send to a friend | print | comment

LEFTOVERS: Dog lovers for Wagner, black clergy for Specter, RLC for Diamond, Murphy’s money

There were a few statewide endorsements that slipped by us recently.

Auditor Jack Wagner’s gubernatorial candidacy was backed by the Pennsylvania League of Humane Voters. The endorsement, announced Monday, was apparently given during a news conference Saturday in Lancaster. “The Pennsylvania chapter’s endorsement is based on Jack Wagner’s love for animals and his respect for our work,” the group said in a statement. “We also appreciate his support for several of our key issues, including continued enforcement and strengthening of Pennsylvania’s laws to end the abuse of dogs in puppy mills, banning the use of the gas chamber to kill animals, ending caged animal shoots, and passing dog tethering legislation.” As self-professed and enthusiastic dog lovers, we hear at pa2010.com Central approve of any candidate who professes to be in favor of puppies—but we’re keeping our eye on those anti-puppy candidates.

Meanwhile, the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity endorsed Senator Arlen Specter for reelection on Monday. Specter has longstanding ties to black communities throughout the Philadelphia area, and the president of the organization, which represents 450 churches, called Specter a “true friend to Philadelphia and also to the faith based community.”

A bit further down ballot, Russ Diamond, one of the truckload of Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor, got a boost from the national board of the limited-government Republican Liberty Caucus. “The Republican Liberty Caucus is doing its best to assist the Tea Party movement by identifying those Republicans committed to downsizing government and restoring constitutional rule,” RLC endorsements director Dan Sheill said in a statement.

And Republican congressional hopeful Mike Fitzpatrick is clearly looking to paint Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-8) as more concerned with out-of-state donors than with 8th District constituents. In a statement Monday, Fitzpatrick’s campaign said that a majority of Murphy’s campaign cash has come from donors outside the Keystone State. The Fitzpatrick campaign did not specify how many FEC reporting periods it was referring to, and pa2010.com could not immediately verify the campaign’s research. But the former congressman who lost his seat to Murphy in 2006 is looking for any chance to prove he’s closer to the voters of the suburban Philadelphia district. A Murphy campaign insider said last week that a vast majority of the first-quarter contributors live in Pennsylvania—though both contentions could be true depending on the size of those donations.

“I have consistently questioned why Patrick Murphy continues to vote against the better interests of the citizens of the 8th District,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “After seeing his campaign finance report, it’s clear that Patrick Murphy has a constituency of out of state special interests that he needs to be responsive to.”

A Murphy aide did not immediately comment.

April 19, 2010 at 11:45 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Arlen Specter, Jack Wagner, Lt. Gov., Mike Fitzpatrick, PA-8, Patrick Murphy, Russ Diamond

comments

comments [0] | post a comment