Pat Meehan Calls on Bryan Lentz to Condemn Outrageous Attack Ad

DREXEL HILL, PA – Pat Meehan, the Republican candidate for Congress in the 7th Congressional District, today called on Bryan Lentz to condemn a misleading advertisement about gun crime running by Bryan Lentz’s supporters at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 
 
“Bryan Lentz should be ashamed of himself for allowing this kind of campaign trash to clutter our airwaves.  As U.S. Attorney, Pat Meehan used every law at his disposal to prosecute violent criminals, and no one fought harder to combat gun violence.  If Bryan Lentz really was tough on crime, then he wouldn’t have waited until he was considering running for Congress to introduce his legislation,” said Bryan Kendro, campaign manager for Pat Meehan. 
 
“Lentz, who is a member of the committee his legislation was referred to, was unable to convince his own party and leadership to advance it.  This is a PR stunt that began last spring and its purpose is now clear, to create a wedge issue to help get him elected.  Bryan Lentz should be ashamed of himself,” Kendro continued.
 
Pat’s record of fighting gun violence has earned him praise from Philadelphia Democrats:
 
Mayor Michael Nutter: “[Pat’s] been tremendously helpful with our anti-violence efforts here in the city, both before I became mayor and certainly since…Pat Meehan has done a tremendous job and I enjoyed working with him a great deal” (Regan Toomer, “Mayor Nutter shocked by Meehan resignation,” Philadelphia Tribune, July 11, 2008)
 
District Attorney Lynn Abraham: “Meehan’s efforts to crack down on gun violence, for example, helped to make the city a better place… ‘Those prosecutions helped to solve a lot of other crimes,'” District Attorney Lynn Abraham said. (Michael Hinkelman, “Meehan quits. Will he run for guv next?” Philadelphia Daily News, July 8, 2008)
 
As U.S Attorney, Pat Meehan teamed up with the heads of other federal agencies, the Philadelphia Police, and district attorney’s offices to fight gun crime.  He used federal firearms laws to put away the region’s most violent criminals, and he developed a nationally recognized crime mapping program to allow, for the first time, law enforcement to share information electronically across county lines.  At least 130 homicides were solved directly because of Pat Meehan’s work with local police under federal gun laws.  Furthermore, Pat Meehan shut down gun dealers who weren’t playing by the rules, and Pat Meehan’s office did hundreds of straw purchasing prosecutions and informed the public of the substantial penalties that resulted from being involved in straw purchasing. 
 
Pat Meehan has received strong support from the law enforcement community and was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police in Pennsylvania and Delaware County and District Attorneys from across the region.