Free Republic

(Harrisburg, PA)…Barry R. Herr, former treasurer of the Lower Susquehanna Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was sentenced today to serve 30 months in federal prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $799,998 in restitution. Herr, 62, of Lancaster, was arrested on March 13, 2008, and charged with thirty-six (36) counts of Criminal Use of a Communication Facility (electronic transfer of funds) and one (1) count of Theft by Deception in the amount of $1,004,732. Each charge is a felony of the third degree. The charges stem from months of investigation by the synod, the...

The Sen. Barack Obama campaign is under performing with women, especially older white ones. So, it released a list of female surrogates that will be his force on issues that are important to those women voters -- like equal pay. There also will soon be an ad released that will hit Sen. John McCain on the touchy issue of equal pay. According to McCain-Palin spokesman Brian Rogers, that is a problem for Barack Obama, since he is the one that pays his females staffers less than the men. Rogers points to Senate Records showing that women working in Sen. Obama's...

The intelligent question thrown out among strategists for both campaigns is, can John McCain really win Pennsylvania? Really win it, not pretend to go for it, as Republicans did in 2004, all the while closing the deal in Ohio when no one was looking. The last Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania was George H.W. Bush, in 1988 -- a win preceded by two Reagans but followed by two Clintons, a Gore and a Kerry. The Kerry win was narrower than the others, however.

Rep. Jack Murtha’s (D-Johnstown) opponent in this year’s congressional race -- Lt. Col. William Russell, a decorated Iraq war veteran who was in the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001 -- has just released an ad titled “In Cold Blood.” So far, it is one of the most powerful campaign spots to hit the airwaves in the down- ballot races this cycle in the Keystone State.

Perhaps finding out what really is going on in Pennsylvania is for me to look no further than my own backyard, literally.

MANHEIM -- John McCain's last stop on a three-day swing across Pennsylvania provided clues as to how the Republican plans to beat Barack Obama in a battleground state the Democrat is favored to win.

RECIDIVISM AND GEORGE FEIGLEY, CHILD RAPIST I like to think that as Christians we should always forgive the sinner even as we condemn the sin. However, what I, what we, think and believe seems difficult to accept at times especially when it comes to those who so grievously offend. George Feigley is a difficult guy to forgive. He was just released after 30+ years in prison for raping three young girls in Pennsylvania and his reception was, understandably, something less than forgiving: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D92J57GO2&show_article=1. Feigley’s horrendous crime wasn’t simply rape, if any rape can be termed “simple.” He not only raped...

Ridge said he was proud of how McCain has handled the crisis unfolding in Georgia. ...“He has kept a cool head, taken calls from Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili -- and really behaved very presidential in his perspective of this crisis,” said Ridge as McCain shook hands with the crowd that gathered around him. “He has been to Georgia several times,” Ridge added. “He doesn’t need to look for it on a map.”

Bitter: the gift that keeps on giving TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito John Brabender, a D.C.-based media strategist, put up the first "bitter" ad to be used in a congressional race -- for a Republican. "Barack Obama's statement about the small towns of Pennsylvania and the entire middle America for this cycle is the gift that you can use all year long," Brabender said. He said that you could say it is the gift that keeps on giving. Brabender's client Matt Shaner is in a tight Republican primary race to succeed retiring John Peterson in the biggest piece of congressional geography...

'100 Mayors For Hillary' Rally Turnout Under 20 Percent POSTED: 2:23 pm EDT April 15, 2008 UPDATED: 2:31 pm EDT April 15, 2008 HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Turnout at the "100 Mayors for Hillary" rally was a little under 20 percent. Only 19 mayors of Pennsylvania cities showed up for Tuesday's rally in the Rotunda of the Pennsylvania Capitol. Other mayors' names were listed on placards supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York for the Democratic presidential nomination. Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed spoke for the group against the backdrop of a banner touting the 100 mayors. He criticized Clinton's rival,...

God, guns and Obama TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito On Friday it was reveled that Sen. Barack Obama told wealthy San Franciscans last Sunday that small-town Pennsylvanians and Midwesterners "cling to guns or religion" because they are "bitter" about their economic status. By today in Muncie, Ind., Obama acknowledged that he "didn't say it as well as I should have."

Obama advance: 'Get me more white people' POLITICO Ben Smith From the account in Carnegie Mellon's paper, the Tartan, of a Michelle Obama event in Pittsburgh: While the crowd was indeed diverse, some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.” “I didn’t know they...

