Tag: tim burns

PA-12 special election today.

Also the Pennsylvania, [Arkansas,] and Kentucky primaries, but hold that thought for a moment.

There is a special election today between Tim Burns and Mark Critz. The Republican candidate is fighting a two-to-one registration advantage, a contested primary on the other side scheduled to boost the other side’s turnout, and a media environment that will grudgingly score a Republican win while eagerly waiting to score a Republican loss – but he’s still (barely) ahead anyway. So now is the time to finish the job. And remember: there is a primary and a special election today. So, if you can vote in PA-12, you have to vote twice. If you’re entitled to a Republican ballot, you should vote as you please in the primary… but Republicans will be voting for Tim Burns in the special.

That’s all.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

PMA trying to retain lease on PA-12?

In the course of noting that former Murtha crony Mark Critz received 52% of his first-quarter contributions from “[d]efense contractors, local business officers and lobbyists that relied on earmarked federal contracts from Murtha” the Washington Post notes this interesting little detail:

Four former lobbyists of the PMA Group, a once-powerful lobbying shop, also chipped in to elect Critz. Murtha arranged for his spending panel to steer hundreds of millions of earmarked contracts to PMA clients. The firm shut its doors amid a criminal investigation scrutinizing more than $1 million dollars in campaign contributions it gave to Murtha and other subcommittee members. Critz’s money came as well from top officers of companies that were longtime beneficiaries of Murtha’s largess in doling out military contracts: Argon ST, Progeny Systems, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, Advanced Acoustic Concepts and Mountaintop Technologies.

Ah, PMA.  Did you know that they got $117 million in earmarks from the Democrats in the last ten years?  Impressive, in its way.

Continue reading PMA trying to retain lease on PA-12?

PA-12: Burns/Critz 44/41 (PPP).

How awkward for the Democrats.

Buoyed by an electorate that is exceptionally sour on national Democrats, Republican Tim Burns has a 44-41 lead over Democrat Mark Critz in the special election to replace John Murtha in the House.

[snip]

…Burns is winning over 22% of the Democratic vote compared to Critz’s 10% of the Republican vote. Burns also has a 51-31 lead with independents, although there are fewer of them in this district than most.

Critz is currently pretending to be against the health care debacle, just like Bill Owens over in NY-23 did before Owens started warming the seat.  Critz will, of course, not be permitted to take that stance, assuming of course that he somehow manages to take the seat…

Moe Lane

Have you contributed to the Tim Burns moneybomb yet?

Murtha (D, PA-12) client indicted for taking kickbacks.

Plus: a look at one of his possible general election opponents.

(Via The American Thinker, via Instapundit) The bolded part is the part that you want your eyes to linger over.

Ex-contractor with Murtha ties charged over kickbacks

Federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh have charged a former executive for a defense contractor with ties to Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) with taking nearly $200,000 in kickbacks from a subcontractor.

Richard Ianieri, former president and CEO of Coherent Systems International Corp., is accused of accepting the kickbacks from a subcontractor identified only as “K” in court documents filed Monday. The charges came in the form of a criminal information, an indication that Ianieri is working with prosecutors and plans to plead guilty.

As you might remember from the Rezko trial – and that saga isn’t over yet; it’s just still in its Blagojevich phase – these kind of cases take time to build up and play out; so now is the time that you’d be wanting to see the first corruption cases go down.  Is Murtha involved?  That’s an interesting question… and, given that this is the first election cycle since 2002 where the man has had a primary challenger, the answer to that is probably of interest to more people than myself, or even the rest of the Republican party.

As to opponents in the general: it’s been reported (and assumed) that Bill Russell’s planning on another shot at this seat; and there’s also Tim Burns.  Local businessman, looks decent on the issues, not notably involved in blatant acts of federal money patronage and unashamed pork-barrel appropriations; all in all it would make for a refreshing change.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.