I love it, about time that a Democrat throws an elbow. Can’t wait for Lents to be the next Congressman of PA-7!

Voters should distrust anyone of any party who tries to game the system like this.

I apologize, I meant Lentz. Writing this on my phone.

booo hoooo Rob!! A volunteer is a volunteer and is perfectly inclined to do as he or she pleases.

Oh and b/t… Rob, i guess you should be really upset with Meehan gaming the system by submitting forged signatures, but you’re a hypocrite so i dont expect you to complain too loudly.

who cares—does he have enough valid signatures? if so, onward to November–no republican cried about Ralph Nader when he cost Al Gore the election and no Democrat cared about Ross Perot when he cost George I reelection…let’s just have the election and may the best person win!

Dan, see, that wasn’t so hard. Now comes the question of whether there is any criminality or violation of campaign finance laws by Lentz and his henchmen and henchwomen. If he coordinated with another federal campaign with paid workers and resources, what are the violations? At the very least, what are the reporting requirements? I hope Lentz and these individuals are ready to answer the FEC questions.

O’Neill,

You’re an idiot, lets create a story where there isn’t one. Volunteers, believe it or not don’t get paid and a past staffer from 2006 doesn’t have to answer any FEC questions. So until volunteers fall under the Hatch Act I think Bryan and his team will be alright.

Sounds like volunteers really helping Lentz by sorta helping Schneller. Move along, nothing to see here. Is Meehan too delicate for prime time? This is politics.

I’m still waiting for somebody to explain why the forgeries on Meehan’s petitions are not a disqualification and a felony.

So what? Happens all the time. Anytime a ‘system’ is in place, folks will figure out how to game it.

Don’t like the rules? Work to change them.

You have awoken a sleeping giant, Mr. Meehan. See you at our first debate.

Okay, he’s a completely bogus candidate who may be the only one in the district who does not know that he is the stooge of left-winger Bryan Lentz.

What Meehan’s stooges are missing here is that it’s undemocratic that third party candidates need four times as many signatures to get on the ballot as asswipes like Meehan.

I have asked Lentz and other Democratic stare reps to support legislation to lower the bar for third party candidates. Lentz does support reform to level the playing field. It’s people like Meehan who liked a rigged game.

No, it is not undemocratic: serious candidates have to face the scrutiny of primary voters, something nuts like Scheller and Lingenfelter want to avoid at any cost.

the moronic meehan minions feigned moral outrage might be compelling if it where not so wrapped in lying crap. fact one we know without a doubt people forged signatures on petitions for pat meehan. a volunteer is a volunteer not a paid staffer. heck i signed a petition for schneller though i will vote for lentz everyone deserves to run that means yes i would have signed a petition for the green party.

the meehan minion commented that they are focused on the economy. funny I went to a town hall in conshohocken this weekend about the economy with brian lentz. pat was nowhere to be seen. the reason pat was busy pan-handling for dollars with a spray tanned john boehner.

[...] as noted on pa2010.com, the Meehan campaign’s accusations appear correct, according to the petitions filed with the [...]

The Lentz campaign, clearly, directed the entire exercise in placing the village idiot on the ballot, in the mistaken belief that a few hundred votes would make a difference. A lot of wasted effort to no purpose.

Let me guess–the proud suburban liberal learned about capitalization at our very expensive public schools?

since your problem is my typing my point must be valid.

Abe-
Meehan was unopposed and really had no primary. So, by YOUR reasoning, he should have to gather as many signatures as these non-primary third party candidates. Meehan got fewer signatures than Schneller.
Actually, Schneller got about as many signatures as Lentz and Meehan COMBINED. Sounds like a legitimate candidate to me.

What’s next? Is Meehan going to complain that Schneller’s positions are “illegitimate”? That would be like claiming your reflection in a mirror looks nothing like you.

Tom-
The Delco GOP already put a village idiot on the ballot. I guess they they want a monopoly.

I think Senator Fumo explained the “Meehan as idiot” thesis to me a few years back. It worked very well for him.

Diano, it is fitting to see that in two short years, your kind has gone from “elevating” the discourse with Hope & Change to now calling candidates “asswipes”. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Despite your pleas to the likes of Lentz to change the law to allow easier ballot access to third party candidates, not one has stepped up to the plate. A pretty good case can be made that Lentz is the biggest hypocrite of all when it comes to ballot access – has he ever faced an opponent that he hasn’t tried to remove from the ballot? He pressured poor Touey with attorney fees threats; he made a deal with Conner that is still being investigated; and, of course, he made blanket accusations against Meehan that he could not back up – he didn’t even have the guts to show up to court. Is this how you envisioned it when Obama made his grand speech in Denver??? The fact is, the people of Delaware County see through Lentz’ crap and will elect a Congressman based on the man policies that are best for them – clearly Pat Meehan.

