If You Think Sheehan's Nuts, Check Out This Former Green From England

Cindy Sheehan's circus will be in Allentown today. Many of us think she's nuts. But she can't hold a candle to David Icke, England's former Green Party spokesperson.

You probably didn't know this, but Icke has learned the world is secretly ruled by blood-sucking reptilian humanoids from the constellation Draco. These include George Bush, the royal family and Kris Kristofferson, with those beady little eyes. Best defense? A turquoise tracksuit for some reason.

You know, now that I think about it, I did see a bunch of geckos running around the courthouse right before the last council meeting.

Why Did Republican Charlie Dent Win? He Can Thank the Greens

Greta Browne, "pyschotherapist" and queen of the Lehigh Valley Greens, pulled in 17.3% of the votes in the race for the 15th U.S. Congressional District, enough to insure a Dertinger loss. When she ran for Congress two years ago, she abandoned her quest on election eve, betraying those who had supported her. FEC records reveal her campaign was financed in part by big money Republicans, and her explanation was both late and unsatisfactory. She never answered questions about her supposed private psychotherapy practice, which is not listed in any phone book. But because she was treated with benign neglect by her opponents, most voters were simply unaware of these criticisms. Net result? Charlie Dent wins this race with only 46.3% of the vote.

If Instant Runoff Voting was used, as suggested by Morning Call columnist Bill White, Dertinger would probably have won this race. Under this system, voters list their candidates by order of preference. Most Browne voters would list Dertinger as second choice. Under this system, Browne would be eliminated as the candidate with the fewest votes, and results would be recalculated using voters' second choices. The Browne votes would go to Dertinger, and he would win with 53% of the vote.

Update and Correction: I have to thank an anonymous commenter who was kind enough to tell me I'm full of shit. The state election returns show Browne has only 3 percent of the total vote. That's consistent with what I saw on TV last night. This morning, the state returns did show her at 17.3% for some reason. I would be fully prepared to say I misread the numbers except for one thing. LVDem, who's younger and smarter than me, noted this morning that Browne did did "very well in Lehigh County... well enough that Dent didn't even clear 50%." But when you look at the returns now, they show Dent with 55.4% of the Lehigh County vote. According to the results as now reported, Dent has 52.8% of the total vote, and Instant Runoff Voting would not come into play under those circumstances.

So somehow 17.3% is only 3%. It's only an election.

Green Party's Romanelli Confesses Blackwater Dough to Amy Goodman

The Pennsylvania Progressive, one of my favorite blogs, blew me away last week with the latest about Carl Romanelli. Remember him? He's the Green party wingnut who tried and failed to get on the ballot for the U.S. Senate. He's the dude who actually paid people for every signature they could drum up. And he's the idealogue who thought nothing of accepting over $150,000 in blood money from Halliburton subsidiaries and Blackwater USA.

He tells Amy Goodman of Democracy Now he "needed money." That explains everything. Next time a Green wants to critcize Republicans or Democrats for accepting money from a union or big oil, they can simply say they "needed money." That must be one of the secret Green party principles.

Romanelli explains all money was funneled through the Luzerne County Green Party. But guess what? There was no explanation for the $40,000 in coordinated expenditures supposedly spent on behalf of four Greens running for Congress in Pa., including psychotherapist Greta Browne. She just posted own her explanation of Romanelli's blood money on her website Thursday, claiming she knew nothing about it. But she disingenuously backdated her statement, which fails to address the money paid to several of her volunteers or the pay per signature scheme in which her campaign participated.

This election cycle has convinced me at long last that minor party candidates are minor party candidates for a reason. I've never seen a bigger bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites.

Congressional Green Greta Browne a Psychotherapist?

On her campaign web site for U.S. Congress, green party candidate Greta Browne tells us she's a psychotherapist in private practice. Well, it must be a pretty damn exclusive practice because it's listed nowhere in the phone book. Even the state's bureau of professional and occupational affairs has no listing for her. According to their records, she has no license as a psychologist, social worker, professional counselor or family and marriage therapist. Most psychotherapists are licensed in one of these areas, but not Greta Browne.