Rendell-Casey, Round 2 By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 6, 2008 To win Pennsylvania, Barack Obama must pull off a "Missouri" -- that is, do what he did in the Show Me State: win a handful of heavily populated, liberal-centric counties and call it a day. Ironically, that is what Ed Rendell (a Hillary Clinton supporter) did to Bob Casey (an Obama supporter) in Pennsylvania's 2002 Democrat gubernatorial primary.

Super delegate Murtha endorses Clinton Posted March 18, 2008 8 :50 PM Congressman Jack Murtha, D-Johnstown, became the first super delegate to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton since the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4th.

Obama adds a little more cowbell TRIBUNE-REVIEW BY Salena Zito Bristling at charges that, so far, Barack Obama is running a less-than-spectacular race in Pennsylvania, the candidate's chief political strategist told reporters this afternoon that the campaign was going all out to win the Keystone State. "We are gong to contest vigorously in Pennsylvania," David Axelrod said. "We're going to be running a full campaign."

In the state, it's politics unusual for Clinton, Obama By Mike Wereschagin TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, March 16, 2008 Patrons pack the bar at Rookie's Restaurant and Sports Pub in Allentown, but their conversations steer clear of the political battle being waged for their votes. Bartender Nick Goldsmith keeps an ear on what is said inside this Lehigh County joint. If one of the candidates' names comes up, he knows he might have to jump in and shut down an argument before it becomes a fight. Again. "I don't usually discourage it until it gets out of hand," says Goldsmith, 29. That's...

Pennsylvania 'absolutely critical' for Clinton campaign, aide says By Salena Zito and David M. Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Saturday, March 8, 2008 Winning the Pennsylvania primary on April 22 is "absolutely critical" to Hillary Clinton's hope of overtaking Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, a top Clinton aide said Friday. Clinton will visit Pennsylvania on Monday and Tuesday, with campaign stops in Scranton, Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Former President Bill Clinton will be stumping for his wife on Tuesday in Pittsburgh, but the campaign did not immediately provide details about that visit. Asked whether Clinton must win Pennsylvania to...

TRIBUNE-REVIEW Pa. no longer on the horizon By: Salena Zito It's showtime, folks ... part II. Welcome to a smaller yet more critically important Super Tuesday. Today has become the focus for the Democrats in a political season that has seen the primary contest maps redrawn in a way no pundit could have ever predicted. In an interview last week, Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean told the Tribune-Review that he never would have predicted that the primary season would have gone on this long. In fact, Dean said he thought it would have been decided before the first Super...

Ohio at heart of Clinton strategy By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, March 2, 2008 DAYTON, Ohio -- Retired trucker James Russell says Hillary Clinton is going to win this state's Democratic primary Tuesday because she has God and Ohio on her side. "We are her guardian angels," Russell, 67, said last week after Bill Clinton's speech at Stebbins High School in Riverside, a Dayton suburb. "I hate to spout off, but I think God will straighten this all out for her and she will win here and in November." Divine intervention might be what the Clinton

Obama gaining on Clinton in statewide poll By Brad Bumsted and David M. Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, February 21, 2008 HARRISBURG -- A surging Barack Obama has carved into Hillary Clinton's lead in Pennsylvania in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton is leading Obama by 12 percentage points -- 44 percent to 32 percent -- in the run-up to the state's April 22 primary election, according to a Franklin & Marshall College Poll conducted for the Tribune-Review and other news outlets. The survey of 303 registered Democrats showed

Half of state's superdelegates back Clinton By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, February 19, 2008 New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has gained commitments from half of Pennsylvania's so-called superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention. A Tribune-Review survey reveals Clinton has endorsements from 13 of the 26 superdelegates, a mix of top elected officials and party operatives. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has two commitments, and 10 superdelegates are uncommitted. One superdelegate could not be reached. Three more will be selected by Pennsylvania party leaders. But none of the delegates must vote for their endorsed candidate, one expert cautioned.

Rep. Dan Moul is in his small, drab Harrisburg office talking about changing an outdated Capitol culture, and he's being himself. He mentions that there are "still a couple old dogs that have to go," and that's when he realizes he's being himself. He stops, breaks out laughing, and slaps his desk. "That's one statement that's going to get me in trouble," he says. But then, he seems to recognize truth behind the statement, and he settles back in his chair. "Am I lying?" After a year in office, the freshman Republican from Adams County's Conewago Township has proven to...

