ELEPHANT CORNER: State Committee Herd Stampedes To Harrisburg

Last Friday and Saturday, a number of the herd were in Camp Hill, Pa. for the Fall meeting of the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee. State Committee members in attendance from Philadelphia were AGNES TILLEY; SUZANNE COHEN; Pennsylvania Chairwoman of the Federation of Republican Women PEG RECUPIDO; JOE DeFELICE; CHRIS VOGLER; and MICHAEL MEEHAN, as well as MATT WOLFE, holding a proxy for LT. COL. KEVIN KELLY, who was on duty.

The keynote speaker for the Friday evening dinner was Louisiana GOV. BOBBY JINDAL. Saturday’s meeting focused upon everyone’s marching orders to help MITT ROMNEY win Pennsylvania. The crowd heard from our candidates for statewide row offices, including DAVID FREED for Attorney General, JOHN MAHER for Auditor General and DIANA IREY VAUGHAN for Treasurer.  State Committee voted to issue a citation honoring Plymouth Township Police Officer BRAD FOX, who died in the line of duty last month.

A fundraiser was held at SmokeEaters in Mayfair on Sunday for AL TAUBENBERGER, candidate for State Representative in the 172nd Dist. Taubenberger is running against Democratic incumbent STATE REP. KEVIN BOYLE. This seat had been a Republican stronghold for years when it was held by former Speaker of the General Assembly JOHN PERZEL. Perzel lost the seat to Boyle when Perzel was under indictment. Many believe this race will be one of the closest among State Rep contests in the state.

Candidate for US Congress 13th Dist. JOE ROONEY held a press conference in front of the local offices of the incumbent for this seat, Democrat ALLYSON SCHWARTZ, last Thursday. Rooney stated, “We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of millions of dollars of net worth by local taxpayers, families and seniors, while also wondering how Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz increased her own net worth by $1 million.” He further stated, “It’s been nothing but more for her and less for us. That must be why Schwartz refuses to debate me. She’s afraid to face the voters here at home. Her record is indefensible.”

While Schwartz appears not to be taking Rooney seriously, it appears his party is paying more attention to his race. This coming Friday, Former SECRETARY OF THE NAVY JOHN LEHMAN and REAR ADM. THOMAS LYNCH are the headliners for a fundraiser for Rooney. Rooney is a retired Marine pilot and his wife BETH was a Navy pilot.

SGT. ROBERT MANSFIELD’S campaign team assembled at Bonner’s Irish Pub on 23rd Street: from left, Campaign Mgr. Ned Greene, Sgt. Mansfield, Strategist Maurice Goodman, Press Sec. Cherie Amoore and Communications Dir. Mark Landis.

It appears Rooney is not the only Pennsylvania candidate who has been ignored by the Democratic incumbent. Until recently, US SEN. BOB CASEY’S campaign appeared to be on radio silence. Republican candidate for Senate TOM SMITH has been running ads and transvering the state for quite a while. It seems Casey now realizes he cannot continue to ignore Smith. Until recently, Smith was a least 10 points behind Casey in the polls, but last week the Susquehanna poll has Smith behind by only 3 points. Negative ads painting Smith as a far-right Tea Party advocate recently started to air in the Philadelphia media market. Casey cannot touch Smith on social issues, as Casey himself is about as conservative. Casey, in this elephant’s opinion, is a lackluster candidate that has the advantage of having the same name as his popular father and former Governor of Pennsylvania.

Last Thursday, there was fundraiser for SGT. ROBERT MANSFIELD at Bonner’s on S. 23rd Street. Mansfield is the Republican candidate for US Congress in the 2nd Dist. Mansfield, an Iraqi War veteran, is in an uphill battle for this seat against incumbent Democrat CHAKA FATTAH. LINDSAY DOERING, the leader of the 8th Ward, heavily supported the event. Bonner’s is owned by former Ward Leader and long-time Republican activist DANNY BONNER.

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