GOP Buying State Senate Election in Southwestern Pennsylvania

[Canonsburg, PA]- It is now clear where all of Kris Vanderman’s money is coming from: Harrisburg.

The Republican candidate for Pennsylvania’s 46^th Senate District has been relentlessly attacking opponent Tim Solobay with television ads and mailings for months. But because Vanderman has not filed a campaign finance report since early June, it was unclear how he was able to afford such a flood of attacks. Vanderman, who had never before run for public office and who avoided the press, was a mystery to nearly everyone in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Now we know the truth. Vanderman’s latest Campaign Finance Report (Cycle 5) reveals that his campaign is being funded and run by a small group of GOP party bosses in Harrisburg. From July 12to October 27, Vanderman for State Senate received in-kind contributions totaling $339,641.38 from only three sources: the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, and Friends of Joe Scarnati.

But these GOP party bosses are not just funding Vanderman’s campaign—they are his campaign. Instead of simply contributing party money to Vanderman’s war chest, they are actually controlling the expenditures, and, as a result, controlling Vanderman. He has been their puppet from the very beginning.

Additionally, the Republican Party’s candidate has received $163,500 from a select group of GOP candidate committees, including a $150,000 contribution from the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. Political campaigns in rural southwestern Pennslyvania have never before seen this type of spending.

In contrast, Representative Tim Solobay started running for Senate using contributions from hundreds of supporters who know him from his lifetime of service to the people of Washington County. The GOP’s relentless attacks forced him to accept help from his fellow Democrats so that he could defend himself against GOP attacks.

“We have run a clean campaign focusing on the issues that matter to voters in southwestern PA,” said Solobay, who was endorsed by the Washington Observer-Reporter today. “Mr. Vanderman has been claiming that he wants to end politics as usual, but it looks like he has been taking money from the usual politicians and fat-cat party bosses this whole time.”

Attachments: Vanderman’s Cycle 5 Report, the PA Department of State’s 24-Hour Campaign Finance Report (last updated 10/27 at 1pm), Vanderman’s attack ad, Vanderman’s ad buys on network television, two of Vanderman’s attack mailings (there are several more; contact Rachel Moore for additional examples), and a summary of Vanderman’s party contributors.