Since the green party claims their candidates are "fully accountable," I asked Browne's campaign to verify her credentials. Did she go to psychotherapy school or something? I was told my question is "an abomination to progressive work." They've been saying stuff like that to me lately. And Browne refuses to lower herself to answer this question.

Last Wednesday, Browne did debase herself long enough to appear on Ron Angle's WGPA AM radio talk show. But she became quite indignant when Angle dared take a long call from Bernie Kieklak, Lisa Boscola's top aide. This gave Browne less time, but that's the way talk radio works. Although Angle offered a return engagement, Browne refused because he could not guarantee she would be the constant center of attention. Geez, she's only running for Congress. You think she'd jump at any opportunity for some free radio time.

Is it me, or are these folks just a little too full of themselves? Maybe Greta should run for Northampton County judge. She'd fit right in.

By the way, Browne has yet to answer concerns about GOP funding of state greens running for Congress. In a comment posted on this blog on October 19, she said, "In the next few days I will post my comments on my website." She still hasn't done so, and the election is only eight days away.

That's accountability, Greta Browne style!

November 2 Update - Browne Continues to Mislead: On her webpage, Browne today denies that she or any of her fellow Congressional greens benefited in any way from the blood money that Romanelli reports spending on their behalf. I've got two problems with Browne's explanation. First, she backdated it. She claims to have released this statement back in October, but it was in fact just released today. Second, her explanation is bogus. She herself admits some of this money went to volunteers for gathering signatures in a pay per signature scheme.

Pennsylvania's Mean Green Party

Last week, I had a rare opportunity to do some original reporting. While researching a post about spending in the Lehigh Valley congressional race, I accidentally stumbled on a land mine. Luzerne County's Green party had collected over $150 thousand from conservative republicans, and had used over $40 thousand of this money to promote the campaigns of the four Pennsylvania greens running for U.S. Congress: Dave Baker (Philly), Titus North (Pittsburgh), Derf Maitland (York) and Greta Browne (Lehigh Valley).

Local greens' initial reaction was to ignore me. One anonymous commenter popped on my blog and huffed, "Lay off Greta Browne. ... You know what $200 buys you in a Congressional race? A mention in a blog." And local Green activist Peter Crownfield condescendingly snorted, "sometimes responding to charges like this emphasizes their importance relative to other issues."

This was a mistake. Local greens underestimated the power of the blogosphere, a democratic and authentic media where anyone with an interesting message will be heard. It's a meritocracy of ideas.

Fortunately, my original post spread quickly through cyberspace, but not because of me. Will Bunch, a Philadelphia Daily News columnist, improved on my sketchy essay and reported that $10,000 of this GOP money came from the founders of Blackwater USA, a company that regularly supplies the CIA with mercenaries. From there, the story quickly traveled to Phawker, Nam Guardian Angel, Another Monkey, MLM Liberal, No Capital, Michigan Liberal , MParent7777, TPMMuckraker and even the DailyKos. On Friday, The Morning Call reported this GOP bankroll had tainted Green Party hopefuls.

As gratified as I was to see these stories, what I appreciated most was Bill White's Saturday column. He compared these odd Green-Republican bedfellows to Martha Stewart shacking up with Mongo. But what I liked most were his encouraging words to bloggers, which came at a time when encouragement was definitely apprciated. When a brilliant and wickedly funny columnist like Bill White notices a simple blog by a "nitwit ranting in his underwear," he gives citizen bloggers some credibility.

Either that, or he has no taste. Maybe he had me mixed up with LVDem.

Reacting to these numerous reports in the print media and blogosphere, Congressional candidate Greta Browne has now reversed her original reluctance to comment publicly. She promises a full explanation on her site. This is as it should be. Greens whine that major parties "have increasingly become parties driven by big money, not by the grassroots." So they better explain what the hell they were doing. While they're at it, they'd better justify their decision to pay people by the signature in petition drives, which has a big potential for abuse. The Green's ten key values include a pledge "to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them." So it's time to account.

