in those commercials, it's drool 🤤 from the incessant slavering of L.V. Democrat leadership who have to put on a happy face.
ReplyDeleteThe Dem machine must've found this guy in a dumpster fire! The guy can't even walk and chew gum at the same time- how in the hell was he a firefighter?
DeleteAnyone that would vote for Brooks is a total idiot. This guy is an ambarrassment to Firefighters everywhere. He is a total scumbag and will serve no lawful purpose in Washington or anywhere else for that matter.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Sure. Like I am going to listen to you. You told me to vote for Mike Fleck.
ReplyDeleteTrump a fraud. McKenzie is solidly in his camp...sanctimonious political shill. If character actually mattered to McKenzie it might make a difference, but he's a shameless shill for Fraudster Trump...it's who he is.
ReplyDeleteLittle Mac has indeed votes for Trump’s budget-busting whims. He supports tariffs — which raise prices — and the Iran War, which goes on hold periodically but raises prices.
DeleteNow that Little Mac is scared he’s pretending to be bipartisan.
Brooks is awful too. Shapiro and party hacks foisted him on us.
Brooks will probably win. Ideally he won’t last a term or somebody with half a brain will run in the next primary election.
He voted for tariffs which are essential to on shoring jobs that were exported from the our country. Good manufacturing jobs that once had large employment and good benefits. Unlike the service economy that was sold to the American public.
DeleteHealthcare and education have become more and more unaffordable as the government stepped in to finance it. We need good jobs and good pay/benefits.
Look a Germany right now their automakers are in dire straights. Their government has essentially created a situation where manufacturing within Germany is unprofitable and Chinese are taking full advantage of the situation.
This dirt bag reminds of the former Nazareth Mayor who was also a crook.
ReplyDeleteYou mean the guy who stole $ from the Fire company? Crooksy Brooksy looks and acts just like him.
DeleteOur choices — Brooks, a lying con-artist hand-picked by wanna-be president Shapiro and Warren, an at least two-time DUI loser. Both will win. Both make me sick. Won’t vote for either candidate in these two races.
ReplyDeleteNever forget Nadeem Quayum beat five Republicans by record margins just 12 months ago. The guy doesn't speak English and is the spouse of Democrat Taiba Sultana. Democrats just pull the D. Unfortunatley modetate Republicans feel guilty voting any Republican that supports MAGA.
ReplyDeleteSince Mr. Brooks was elected president of his union by his fellow firefighters that is good enough for me. The trust of his coworkers to represent them speaks volumes to me. Firefighters are responsible people who take great risk at times to protect us and do a job that has been found to shorten their lifespan and he was one of them.
ReplyDeleteYou mean the guy who called volunteer firefighters scum? This crook guy looks like a fat pig on his Harley and could be a twin brother of the former Nazareth Mayor who pocketed money from the Fire Co.
DeleteLet’s do “Fun With Venn Diagrams,” inspired by Kamala Harris and Sheldon P. Cooper. Take the set of all firefighters in the 7th PA Congressional District. How many are professional, and how many are volunteer? Of the professional firefighters, how many show up for union local meetings (answer may be surprising)? Separately, how many vote in their union local elections for their own officers (may be more or less than regular meeting attendees, but may also be surprising)? In an opposed competitive local election, how many of the local’s total firefighters actually voted for the winner (among firefighters, imagine the fuzzy love and respect always expressed between both sides)? If you understand those numbers, does the winner of an opposed local election really.reflect the choice of a significant number of the whole number of firefighters in that local’s department? So, if all the local’s members were to be made aware of a far away state election, how many then vote for a candidate that they personally may not know (their local leadership may advise them on the candidate slate)?
DeleteDo you see that election can be more a function of acclamation, from influential insiders, than of earned praise?
If it works like that, then how does a general voting public overcome the rule by a closed group? By showing up to vote to begin with.
How many area firefighters are -both- professional and volunteer, and do they vote?
DeleteAlso the seiu union president going to breakfast with chief achey multiple times.
DeleteI've also witnessed him at the mayoral yearly address to the public along with chief achey.
Professional firefighters spend 90% of their time sleeping, watching tv, playing video games, and washing trucks while on duty, getting paid by taxpayers to do so. Fact!
DeleteAll firefighters, professional and volunteer, put their lives on the line every time they answer a call. It is very dangerous and they need to be ready when that call comes. Let’s not smear a noble calling.
DeleteI respect all those willing to risk their personal safety for others, professional or volunteer. But I have 2 relatives who are professional firefighters for different city departments and the 90% “down time” figure comes from them. Additionally, they have told me that sometimes up to a week can go by without them leaving their stations for any duty related calls.
DeleteThis puts into perspective the depravity of someone like Brooks casting shade onto people who volunteer their time and safety, knowing that so much of his own career was “down time” at a station house.