WHO CARES HOW SOMEONE GOT ON THE BALLOT IM SICK AND TIRED OF BOTH PARTIES POLITICAL HACKS I WILL TAKE THE VILLAGE IDIOT ANY DAY OF THE WEEK OVER THESE JERKS THE PARTIES PUT UP FOPR ELECTION DOWN WITH ALL PATIRES LET EVERYONE RUN ON THE SAME LINE

There actually could be a problem with some of Schneller’s signatures if these citizens already signed either Meehan’s or Lentz’s petitions . That would make their signatures on Schneller’s petitions invalid . Were Lentz’s volunteers astute enough to avoid the same citizens they already visited for Rep. Lentz for the primary ?

How is this gaming the system? If the GOP would just keep their radical nut cases quiet they wouldn’t be facing issues like this. The tea party is slowly ruining all the fun the Grand Ole Bullshitters are trying to have. But really they are all the same.

Not quite sure what point T D is making–a left wing Dem puts a guy who probably belongs in a straitjacket on the ballot and says he’s a conservative–and this is somehow the fault of adult Republicans?

P O’Neil-
I don’t give a rat’s ass about “elevating the discourse” compared with getting honest elected officials who will vote for good policies.
As for stepping up to the plate…Lentz and several of the Dems have already put forth legislation to increase ballot access or are cosponsors of such measures. There are plenty of Dems walking the talk on this one.

You guys are afraid because Schneller not only has the same (or purer) conservative positions, but he’s probably smarter and a better debater than Meehan.

A three-way debate will be interesting for Lentz. It will like listening to a replay of failed, debunked, and discredited policy ideas in stereo.

I do agree that Lentz was wrong to challenge Touey and Conner, and I’ve criticized Lentz both publicly and privately on this. I think he got enough blowback that he (and staff) learned from the mistake. As for Conner, there was no “deal” to drop out. She simply had no viable funding source to continue against Lentz. To his credit, Lentz and his supporters encouraged Conner to run for state rep and made amends for the Primary.

K. Martel-
There is no restriction on people who signed Primary petitions for Lentz or Meehan to sign for Schneller. I actual expect that you will find a few prominent Lentz supporters have circulated petitions for Schneller. I expect this because it would be the smart move.

K Martel (as in Charles the Hammer?) -
Actually signers for Lentz’s and Meehan’s petitions can still sign Schneller’s. There is a legal difference between nomination petitions (circulated for candidates who want to run in a primary, like Lentz and Meehan) and nomination papers (circulated for candidates who want to run independently and get on the ballot without a primary, like Schneller). You can sign one nomination petition and one nomination paper for any given office. A voter who signs a petition like Lentz’s or Meehan’s in the primary is legally free to sign Schneller’s for the general. My source is a guide put out by the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania: http://www.lppa.org/documents/election/2010/nomination_paper_guide_2010.pdf See page 2, “Who Can Sign?”
Nonetheless, good legal eye. Better point than 90% of comments around here.

Or I guess Dave beat me to the punch on that one in his typically subtle. respectful, and altogether classy way.

I was not aware that the Pa. caselaw made distinctions between signatures on nomination petitions and papers, but if I were advising Meehan I would examine these signatures very closely as I have observed ,and participated in quite a few election challenges and some of the rulings evolve very quickly ( eg. Anastasio case, etc.)

This is so simple. Lenzt read the poll that said he is 21 points behind so he had his people get the “village idiot” on the ballet. Lentz is so out of touch that he thinks the voters aren’t engaged enough to figure this out. I can’t wait till the election. Lentz here is a tip… The voters aren’t as stupid as you.

Stop spending!!!

K Martel-

The things you are not aware of would fill a law library. (Gee, what a coincidence.)

Did you “advise” Meehan to submit forged and improperly circulated petitions instead of “examining those signatures very closely”??

I suspect that Meehan would like to bring a petition challenge in the politically motivated and intellectually (and ethically) challenged judiciary of Delaware county for another of their many dubious election law double-standard rulings.

It will be interesting to watch Meehan try and trash a Tea Party candidate “on the issues”.