At 6:30 am on Saturday, December 22, while most were snug in bed, resting up for Christmas activities, veteran pro-lifer Ed Snell was arriving at Hillcrest Abortion Center, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  He had come with two other activists to persuade women entering the clinic not to abort their pre-born children. The group customarily meets at the clinic and has saved many lives.  In fact, they have been so effective, that the clinic erected a 7-foot privacy fence to cut off all communication between the women and the pro-lifers.  However, their efforts were scuttled, when the activists began bringing ladders so...

Pennsylvania HB 1649 breezed through the PA House Health & Human Services Committee and the Rules Committee. As of Nov 8th, the bill now sits in the House Appropriations Committee. Action is needed to make sure this bill dies in committee! Call your State Representative, tell them that you oppose the bill and that it's too controversial of a topic to push through without hearings. Ask that they vote to send House Bill 1649 to the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, where it can have balanced hearings. (No hearings have been held on the issue in nearly 20 years and...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Halfway across the continent from where Buffalo Bill roamed and Custer made his last stand, the mayor of this debt-ridden city spent millions in public money on everything from six-shooters to covered wagons for a museum about cowboys, Indians and the Wild West. And he did it without telling the City Council, whose members felt as if they had been hit by the swinging doors of a frontier saloon when they found out from a reporter in 2003. On Saturday, the other dusty cowboy boot will drop when hundreds of the items go on the auction...

Inquirer Staff Writers Fed up with foot-dragging in Harrisburg over gun control, Philadelphia is now taking its case to court. City Councilman Darrell L. Clarke said last night that the city plans to file a lawsuit today in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court alleging that the General Assembly has failed in its duty to protect the residents of the city. "It is becoming increasingly clear to me that the General Assembly is unwilling or unable to act," Clarke said in a telephone interview last night. "We have no choice but to go to court." Straw purchases have proliferated dramatically because the...

Our State Representatives in another brilliant move (note sarcasm) returned the same high-class clowns -- who were instrumental in the sneaky late-night pay raise debacle -- to their leadership posts. There was some opposition by legislative reformers who were laughed -- okay maybe not laughed -- but at least giggled out of the big room in Harrisburg. Our (Republican) solons reelected John Perzel as house speaker. He's the guy who defended the big pay raise saying that cow milkers and tattoo artists were more highly paid than state legislators are. There was no opposition to him. These are the people...

A mix of suburban and city state legislators gathered at the Montgomery County Courthouse to urge new legislative action. A group of Democratic state legislators, led by State Rep. Dwight Evans of Philadelphia, went to the heart of Republican Montgomery County yesterday to announce a new legislative initiative aimed at reducing gun violence. The legislators, a mix of state office holders from the suburbs and the city, were at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown to announce plans to submit a package of bills during a day-long special session of the House on crime scheduled for Sept. 26. Pointing to...

John Grogan | Time to unload on gun stupidity By John Grogan Inquirer Columnist The funeral, all these years later, sticks with me. There had been an accident involving two boys and a loaded handgun, and I had arrived early for the service. Outside, the undertaker paced, waiting for the family to arrive, and a priest smoked a cigarette, ready to pray. Inside, I stood alone beside a small casket holding an 8-year-old boy, shot through the forehead by his best friend. The details of the death should have been shocking, but they were numbingly familiar: yet another gun brought...

Violates Military Uniform Code by wearing uniform while campaigning, Wears officer's uniform that does not match rank at which he retired HARRISBURG - Republican State Committee Executive Director Scott Migli today questioned Joe Sestak, Democratic candidate in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, for his repeated violations of federal law and U.S. Navy regulations as it relates to appropriate conduct for the wearing of military uniforms. Those violations include wearing his uniform while engaged in campaign activities and wearing a uniform that displays a rank above what the grade at which he retired from service. "Joe Sestak's improper use of the military...

Analysis: GOP results bode poorly for November vote Republicans' anger could drag down Santorum, Swann Thursday, May 18, 2006 By James O'Toole and Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Incumbents of both parties were targeted by state pay raise opponents in the months leading to Tuesday's primary, but the day's victims were disproportionately Republican. Champions and casualties of that upheaval agreed that it would have consequences in November in and beyond the legislative races. In particular, several experts suggested, the evidence of disaffection among core Republican voters presents challenges for U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and gubernatorial nominee Lynn Swann in promoting the...

