Tony Rybak: How To Avoid Tickets

Tony Rybak is a Northampton County Public Defender and claims to have a surefire way to avoid speeding tickets. He says it works for him.

Of course the best way to avoid a speeding ticket is by driving at a safe speed, and one that is below the speed limit. But if you do get pulled over, and the police officer asks you for your driver's license, Tony said it's important to have the right kind of picture.

What you see on your right is the license he's currently using.

He looks like he just got out of Jennifer Sletvold's courtroom.

You should see his passport picture.

Only in Northampton County.

It was Tony's birthday yesterday.

You know what I got him?

Nothing.

Photographic Evidence of Nonexistent Sleaze Campaign Against Angle

Although he has snarked Ron Angle before Northampton County Council and at town halls in Pen Argyl and Nazareth, John Maher still disingenuously claims he's running a positive campaign. "I am running a very positive campaign. Someone else in the district has taken up the banner. It's not part of my campaign."

Well, the above picture speaks 1,000 words to the contrary. It is an entire pallet full of sleaze mailers, from the "Maher" camp, directed at Angle. It is being funded by McClure, Dertinger and Perin. Their little artist? Why, none other than Tom Severson, the Darth Vader of Sleaze. Both Maher and Tony Branco admit, at least to me, that they are using him.

In race for T.J. Rooney's Seat, Brennan Fires Back!

In the past few days, Tony "the Hatchet" Rybak has gone negative in the race for the seat being vacated by T.J. Rooney, flooding voters with mailers falsely portraying Joe Brennan as hardened criminal. Former County Councilman Joe Brennan has taken the accusations in stride, posting humorous remarks to this and other blogs, and appearing on Angle's radio talk show as recently as yesterday. He's a class act who spoke highly of his remaining opponents, Jose Rosado and Dennis Pearson.

But Tony could not stop with character assassination. First, he claimed on his finance report (which is not so readily available) that he was somehow able to send out 40,000 pieces of mail for around $7,700.00. Yeah, right. Second, he ignored campaign laws that require his reports to be filed both with the state and in his own county, too. Third his mailings falsely tell voters that he paid for them when in fact it was his PAC. Strike three, you're out of here! He'd fit right in with the current crop in the land of midnight legislative payraises.

Today, Brennan calmly fired back with a letter to the Attorney General, who just happens to be the main man for enforcing our campaign finance laws. He must be busy these days.

Election Eve Update

Tony "the Hatchet" Rybak tells us on election eve that he's for "honesty and common sense in state government." That's nice. But his campaign finance report tells a different tale.

Rybak's campaign finance report still is not published on the state's Internet site, and he failed to file a copy with the county until late last week, well after the deadline. As Joe Brennan points out, sending out 40,000 pieces of mail for $7,700 defies common sense. And in a Morning Call article published yesterday, Rybak would have us believe that, although he uses a campaign consultant, he does not have to report that expense because he was not charged for the service.

Wrong answer, Tony!

If Rybak uses a campaign consultant who does not charge for services, it's a reportable "in kind" campaign contribution. But as it develops, Tony WAS charged. He acknowledges in the same story that he bought mailing lists, and that expense is not listed on his campaign finance report.

Also not listed, either as in kind contribution or paid expense, is the cost of Tony's web site or his AOL mailing address.

If Tony can't be honest in his campaign finance report, do you really think he'll be honest as a state rep?

Political Money in the 133rd: Where's the Sunshine?

Tony Rybak's at it again. He first brandished his hatchet a few years ago during a televised mayoral debate. Now he's flailing away at former county councilman Joe Brennan in the 133rd state rep. race. Rybak has aimed two mudslinging mailers at Brennan, including one with a photo of Joe behind bars. Chop! The photo's a phony, of course. Whack! Neither mailer tells us that, although a summary offense was once filed against Joe, the charges were actually dismissed. Thud!

Tony must want to stand out. After all, the race is a 4 way free-for-all that also includes Jose Rosado (he's an assistant principal, not the pitcher) and Dennis Pearson (a substitute teacher "sounding forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat.")

And I think Rybak has succeeded. He's willing to mislead voters and step all over another person to get what he wants. You think we'd get any meaningful reform from this guy? Dream on.

Both The Bethlehem Blog Times and Caseyhasabat have already condemned Tony's campaign tactics, so I don't think he's picked up any votes in the blogosphere. But why did he do it? What prompted Tony, who never took himself that seriously, to adopt suddenly the attitude of a pit bull in an Allentown dogfight?

Ron Angle has a theory. According to the talk-show host, Rybak has hired Precision Marketing, or one of its clones, as his campaign consultant. This firm, owned by Tom Severson, has a reputation for going for the jugular. And it does most of its work for Republicans. So Rybak may have let himself be used to weaken Democratic candidates in the 133rd to make it easier for Republican Dawn Berrigan to win in the Fall.

Clean up, Aisle 133!

The best way to find out what's going on is to follow the money, so I went yesterday to the Northampton County voters' registration office to look at candidates' expense reports, which must be filed 2 Fridays before the election. But when I got there, there were no reports at all. State house candidates file their reports in Harrisburg.

Does this mean ROAD TRIP? Not at all. I could get these reports online and from the convenience of my home. So I popped on the web to look at the reports filed by all 4 candidates for the 133rd. But despite repeated requests, the only report that popped up was the one filed for Jose Rosado. I decided to call Harrisburg.

When I got through, I learned that although all 4 candidates filed timely finance reports, elections officials have not had time to put these items on the net. They'll try their best to get the reports online in about a week, which will of course be AFTER the election. This could explain why Pa.'s online access to campaign finance reports gets an F from The Campaign Disclosure Project.

Follow the money? It's not so easy in the land of midnight payraises. I do know that Rosado got almost all of his campaign money from gazillionaires Beall & Marlene Fowler, who seem like nice people very interested in educational projects. Did I mention I have a few educational projects?

Road trip, anyone?

If not, then perhaps we can persuade state legislators to tighten campaign finance disclosure laws. Reports, once filed in Harrisburg, should be made immediately available to local voting offices so that they are readily accessible. And for all the histrionics involved in getting a finance report available for on line inspection, I have one word for state elections officials -- scanner. As things stand now, Tony Rybak can hack away, and it's difficult for us to know where he's getting his money or who is running his campaign.