It's been a newsworthy weekend here in SW Pennsylvania -- just in time for the election. Some good stuff has been written about these events, but I think they could benefit from some more exposure -- so here's a summary and a little commentary of my own.
Mmmm, donuts.
I guess for Melissa Hart, some constituents are more 'real' than others. 40 senior citizens brought donuts to her Allison Park office on Thursday to protest the donut hole in Medicare coverage and she called the police. Why?
Our Allison Park office is a place of business, not politics. Their unruly behavior not only inhibited our ability to assist contituents with real requests for help, it also infringes on our constituents' privacy. We always welcome constituents in our offices who have real problems or want to deliver real input on the issues. This was, unfortunately, not the case today.
More and links below the fold.
Boss of the Year award
Tim Murphy might be wise to remember the golden rule... seems that some disgruntled former employees are telling tales out of school. Nice for us that those tales includes
potentially illegal activities and they are coming to light before the election. (You might note that
staff turnover has been an issue for Congressman Murphy.)
U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, who is seeking his third term in Congress, has mixed campaign activities and official government work in a manner that present and former staffers consider unethical or in violation of House rules, according to interviews with a half-dozen of them.
Some of those interviewed described the practices as routine, others as sporadic, but all said they were disturbed by the conduct. The allegations primarily concern the use of taxpayer-funded congressional staff and resources to do work they viewed as part of Mr. Murphy's political campaign.
2 Political Junkies has a nice summary of both issues -- Tim Murphy link here and Melissa Hart link here
You might have seen mention of the Hart issue on Atrios -- includes both an article link and a YouTube video link for KDKA.
Finnegan created a diary on the Murphy story which scrolled off rather fast -- once you scroll through the voluminous threads on how to create a live link in a diary, you'll find some discussion on the actual story... There's even a short link at TPM
Of course, you should really check out their competition --
Chad Kluko is running against Tim Murphy. Kluko's funds are not great, although he does have a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorsement in a purple district with a slight Dem registration advantage.
Jason Altmire stands a good chance of toppling Melissa Hart.