Pa. Dems help put birther on ballot

Politico ^ | August 4, 2010 07:17 AM EDT | Kasie Hunt

[Gondring]

Pennsylvania Democrats helped gather signatures to put a birther on the ballot in the race to replace Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak.

At issue is the role played by the campaign of state Rep. Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee in the open 7th District, which allegedly provided petition-gathering assistance to Jim Schneller, a tea party activist who once filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania demanding that President Obama present his birth certificate.

According to documents from the secretary of state's office provided by the campaign of Lentz’s GOP opponent, former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, Schneller needed 4,200 signatures to make the ballot as the American Congress Party candidate — and 3,800 of those were collected by Democrats.

The Democrats who helped gather the signatures include Colleen Guiney, the chairwoman of the Swarthmore Democratic Party and a Lentz supporter; Nicholas Allred, who works for the Swarthmore College Democrats and Rocco Polidoro, among others, according to secretary of state filings.

[...]

While it’s not certain that Schneller will appear on the ballot — Pennsylvania’s secretary of state still has to certify the petitions — if he does, the presence of a third party candidate could help throw the race to Lentz in the competitive suburban Philadelphia-based district.

[...]

A call to Schneller, who bills himself as a former businessman who is “fully trained in the law,” was not immediately returned.

Schneller is known for filing lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of state laws. In his suit against the state demanding that the president present his birth certificate, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied his claim and Schneller appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear it.

Schneller lists the cases on his website. “Note: Activists like Jim are frequently accused at some point or other of being over-active, troublesome or inept. Jim believes that these are code words for knowing too much, and being too adept to be tripped up by legal snares,” the site says of his lawsuits.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Independence Hall Tea Party group in Philadelphia had endorsed Schneller. They have endorsed Meehan.

[Gondring]

I wonder if the message is getting across that TEA partiers won't put up with RINOs!

[Gondring]

Ping (see also http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2564830/posts)

[no dems]

Is Meehan a Rino? All I know is the Dems have gotten smart. Run a Third Party Candidate who is "to the right" of the GOP candidate to pull votes from the GOP candidate and the baby-killing, same-sex marriage propagating, faggot, Democrat walks into Congress. And we played right into their filthy hands. And they laugh at us behind our backs.

[DontTreadOnMe2009]

... a tea party activist who once filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania demanding that President Obama present his birth certificate.

Wow. The guy’s a madman.

[Zhang Fei]

This is kind of cool. Maybe if we can get birthers on the ballot in every Senate and House seat, we can get Democratic office holders in all 535 seats. Why stop at bare Democratic majorities when you can get 100% Democratic representation?

[mlo]

The Dims recognize what some of us have been telling you for a long time. The birthers are working in Obama’s favor.

[Jean S]

Schneller needed 4,200 signatures to make the ballot as the American Congress Party candidate — and 3,800 of those were collected by Democrats.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Gondring]

Schneller needed 4,200 signatures to make the ballot as the American Congress Party candidate — and 3,800 of those were collected by Democrats.

It's not as impressive when you look at the bigger picture, though. Politico says he had about 8,000 signatures, so potentially he had just about all of the necessary ones coming from NON-Democrats...right?

 Total - Dem-Collected = Non-Dem-Collected
~8,000 -    3,800      = ~4,200           

Required signatures: 4,200

Also, I think Dems are submitting fake petitions for legitimate GOP candidates so they can then later claim improper candidacy.

[Jean S]

According to documents from the secretary of state's office provided by the campaign of Lentz’s GOP opponent, former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan, Schneller needed 4,200 signatures to make the ballot as the American Congress Party candidate — and 3,800 of those were collected by Democrats.

Maybe I'm too tired but I don't understand this, are you cheering on the candidate that the democrats are promoting rather than the GOP candidate?

[Gondring]

I'm pointing out the way the story is being presented. Note how a potentially insignificant number of Dem signatures can be portrayed as very relevant. But if the candidate had 4,200 signatures that were non-Dem (as it implies might very well be the case), then the headline could just easily be, "Dem Effort Irrelevant to Birther Getting onto ballot" (assuming it's not overruled).

Also, I'm not advocating any particular point of view--I'm just fascinated by conservatism self-destructing along Party vs. Power vs. Principle lines again.

• Party ("GOP* all the way!") gets us candidates who just take us for granted.
• Power ("Hold my nose and vote for him because he's better than a Dem and it will give us more power than if we totally lost.") gives us weaselly candidates who might take us in the wrong direction, only slower than the Dems.
• Principle ("whichever candidate is more conservative, even if unelectable") can lead to losses in short term, with potential of retaining power within the movement long-term by showing we can't be taken for granted. However, even short-term losses can be long-term in effect.

There are others, both within this scheme and beyond it, but these are the big three, I think.

What should our real target be, if not politicians and Washington?

The electorate (and, in extremis, the potentially riotous) are the key to it all--the rest is a necessary distraction. Unless we can convince The People of the wisdom of our way, forget it all...any political gamesmanship is merely a few sandbags against the tide.

*or Conservative Party or Constitution Party or...

[ConservativeMind]

Hey, I always sign the petition for the Green Party candidates here in Illinois for the same reason.

It goes both ways.

[FreedomPoster]

This goes well beyond that.

[SouthTexas]

Democrats helped gather signatures to put a birther on the ballot

Be careful what you wish for, it may come back to bite you.

[MissTickly]

Only when idiots act like there really is something wrong with asking for documentation.

Never seemed to be a problem in the past.

So...FAIL.

[mlo]

Nobody is saying there’s something wrong with asking for documentation. But it was asked during the campaign and it was provided. There is something wrong with ignoring the facts so one can continue believing what they want to believe.

BTW, in the past, what other presidents were asked for their birth certificates?

[urtax$@work]

A good reason to have Closed Republican Primaries.

Dems will probably jump to save McLame (if allowed). I think it may have happened to Tiehart of KS. losing to a milder Repub(Moran) last Tuesday.

[longtermmemmory]

and you forget to blame the “prostitute” candidate who has consented to be a useful idiot for the attention and self aggrandizement.

[rosettasister]

Jim Schneller, a tea party activist who once filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania demanding that President Obama present his birth certificate.

“Lentz’s supporters and associates have engaged in an underhanded attempt to manipulate the ballot and split the conservative vote by using Jim Schneller as nothing more than a prop,” said Bryan Kendro, Meehan’s campaign manager.

(I hope voters in this district don’t fall for this. It is crucial that Repubs win House and Fire Nancy Pelosi! That is job numero uno.)

(But I also hope Repub candidates also see that Dems are trying to get them to go on the record casting “birthers” in a bad light. They know Repub candidates will lose votes if they do that. So don’t fall into that trap. Find a way to be neutral.)

[MissTickly]

No, an odd-looking jpeg image was provided.

And I said “documentation.”

Tax returns, school records, whatever it was that was being questioned, eventually was either provided by past candidates or wasn’t but the request was not used as an excuse to race-bait and ridcule.

Nice try though.