PA-12: Russell Courting FEC Troubles?
Russell was a blogosphere fav when he moved into PA-12 to challenge Murtha. Unfortunately, he lost. And while Tim Burns has now gotten the local GOP nod for this year, Russell doesn't seem to know when to quit. It's an unfortunate situation. But no one said life is fair.
If his campaign and this PAC are coordinating in defiance of FEC regs, as some believe they most likely are, he's making a bad situation worse.
A political action committee connected to a controversial GOP consulting firm is running ads on behalf of one of the firm's major clients, raising questions about coordination between groups that are required by law to operate independently of each other.
The PAC, Freedom's Defense Fund, is running an ad on behalf of Iraq war veteran William Russell (R), the '08 GOP nominee against Rep. John Murtha (D). Though he raised and spent nearly $3.5M, Russell was not the party's choice to run for Murtha's seat when the long-time Congressman passed away earlier this year.
Instead, PA GOPers picked businessman Tim Burns (R) to carry their standard in the May 18 special election. But that wasn't the end of Russell's hopes; May 18 is also the date of the regularly scheduled primary, in which Russell is competing against Burns.
The competitive primary could put Burns in an awkward position of having to defend his right flank while simultaneously appealing to the Dem voters in the overwhelmingly Dem district as he faces a special election and a primary on the same day. Russell, after all, has been on a ballot before; he won 42% of the vote against Murtha in '08.
As usual, I have more questions than answers. The FEC… does it have a political lean in either direction? I know, it isn’t supposed to but that means diddly. If a left lean, then to their advantage in this race to just take their time and let Russell split the conservative vote.
After reading about both Russell and Burns, I would have preferred Russell but the GOP felt otherwise for some unknown reasons and went with Burns. Russell should get out now and back Burns but then again, with the FEC looking at this, it would perhaps be construed that he has something to hide or actual guilt in this matter. Just hate seeing the conservative vote split and the very real possibility Critz could get elected. The people of PA 12 deserve better than that.
“I would have preferred Russell but the GOP felt otherwise for some unknown reasons.” The PA State Committee and its chairman are a joke. The chairman even said that he voted for Murtha in the past and gave no support to Russell in that election. The prevailing view is that Murtha was good for the chairman’s insurance business. This is the same GOP state apparatus that told us to support Specter over Toomey. They also are supporting Corbett over the more conservative Rohrer for governor, rather than stay out of the primary, including paying for a vicious attack piece on Rohrer. Don’t trust the state GOP to do what is best.