Despite these promises, I doubt there will be any real explanation. Greens are just too damn intolerant. Sure, they pay lip service to the principle of respecting diverse viewpoints, but really resent criticism directed at them. I've already been accused of "right wing attack tactics" and acting like Rush Limbaugh. Congressional candidate Derf Maitland: told me [campaign finance] "is none of your business." That ought to get him elected.

But the prize for intolerance goes to local green blogger Pat Rogers, who unloaded on me. Get a load of these messages from the party of peace:

"You are a typical fascist predator Bernie. You offer nothing of substance. Just wild accusations." * * * "You are a typically arrogant and proud fascist." * * * "I would not read your right wing fascist sludge if it were the only blog on the Internet." * * * "Authoritarian thug." * * * "Bernie O'Hare, Bill White and the other Democrat and Republican party hack propagandists are murdering American democracy for their right wing hegemony over America."

Pat Rogers'comments come from The Morning Call community forum, a truly scary place.

I just asked Pat to add me to his blogroll. Now excuse me while I shine my boots and see where I left my swastika.

Green Congressional Candidates: Blackwater Money "None of Your Business"

Greta Browne and Derf Maitland, congressional candidates from the Green Party, want to set the record straight. Greta, Green candidate for Congress here in the Lehigh Valley, tells us this:

"Here's the truth: During the petition drive, Carl Romanelli offered to pay any volunteer collecting signatures for Green Party candidates. A couple of our volunteers accepted and received around the figure Bernie O'Hare quoted. $200 represents 100 signatures @ $2 each. We collected a total of over 4600 signatures. We needed 3417 sigs to get on the ballot. Guy and I personally collected over 600 each and accepted no payment.

At the time the money was offered and paid we had no idea that some of Romanelli's donations came from Republicans. I'm certain no one would have accepted it if we had known.

My campaign received no money from Carl Romanelli. We are proud to be grassroots and firm on our principles.

Sincerely, Greta"

I have serious problems with Greta's explanation.

First, contrary to what Browne claims, it was widely known Romanelli was funded exclusively by Santorum supporters.

Second, the explanation is inaccurate. In addition to the $200 noted yesterday, an additional $855 independent expenditure was paid on her behalf. Moreover, "coordinated expenditures" on behalf of all four congressional greens are reported by FEC records at $40,735. The money came from the Luzerne County Green Party, which in turn was funded with $156,000 from the likes of the founder of Blackwater USA. It was blood money.

Third, Titus North, Pittsburgh's green congressional candidate from Pittsburgh, acknowledges he was aware this sort of money might be coming as part of an informal arrangement with Romanelli. This is inconsistent with what Browne now says, although I have no reason to doubt her honesty and I don't think Titus North expected that such a large sum would be reported.

Fourth, Browne indicates "a couple" of the "volunteers" agreed to accept payment but the $200 check was made out to only one person. And there is no explanation for the $855 payment or the subsequent "coordinated expenditures."

Fifth, during a debate last week in Pen Argyl, Browne said her largest contributor gave her $500, and this was in response to a specific question about her campaign contributors. She did not note that she had actually allowed someone to pay a volunteer $2 for every signature. She did not mention either the $200 or $855 expenditure. She did not mention Blackwater USA. Perhaps she did not know. Perhaps she and her fellow Greens have been set up.

Browne's response now is that people with concerns should contact her privately. That's open and accountable government, Green Party style.

Derf Maitland, the Green candidate for Congress in York, threatened a libel prosecution, and provided an even better demonstration of how Greens really view open and accountable government:

"Whose side are you on? If you are a Green (or a former Green), then bring this matter up to the State Green Party--address it the right way and stop throwing darts. If you are a Dem or Rep, then you are just blowing smoke up my ass. If you are another party or independent, then it's none of your business ... ."

I get it. If I'm a Green or former Green, I should note this little $40,000 problem privately. If I belong to a major party, my motivation is necessarily political. And if I'm independent, it's none of my business! In other words, I have no right to air this dirty laundry publicly.

This betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of my rights, not as a member of some political party, but as an American citizen. As a democrat and citizen who cares about my government, I have every right to question the pernicious influence of money in politics. Greens do it all the time. That right is so important the FEC makes finance records available online for all of us.

The Green Party is supposed to be driven by grassroots, not big money, and certainly not Blackwater or Haliburton. Congressional Greens have either benefited from this money or are victims of a charade being perpetuated by Luzerne County's Greens. I don't deny the need to reform draconian ballot access laws. But that does not excuse either the blood money or the deceptive nature of the green party's financial disclosure. And it does not excuse green candidates who tell the public their campaign finances are none of our business.

Thirty Pieces of Silver for Pennsylvania's Greens

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Yesterday, I told you Greta Browne, Queen of the Lehigh Valley Greens and candidate for Congress, was the recipient of $200 funneled her way by Republicans. Three other Pennsylvania Greens running for Congress received much larger sums.

Well, I was right and I was wrong. In addition to the $200, an $855 independent expenditure was made on her behalf. Browne and three other Greens running for U.S. Congress also benefited from at least some of $42,000 in "coordinated expenditures."

Big Money Republicans with links to mercenary outfits like Blackwater USA channeled the money to Green congressional candidates with a whopping $156,899 in contributions to Luzerne County's Green Party. Attytood tells us how the money was spent.

"What did the conservatives buy with their money? A lot of it -- tens of thousands of dollars -- went to JSM, the Republican-oriented ballot access firm with a highly controversial history, and another large chunk went for lawyers. According to the records, the funds also supported four Green Party candidates running for U.S. Congress -- the 2nd District's Dave Baker, the 14th District's Titus North, the 15th District's Greta Browne, and the 19th District's Derf Maitland. In other words, the Republicans -- desperate not to lose control of the U.S. House, and with Pennsylvania the key swing state -- may be using the Green Party again to rob votes from the Democrats."

I don't blame Republicans. They don't know any better. But I can't help wondering if the Greens' money is still dripping with blood.

Yesterday's report about the "appalling sell-out of the Pennsylvania Green Party" was picked up by Attytood, LiveJournal, Phawker, and even The Michigan Liberal under the "weird news" category. Those bastards don't even know me!

Pennsylvania's Green Congressional Candidates Were Funded by Republicans

Remember Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli? He's the chucklehead who let big money Republicans pour $66,000 into his ultimately unsuccessful quest for ballot access in Pennylvania's November 7 race for the U.S. Senate. Our draconian election laws are clearly designed to keep minor party candidates off the ballot. But two wrongs don't make a right. Romanelli thumbed his nose at a Green Party ideal that politics should be driven by grassroots, not big money. He sacrificed principle for expediency, and still failed. Served him right. But it may interest you to know that four Congressional Green candidates did the same thing. And guess what? They're the only Greens on the ballot. One of them is our very own "Queen" Greta Browne, who's running for Congress against Charlie Dent and Charles Dertinger.

The Johns

How did Republicans do this? Not directly. They funneled money through the Green Party of Luzerne County. Some of the johns who prostituted Green party candidates include Lehigh Valley bigwigs. Let's list them.

Charles Snelling, venture capitalist, Fogelsville ($1,000);
Anthony Salvaggio, Computer Aid, Allentown ($1,000);
Walter & Marjorie Buckley, hedge funds, Bethlehem ($2,000) ;and
William Grube, nightvision, Fogelsville ($5,000).

Green party contributors? Sure. I see them at LEPOCO all the time. Snelling wanted to be one of the Dent Nine.

The Hookers?

Four Congressional Greens sold their souls. Luzerne County's Green Party made payments on their behalf for "polling" and "ballot access" in its FEC Report. Let's list them, too.

Dave Baker, progressive activist and chess instructor in Philly's 2d District ($4,234);
Titus North, college professor in Pittsburgh's 14th District ($3,811);
Derf Maitland, bookstore owner in Adams County's 19th District ($32,390); and
Greta Browne, Queen of the Lehigh Valley Greens in the 15th District ($200).

