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LEFTOVERS: Critz sworn in, Steele says GOP will win, the Saidel robo-call
Democrat Mark Critz is now a congressman. The longtime John Murtha aide officially stepped into his late boss’ shoes on Thursday, being sworn into office two days after winning the 12th District special election. “This moment is bittersweet for me because I wouldn’t be here right now if Jack Murtha hadn’t left us too soon,” Critz said. “I’ve thought about the many lessons that Congressman Murtha taught me. He always said to me: it’s always about the work. It is, and I’m going to work tirelessly for the families of Western Pennsylvania.”
Meanwhile, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele says Critz shouldn’t get too comfortable. Despite the fact that his party took a beating in the special election, Steele says wealthy businessman Tim Burns will prevail in his November rematch against Critz. Steele blamed the fact that Democrats had higher turnout because of their competitive statewide primaries. “In November, we’ll get that seat back because, guess what, independent conservatives get to play then and that will be a very different race,” Steele Sunday during “This Week” on ABC (see video below).
And lastly, there’s one thing that sat in the pa2010.com Central inbox for far too long: the mysterious robo-call that targeted Jonathan Saidel in the hours before he suffered what looks like a devastating loss in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor. Saidel may still get a recount against state Representative Scott Conklin (D-Centre), and most of the blame for how things turned out has to fall on his campaign. But one factor, however small, may have been the robo-call. Phones in Philadelphia received the robo-call, in which a woman who says she’s backing Doris Smith-Ribner in the race asks if “Saidel is running for controller or for grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.”
That’s a reference to a brief controversy from the early 1990s, when Saidel said he opposed school busing plans to send children to “parts of the city that look like East Beirut.” Shortly after, then-City Councilman Michael Nutter said he thought Saidel was “running for city controller, not grand wizard.” It remains unclear who put out the robo-call, and Smith-Ribner has said she had nothing to do with it. But the Saidel campaign wasn’t happy.
“To suggest that Jonathan Saidel, of Jewish heritage and a champion of civil rights for his whole career, has anything to do with the KKK is disgusting,” campaign spokesman Marty Marks told The Daily News. “It’s politics at its worst.”
Listen to partial audio of the call here.
May 23, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Tags: Doris Smith-Ribner, Jonathan Saidel, Lt. Gov., Mark Critz, PA-12, Republican Party, Scott Conklin, Tim Burns
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There is noting worse than
May 23rd, 2010
Someone who is in Politics whining about something an Opponent did . Grow up and Grow a set Mark . If you want to cry about a Robo call you should find another line of work you sound like the Biggest Cry Baby I have ever heard
sick of it all
May 23rd, 2010
Steele is an idiot…so-called independent concervatives could vote in the PA 12 Special election and Burns still got creamed.
K . Martel
May 23rd, 2010
I actually think making anonymous calls into black neighborhoods insinuating a white Democrat candidate is associated with the KKK three days prior to the election may possibly have had something to do with a major suppression of Saidel’s vote in Philadelphia, Chester and any other black areas where they were made .
Saidel’s campaign sought an injunction from Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Robert Coleman ( the night and weekend emergency judge on duty ) to stop the calls , but withdrew its request when Smith-Ribner’s campaign agreed to stop the calls . So Smith-Ribner , who claims to know nothing about the calls . was able to promise they would be stopped .
Lee Levan
May 23rd, 2010
Good point sick. It was a special election in PA 12; not a primary. So any registered voter could cast a ballot.
I suppose, however, that it could be argued many independents didn’t know that they could vote because the special was held on primary day; or that independents didn’t turn out because they could vote only for one office.
Still, it’s hard to believe that those who cared didn’t bother to vote. After all, it was an election with national focus and a hot campaign. Was the turnout higher than other areas of the state?
sick of it all
May 23rd, 2010
@LL-Steele is just a boob…trying to spin things…independents clearly knew they could vote…the hottest election in the country? If they did not know they could vote maybe it was because the incompetent RNC did withe the million it dropped did not reach out to indies (doubt it). Not sure there are that many indies in PA12 anyway…perhaps if DD can stop ripping Sestak long enough he can tell us how may there are.
Muhammed
May 24th, 2010
Doris Bar-B-Q-Ribners Smith is a criminal and contributes to continuing racism in this country. She told anyone who listened to her that she was a “black woman” “and you need to vote for a sister”. Well she has been sentenced – she is married to that white fossil with purple or rust hair Former Judge Paul Ribner (think of Night of the Living Dead”. Now this criminal Ribner was a Supreme Court designee to the Pennsylvania Inter-branch Commission forGender Racial and Ethnic Fairness and served on the committee that developed a new “Policy onNon-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunity” which the court adopted for the Unified Judicial System effective January 1, 2008. Today her true colors show -she is a low life racist -she never lost her stripes as a racist and the KKK calls prove it.LOW LIFE RACIST BITCH!
sPIKE lEE jOINT
May 24th, 2010
Imagine that Philadelphia’s (sic) Mayor “A Nutter Idiot” talking about his new job as “Grand Wizard” back in 1994!
sPIKE lEE jOINT
May 24th, 2010
Hey “There is noting worse than”: Potete succhiare il mio pisello come il vostro ampio e madre faceva l’altro giorno. Ho amato fottutamente la merda fuori della vostra madre l’asino, ma ama mio grasso e per la sua enorme pisello. Tell your wife to wipe her own back next time!
Vet
May 24th, 2010
The GOP pushed aside William Russell, who is a far more intrinsically strong candidate than Burns, backed Burns to the hilt with $$ and power endorsements, and lost.
Now we’re going to come back in Nov and win, what we couldn’t win when the playing field was level?!
Bad choices, bad planning, bad results.
This kind of garbage is why people are so fed up with both parties, and especially the unimaginative, calcified GOP leadership.
Adam B.
May 24th, 2010
K . Martel, could you say more about the Smith-Ribner’s campaign’s role in this? This is news to me.
K . Martel
May 24th, 2010
It did not make any papers but Judge Coleman did not have to hold a hearing on Saidel’s lawyers seeking an injunction against the KKK robo-calls when a Smith-Ribner representative promised the calls would stop . The calls were in fact stopped after the “agreement” was reached .
Imagine that this woman actually sat as a Commonwealth Court Judge since 1987 .