Someone posted before about him being “hurt” a lot. I’d love to know if he was a workman’s comp wh$re.
I'm sure he was- the guy looks like he can't walk up 1 flight of steps. His workmanship comp claims would be interesting.
DeleteI am learning that our neighboring areas that have volunteer fire companies do in fact get federal and state monies for various services, but not to pay the volunteers. So here is my point. If live in Allentown I pay for my firefighters through my taxes but yet part of my taxes go to fancy dan Macungie for their fire companies. So why does my money go to them? I am starting to see what Brooks is referring to by calling them scabs, (not scum) as those areas should have their own professional departments and their own firefighters. I pay for mine and theirs! Even further, Bethlehem will respond to fires outside of Bethlehem if needed and I pay for that too,
ReplyDeleteYou’re twisting a valid argument about municipal policy against the volunteers themselves. There are several townships in the Lehigh Valley more populous, and significantly more prosperous, than Easton. Easton has a full time paid fire department. The townships are fully or mostly.volunteer. That is a choice of their voters and their governments. The fact that volunteers still take the time to provide a self-life-threatening and potentially life-saving service speaks well for their morality (with the rare exception past the screening process). For about the last thirty years, the training intensity for volunteers has massively increased, and they often have to pay for a good portion of their own protective gear. I grew up in a long tradition of paid firefighters who belittled the era’s often barely trained and less serious volunteers. When I see the hazards and hurdles they face, I understand that they are not the problem. Sixty years ago, in general, with the exception of the portland cement industry and slate belt processing, almost all the Lehigh Valley’s industry was in Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, with some in boroughs usually close to the cities. Lots of the valley used to be farmland, whose frequent hazard was a barn fire. Now it is large scale commercial occupancies with all kinds of chemical and combustible hazards. About twenty or thirty years ago, Emmaus borough tried to have its cake and eat it too. They played games with a hybrid pay structure for “volunteers” while not classifying them as employees. The “volunteers” won in court, and the firefighters have their deserved benefits, and their own union local.
DeleteDon’t take a worthwhile discussion about the self-interest of some suburban governments, and use it to defend a union partisan’s derision of the very people who will put any fire out in their town, or even neighboring counties. They do it on their own time and at the risk of their own, and their families’, well-being
Your tax dollars also pay for State Police, even though you are serviced by APD. By your logic, Troopers are scabs. Or scum.
DeleteWe appreciate dumb opinions here. Thanks for representing the Brooks perspective.
This guy is an embarrassment!
ReplyDeleteThere’s a lot of money laundering and payoffs going on in Washington, DC. Ya think Brooks can be talked into some of that? I do.
DeleteThe guy is as crooked as they come.
DeleteEx wife speaks by letter to the editor in morning calling, correcting the ads by Congressman Mackenzie! She corrected his ad, saying it is politically made up and incorrect. Bringing made up family matters into the campaign shows the desperation of the GOP. Certainly not of the level of Ramaswammy’s disgusting ad in Ohio, but a low blow! Like Brooks’s ex wife said, stick to their policy differences, which there are many!
ReplyDeleteI just looked at Morning Call’s web site and read the ex-wife’s letter. She described his great relationship with their children and good family values. She wrote that Mackenzie’s ad made a claim about their divorce being related to the land dispute. Did 5:51 read the Morning Call’s editor note, saying that the ad was from a super PAC, and that the Mackenzie campaign is not allowed to communicate with the super PAC? I did not see the letter say anything like the loan court documents were wrong, or that the contents of the COVID relief grant forms were being misrepresented, or any denials of the workman’s compensation insurance issue, or the union pay raise criticism, or the racism accusation, or the volunteer firefighter slur, or ... . The letter’s headline could be more specific..
ReplyDeleteEven today’s Morning Call article about the Brooks matter, referred to as AdWatch, indicates the Morning Call’s (not so hidden) support of Bob Brooks.
DeleteThe Morning Call itself can’t seem to understand EVERY ONE of its readers has saved plenty of money because of the Big, Beautiful, Bill. Particularly our senior citizens! It was impossible not for all to benefit, as every income tax bracket was re-adjusted in such a way to allow more Americans to keep more of their tax dollars.
The Democrat Party has made it quite clear, if it retakes control of Congress it will NOT renew the Big, Beautiful, Bill.
That can only mean going back to paying in more federal income taxes! Only a fool would think a freshman legislator like Brooks (if elected) would vote against his own high Democrat leadership initiative. He can’t, because he NEEDS THEM going forward.
Sorry, Mr. Brooks, this senior citizen did not cast my vote for you. You’re much too risky. I’d pay thousands more in taxes if your party’s leadership gets its way.
Someone who claims to be for the average Joe, doesn't even have the guts to debate McKenzie.This slob is a crook & a coward.
ReplyDelete