Just $200 for Greta? I'd insist on a dinner, too.

I spoke with one of these "progressives," Titus North. He spoke vaguely of an informal arrangement in which Romanelli had promised Green congressionals $2 per signature over the July 4 holiday. North admits depositing two checks from the Luzerne County Green Party in his personal account, and one of his petition workers was also compensated. He knew this money was coming from Republicans, although he didn't know specifically that donors included the likes of a military contractor and a Haliburton subsidiary. It was blood money.

It is often said that prostitution is a victimless crime. But we're all victims in this Green party charade in which Congressional candidates pocket money from the special interests they pretend to hate. Among his final words to me, Titus North said, "We didn't do anything illegal."

Spoken just like any Republican or Democrat.

Afternoon Update: Will Bunch's blog at The Philadelphia Daily News, Attytood, has more on the "appalling sell-out of the Pennsylvania Green Party." Big money Republicans have now funneled over $150 thousand to Pennsylvania Greens through the Luzerne County Green Party. Part of this dough comes from the founder of Blackwater USA, "the shadowy, Virginia-based soldier-for-hire company with roots in the U.S. military intelligence community."

Bunch also notes this blood money was used to support all four Greens running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania. "Republicans -- desperate not to lose control of the U.S. House, and with Pennsylvania the key swing state -- may be using the Green Party again to rob votes from the Democrats."

I liked Greens much better when they had ethics.

Greta Browne Does Some Church Electioneering

Greta Browne, Queen of the Lehigh Valley Greens, is running for Congress ... again. And she's scheduled a vegetarian dinner fundraiser at prices between $30 and $50 a pop. I sure hope she's not serving spinach!

There's one tiny problem. Her shindig is at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley, where she is entrenched as an associated minister. Under the Internal Revenue Code, a church is absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. The prohibition applies to all campaigns including campaigns at the federal, state and local level.

Oopsie!

Is this the face of "new politics"? Church electioneering? I thought only conservatives did that.

Greta Browne for Congress: She's the Queen of Lehigh Valley Greens!

As one or two of you may have heard, there's a third party candidate in the Congressional race for Charlie Dent's seat in the 15th District. She's Greta Browne, Queen of the local Greens. Remember her? She's the same person who betrayed Greens in her last run at Congress by throwing her support to Democrat Joe Driscoll on election eve.

This time she's means it. Really!

Her supposed focus is getting our troops out of Iraq and ending our reliance on foreign oil. Yet I didn't see her at an oil independence rally this summer in South Bethlehem, only blocks from her house. I did see Charles Dertinger, the Democratic nominee.

No matter. She has the support of our local King of the Greens, Joe DeRaymond. He's issued a royal proclamation to the Express Times, ordering us to vote for Browne. In his edict, DeRaymond disingenuously maintains Dertinger "has brought the manic Ron Angle into the campaign." That should be news to Dertinger, Dent and Angle.

King Joe, you may recall, is one of the bullies who barged into Congressman Dent's Bethlehem office without an appointment and refused to leave at quitting time. He was convicted of trespass, and LEPOCO just threw him a party.

Whoopee!

When Queen Greta first favored us with her candidacy, King Joe was highly critical. "[Browne] at the last minute, on her own, decided to throw our support to Charles Driscoll, Democrat for Congress. Mr. Driscoll did not even publicly oppose the War in Iraq." And in a letter sent directly to Her Highness, King Joe scoffed at Browne's assertion that She supports alternative energy and was somehow "betrayed" by the press. "Bush supports alternative fuels and 'environmental protections'. You say you were betrayed by the press, yet it is not the press who made the decision to support Driscoll, it was you. Where is Driscoll today in the battle for the environment? On the war in Iraq? On the paving over of the Lehigh Valley?"

Now that Queen Greta is on the ballot, King Joe is whistling a different tune. He talks about "new politics," but offers the standard fare of hypocrisy you'll find on the menu of both major parties.