By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Nearly a week of hand-to-hand combat between Joe Sestak’s and Pat Toomey’s campaigns reached a crescendo Monday when the Democrat’s campaign director accused Toomey of suggesting his time working on Wall Street was more important than Sestak’s career in the Navy.

The Toomey campaign shot back that the criticism was untrue and amounted to taking the “low road” after the former Republican congressman had defended Sestak’s military record from attacks by his then-opponent U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.

The last week’s back-and-forth hasn’t attracted an overflow of media attention, much less voter attention, but nonetheless is indicative of a battle already steeped in the daily sniping between campaigns more commonly seen in October.

Rich Sestak, Joe Sestak’s brother and campaign director, sent an e-mail to supporters Monday morning after Toomey and his campaign last week pointed out the Democratic congressman had never worked in the private sector. The criticism was tantamount to suggesting Sestak’s career in the Navy, where he was an admiral, wasn’t as important as Toomey’s experience in the business world, according to Rich Sestak.

“I am offended by the Toomey campaign’s assertion that fighting on behalf of our country in the United States Navy is less important than making money on Wall Street,” he wrote in the e-mail. “Joe was born and raised in a working Pennsylvania family. He is proud of his 31 years serving his country in the US Navy.

“He’s proud that his service, and that of millions of other PA veterans and active duty military personnel, has helped protect our way of life and allow people like Pat Toomey to make a good living on Wall Street,” he said.

The statement brought a sharp rebuke from Toomey’s campaign, which compared the tactic to one used by Specter in his primary against Sestak. The incumbent senator had vigorously pursued records that could have explained the circumstances behind Sestak becoming a two-star admiral after previously holding three stars, which Sestak had said was akin to questioning his military service.

A spokeswoman for Toomey pointed out that during the primary, the Republican had asked Specter to stop his attacks on Sestak’s record.

“When Arlen Specter unfairly attacked Joe Sestak’s career in the military, Pat Toomey immediately rose to Sestak’s defense,” said Toomey spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik. “It’s unfortunate that Congressman Sestak is now taking the same political low road, unfairly attacking Pat Toomey’s career in business. Personal attacks of this kind have no place in this race.

“But if Sestak wants a discussion about how to create jobs, it is relevant to point out that Pat Toomey has experience creating small business jobs in Pennsylvania and Joe Sestak has none,” she added.

The flap follows another skirmish at the end of last week, when the campaign argued over Toomey’s history as a small-business owner. The Sestak campaign has contended that the Republican was never involved in day-to-day operations of a set of bars he owned in the Lehigh Valley and Lancaster and let “others do the work,” part of its strategy to paint Toomey as a Wall Street shill out of touch with most Pennsylvanians’ concerns.

The Toomey campaign shot back that Sestak would understand Toomey’s role with the small businesses “if he had spent even one day working in a small business”