Actually I know both Pat Meehan and Bryan Lentz ( although not as well ) and have been impressed by both of them when I have observed them doing their jobs .I do not not have a dog in this hunt and have not given any advice to Pat Meehan and have no intention of talking to him. I doubt, however I would be impressed by Mr. Dianno and hope that in the real world that I do not know him . Mr. Brown is a gentleman and Mr. Dianno is clearly not .

All this really did was make Lentz look weak and vulnerable and amateurish. Great image heading into the Fall campaign.

Meehan has a lot of nerve even running since he had so many bogus signatures on his petitions. I know first hand from a friend from Springfield, that cleans for Paul Sommers of Yeadon that she not knowing the rules of the state collected signatures all while being a Democrat since Paul S. promised her a lot of money and he would take care of all her needs. She did and now as today is afraid of going to jail. I see a lot of Republican ass hats on here that don’t have a clue, they just seem to know the party line !

Any third party candidate must get thousands more of signatures than either the Rep. or Democratic party and that is just not right. Just where is the fairness here ?

I welcome anyone regardless of party including any third party as that is fair and as voters we should all want that.

Cry all you want Meehan, why would you think that you could win fair and square. No way that you ever could. So many of your bogus petitions were circulated by the big wigs of the republican party,but they really were not.You are shameless and deserve to lose. You knew all along that your petitions were bogus. You should hang your head in shame !

Lentz seems to spend a lot of time trying to put other candidates on/off the ballot. Maybe that’s the reason the national polls increasingly have this leaning Republican

jim is not going to get many votes in the general, the Meehan campaign doesn’t want him in any debates, if there are any, and they are tying him to lentz, probably with some justification to try to avoid that scenario. Meehan’s group is running a very tightly controlled campaign and Jim is a potential snag. They apparently can’t get rid of him, but they can try to devalue his candidancy enough to remove him from the public debate process.

This is yet another example of Lentz and his supporters setting the agenda and Meehan getting caught flatfooted (outing forged Meehan signatures,hijacking Meehan H-burg press conference, helping a tea party activist on to the ballot). The Washington R’s must be nervous about the Delco machine’s ability to handle a major league campaign. Reminds me of Sestak outworking Weldon and Lentz outworking Gannon in 06.

Whatever happened he should be a man and stay on the ballot. Not like Welch who ran away to the 6th and then quit.

Like I said before people who signed just want to give people a chance to get on the ballot. It’s not Dem / Rep, Right / Left, or up /Down as a lot of poster have said.

Michael-
Lentz is playing within the rules. Meehan clearly wasn’t with the forged signatures his campaign submitted.

Anonymous-
If Jim remains on the ballot, then he needs to be the public debates with Lentz and Meehan. Hopefully, the polling organizations will include Jim in their questions.

Rick-
Good points. Meehan’s been a lazy political puppet for years, who never had to work hard to win anything. He got crushed in his weak run for governor.

[...] try and pull votes away from the pro-gun Republican nominee in PA-7, Pat Meehan, by claiming to be a Tea Party candidate backed by far left Democrats. (In reality, there was a Tea Party candidate in the race earlier this [...]

[...] In the 7th District, Democrats have helped get Jim Schneller on the ballot. Lentz Voluneer, Other Dems Help Schneller Get on the Ballot. [...]

[...] I already mentioned the shenanigans in PA-7, and it’s amazing how slimy Democratic candidate Bryan Lentz and the local party leaders are trying to be by claiming that they have nothing to do with the third party candidate. In this age, you can’t hide.  Here are some of the names and titles of Democratic officials and activists who pushed Jim Schneller over the edge to get on the ballot released by PA2010: [...]

[...] More from Pennsylvania (via Snowflakes In Hell): I already mentioned the shenanigans in PA-7, and it’s amazing how slimy Democratic candidate Bryan Lentz and the local party leaders are trying to be by claiming that they have nothing to do with the third party candidate. In this age, you can’t hide. Here are some of the names and titles of Democratic officials and activists who pushed Jim Schneller over the edge to get on the ballot released by PA2010: [...]

[...] an open letter to Giordano and his two opponents, Schneller, a conservative who got on the ballot thanks to help from Lentz’s supporters, said he wants in. var a2a_config = a2a_config || {}; a2a_config.linkname="PA2010.com: Schneller [...]

If Schneller is a true Conservative he would not take help from the democrats. Sounds like he is a sleaze bag that will sell his own mother to get elected. A true Tea Party candidate would not stoop to this level. Schneller is a fake.

Bucks Voter-
True Conservatives are political whores, who would sell out their own mothers to big business for tax breaks and deregulation.