Trouble Brewing?(Fun and Games in the Great Socialist Cesspool of PA) By: Bob Bauder and Stephanie Waite - Times Staff 03/12/06 A three-month Times investigation revealed the Beaver Falls-based Beaver Initiative for Growth also has never been audited until this year, and has awarded lucrative contracts to campaign donors. The operations of BIG, which Veon and LaValle created 14 years ago, run contrary to accepted standards for economic development organizations and nonprofits alike, according to officials in those fields. In an arrangement one nonprofit observer described as "highly irregular," BIG's board of directors until recently had only two members: Veon...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Mar. 2, 2006) -- In late February 2005, a 26-year-old Harrisburg, Penn. native deployed to the western part of the Al Anbar province, Iraq with Regimental Combat Team-2, 2nd Marine Division. One year later, he returned to the U.S. forever changed. Lance Cpl. Shane S. Keller, a combat photographer with RCT-2, recently came home after a year deployed to Iraq, where he had been supporting Marines and Iraqi Forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Keller’s job in Iraq consisted of documenting the security and stabilization operations the RCT conducted for historical, training and intelligence purposes....

Marriage Protection Amendment Intro and Rally at the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg January 24, 2006 at 10:00 amLet's have a tremendous crowd---please take the time to be counted and show our legislators that marriage must be protected! Plans are gearing up for the rally. Good News: As some of you already know, an important Marriage Protection Amendment to our state constitution has been drafted and will be introduced at our state capitol by the lead sponsors in Harrisburg on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006, at 10 a.m. So far, we're up to more than 80 co-sponsors and counting!! Please visit our site...

In the beginning, experts gave it a week. Two, tops. Now, a state Supreme Court justice finds himself out of a job, and other incumbents in Harrisburg are left sweating over their political futures because of what pundits are calling a "populist insurrection." The anti-pay-raise movement that many had dismissed early on as a passing thunderstorm is developing into a Category 5 hurricane that threatens to uproot incumbents across the state next year. "Rome is burning, and the empire is crumbling," said State Rep. Thomas C. Petrone (D., Allegheny), who took the raise but later donated it to charities, including...

As the controversy over a pay raise for Pennsylvania lawmakers continues, a public relations event at a Pittsburgh elementary school this week turned out worse than state House speaker John Perzel of Philadelphia could have pictured -- literally. At the school event, Speaker Perzel again tangled with reporters over the pay raise (see related story) -- prompting a blistering editorial in Friday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette saying the speaker’s “arrogance was on full display.” But to make matters worse, says Prof. Terry Madonna, political analyst and pollster at Franklin and Marshall College, a photograph (above right) published by another Pittsburgh newspaper, the...

About 1,500 protesters stood in a steady rain on the steps of the state Capitol this afternoon to demand that the legislators huddled inside repeal the 16 to 34 percent pay raise they approved for themselves in July. "We are revolting against the opulent lifestyle these people have given themselves with our money,'' Harrisburg radio talk show host Bob Durgin thundered. "Do you want to repeal the raise? Do you want to get rid of legislators' car leases? Are you angry?" he asked the crowd, which boomed back "YES!" to each question. Other speakers took to the microphone and got...

Federal, Local Police Raid Section Of Harrisburg POSTED: 12:09 pm EDT August 25, 2005 UPDATED: 12:12 pm EDT August 25, 2005 HARRISBURG, Pa. -- There was a major police incident in the Hall Manor section of Harrisburg Thursday morning. Police tore through Hall Manor, making arrests and alarming residents, News 8 reported. Federal drug enforcement agents, U.S. marshals and Harrisburg police were just a few of the agencies involved in Thursday morning's activities. Residents report that police were banging on doors at 4 a.m. Police did not leave the area until about 9:30 a.m. Residents said they were alarmed by...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Editorial writers and columnists have called it a mugging of state taxpayers, the Great Harrisburg Caper of 2005, an act of legislative thievery. ''Greed gone wild," one angry voter wrote. Public outrage over a hefty pay raise Pennsylvania lawmakers voted themselves in the dead of night a month ago has nagged them throughout their summer vacation and shows no signs of going away. Not only did legislators increase their salaries 16 percent to 34 percent -- reaching at least $81,050, more than in any state except California -- but they also crafted the package in secret without...

by Michael Whitcraft When I heard that my bishop, Most Reverend Kevin Rhoades, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was planning a procession and rosary in front a local abortion clinic, I was excited and pleasantly surprised. Due to their busy schedule and load of administrative work, few bishops would take three hours early on a Saturday morning to lead their flock in protest. While this may be understandable, it is a pity. Amid the chaos that defines modern life, we faithful are in great need of shepherds who will take definitive stands and lead us to react against evil. I thank...

Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman went to Harrisburg, Pa., last week to raise money for a city councilman's re-election campaign -- an event he believes could help change the face of American politics for years to come. Mr. Mehlman's trip to the Pennsylvania state capital was largely overlooked by the news media, but not by savvy Democratic strategists, who saw the trip as having the potential seeds of their party's decline.

City Councilman Otto Banks, the biggest vote-getter in Harrisburg, Pa., held a campaign fundraiser in the Pennsylvania state capital Friday with the help of Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman that sent new fears rippling through Democratic ranks.Mr. Banks, 33, a political newcomer, stunned Harrisburg's black community when he left the Democratic Party in March to become a Republican, starting what Mr. Mehlman and other Republican officials say they hope will become a realignment trend that will consign the Democrats to permanent minority status.Mr. Mehlman said Friday that he met with Mr. Banks before the party switch and promised that if...

...Conclusion to "A Freeper's Last Days". A longtime lurker and 3 year Freeper, known here as "kixx" and to the rest of us as Chip Boose, has heard the Calling of Our Lord. Chip passed on to take his place in the Choir of Angels late last night at about 11:40 PM Eastern time at his home in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Chip was surrounded, even at that late hour, by family and friends. For the last 5 days his house was so full of friends and family that the timbers strained to support the weight of the love that was shared....

In Pa., balance of power goes a bit to the right Monday, November 08, 2004By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette HARRISBURG -- The balance of state government shifted a little more to the right with last week's election, but Republicans and Democrats are undecided on whether the shift will be of any great consequence to Pennsylvania politics in the short term. Republicans picked up a seat in the state House, upping their caucus to 110 members when the new legislative session begins in January. In the Senate, Republicans were able to upset a Democratic fixture from Westmoreland County, state Sen. Allen...

The Sean Hannity Rally in harrisburg, Pennsylvania was a huge success tonight. It started an hour late due to a delay in getting to the Hilton but once Sean and Bill bennett arrived it was quite an event!

October 6, 2004 Contact: Dan Hayward Executive Director National Trend of Threatening Protests Comes to PA Democrat Protest in Westmoreland County Turns Ugly- Police Respond Harrisburg – Today, Republican State Committee Chairman Alan Novak demanded his Democrat counterpart, Chairman T.J. Rooney, condemn the threatening protest in Westmoreland County and call upon all Democrat and affiliated campaign groups to stop similar campaign protests that may be planned across Pennsylvania. “This is an outrage of the highest order. There is no place for violence, threats or disorderly conduct in campaigns," exclaimed Novak. “With similar events happening across the nation, it is clear...

Rendell pushes raises for Cabinet Some lawmakers suggest increasing their own salaries Tuesday, September 28, 2004 BY PETER L. DeCOURSEY Of The Patriot-News Gov. Ed Rendell's plan to raise the salaries of his Cabinet has some state legislators chatting about a pay raise for themselves. Rendell has told House and Senate leaders that Cabinet salaries, which range from $103,980 for Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff to $115,533 for Education Secretary-designate Francis Barnes, are inadequate to attract and retain qualified people. "What the governor has said is that it is necessary, to attract and retain top people to state government, for salaries...

Suspicious Package Causes Evacuation Of Federal Building A bomb squad exploded a suspicious object found behind the federal building in Harrisburg Tuesday morning. The federal building in Harrisburg was evacuated after a suspicious Thermos was found behind the building around 8:30 a.m. during a routine security sweep. Police in Harrisburg closed streets and sidewalks in the area. The Penn State Bomb Disposal Squad exploded the device and is now doing testing on it to figure out if it actually was an active explosive device. "They believe, at this time, that it was an active explosive device, but they do not...

Was having a few Root Beers at the pub when the local news announced how Kerry was going to be at The National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg. Wow, was this kept a secret or what? Only invited contribution guests were to be admitted. This was only 8 blocks from where I was. I always have empty sign boards in my car so I rushed out to the parking lot and made one. It said, “Who Authorized Your First Purple Heart? Your Commanding Officer at the time said he Did NOT.” The other side said “Welcome Flip Flop Kerry, Release...

AP Photo Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, center, talks with Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortez, left, and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller, after filling in for Gov. Ed Rendell, who is vacationing in Florida, at the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Pennsylvania Farm Show, Saturday in Harrisburg, Pa. Ken Wetzel from Indiana County, Pa., left, moves his Duroc hog, Sally, this year's winner of the Supreme Champion Swine award, from the judging circle after the award ceremony on the opening day of the Pennsylvania Farm Show, Saturdayin Harrisburg, Pa. One of Larry Arnold's yorkshire pigs tries to...