By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Pat Meehan’s campaign Tuesday accused Democrats in league with congressional candidate Bryan Lentz of circulating petitions to place on the ballot conservative third-party candidate Jim Schneller, whose candidacy threatens to siphon critical votes from the 7th District GOP nominee in a race many expect to be very close.

Pete Peterson, Meehan spokesman, said a review of Schneller’s petitions, submitted Monday, show many of them were circulated by registered Democrats and other allies of Lentz’s campaign. Fourteen pages of petitions, the spokesman said, were signed by Colleen Guiney, chair of the Swarthmore Democratic Committee. Other details of Democrats’ involvement would be revealed by a press release later Tuesday afternoon, he said.

“It demonstrates the fact they’re trying to game the process here,” said Peterson, adding later, “it’s cynical politics I think voters are sick of.”

A spokesman for Lentz’s campaign declined to confirm or deny Meehan’s account, saying all questions about Schneller’s campaign need to be directed at the candidate himself.

Although helping place a rival candidate on the ballot might be considered foul play in most quarters, it does not appear to be illegal. Allies of the Meehan campaign can still challenge Schneller’s signatures in an attempt to knock him off the ballot, although Peterson said it’s “too early to tell” if they will try to do so.

Meehan and Lentz are each trying to succeed outgoing Democratic incumbent Joe Sestak, who is running for U.S. Senate.

UPDATE: 5:25 p.m.:

A press release Tuesday afternoon from the Meehan campaign says Lentz allies collected 4,800 of the 7,900 signatures Schneller reportedly submitted. In addition to Guiney, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon, 11 other Democrats ciculated petitions on the tea party candidate’s behalf, said Meehan’s campaign.

“The Lentz campaign has repeatedly dodged questions about its involvement in this effort, which speaks volumes,” said Meehan campaign manager Bryan Kendro in a statement. “Bryan Lentz needs to come clean with the voters and explain his campaign’s efforts to get Schneller placed on the ballot.”

The Lentz campaign, contacted again later Tuesday, directed all questions about the signatures to Schneller and his campaign. Schneller did not return phone calls seeking comment.

But, as noted on pa2010.com, the Meehan campaign’s accusations appear correct, according to the petitions filed with the Department of State.

News of the accusation left some observers questioning why Lentz’s campaign would us such high-profile allies, all of whom can easily be traced back to it, to help Schneller collect signatures. Their involvement would be impossible to hide and, when revealed, likely a big story among local and political media outlets and give the Republicans plenty of ammunition to use against at Lentz.

It could also go a long way toward discrediting Schneller as a anti-establishment tea party candidate, which would hinder his ability to take away votes from Meehan.

But lost amid the furor over the controversy if the fact that, even if he received help from a Democrat, Schneller remains on the ballot and with almost double the number of signatures necessary to qualify, enough to make a court challenge difficult. Even a flurry of media coverage likely won’t be enough to dissuade a chunk of heavily conservative voters from supporting a tea party candidate, and even a few percentage points of votes directed at him instead of Meehan could be the difference in a highly competitive race.

One GOP strategist not connected to the Meehan campaign said Schneller’s placement on the ballot presents a strategic problem for the Republican’s campaign.

“This is bad, because expect the DCCC or some 527 to drop mail to microtargeted voters who identify with the tea party saying, ‘Bryan Lentz and Pat Meehan are big spending establishment liberals, vote for Schneller because he is a tea party guy,’” said the Republican insider. “That forces Meehan to spend money reaching out to what should be base Republicans. Every dollar there is one less dollar reaching out to squish Republicans or moderate Democrats who are planning to vote for Sestak and not sure who to vote for in the Congressional race.”

The strategist also questioned why the Meehan campaign hadn’t sounded the alarm on the petitions while they were still being circulated, which could have had a far greater impact than doing so afterward.

Peterson said although they heard reports of Lentz allies helping Schneller, they weren’t solid enough to do anything with.

“We didn’t have any evidence of it — just rumors at that point,” the spokesman said.

Petitions are also a sticky subject for Meehan, whose own are under investigation by the attorney general’s office for possibly containing fraudulent signatures. The signatures were turned over to law enforcement authorities by the Meehan campaign in March, but the Lentz campaign charged the impropriety was far more widespread than the Republican admitted and were submitted only after the Democrat investigated them himself.

The month-long drama that surrounded the controversy at the time has been, by far, the campaign’s biggest story to date.

Tags: Bryan Lentz for congress, Pat Meehan for Congress

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