Tag Archives: Joe Sestak for Senate

PoliticsPA: Obama coming in for Sestak on Sept. 20

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By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

President  Barack Obama will hold a fundraiser for Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Joe Sestak on Sept. 20 in Philadelphia, his office confirmed Friday morning.

It’s the first event Obama will have held for Sestak since the candidate defeated incumbent Democrat Senator Arlen Specter, whom the president supported. Sestak challenged Specter against the wishes of the president, who also held a fundraiser in Philadelphia for Specter before the primary, and the rest of the Democratic Party.

“We’re honored that the President would do an event with Joe during his trip to Pennsylvania,” said spokesman Jonathon Dworkin in a statement. “He and Joe may have had their differences, but they can agree that it is critical to elect a Senator who will put Pennsylvania’s working families first.”

The fundraiser will be one of several events Obama holds in Pennsylvania that day.

Sestak faces Republican U.S. Senate nominee Pat Toomey in November.

PoliticsPA: New DSCC ad hits Toomey on derivatives, Social Security (VIDEO)

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A new ad that begins airing Wednesday from the DSCC portrays Pat Toomey as a champion of Wall Street, not the middle class, and raises the specter of what Democrat’s say is the Republican Senate nominee’s plan to privatize Wall Street.

It’s the second ad run by the DSCC campaign and comes a day after Sestak unveiled his first spot of the general election campaign, which, like the DSCC ad, linked Toomey to Wall Street. The DSCC did not reveal the ad buy or if it would run statewide.

Sestak and Toomey have battled over the Republican’s proposal for Social Security, which he says would give younger people the option to invest in the stock market with regulated accounts. It’s a plan similar to what President George W. Bush tried unsuccessfully to do in this second term, but he denies that it amounts to “privatization,” calling the term a pejorative designed to weaken support for it.

Democrats point to an array of articles published earlier this decade that appear to show Toomey supporting Bush’s plan to change Social Security, which at that time was widely known as “privatizing” it.

A narrator in the ad says of Toomey’s plan, “It would give billions to Wall Street but put your Social Security at risk in the stock market.”

“Privatizing Social Security. Helping Wall Street,” it continues. “Pat Toomey: He’s not for you.”

PoliticsPA: Rasmussen says Toomey up 6; another survey says he’s up 10

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By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Another poll, another lead for Pat Toomey.

But this one, unlike most, at least delivers some good news for Joe Sestak.

A Rasmussen Reports poll unveiled Tuesday shows the Republican U.S. Senate nominee leading his Democratic opponent 45 percent to 39 percent in a survey of likely voters. It’s the latest in a string of polls showing Toomey with a clear-cut advantage over Sestak, with one last week reporting his lead is as high as 9 points.

The survey was conducted on Aug. 30 and sampled 750 “likely voters.” It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

When “leaners,” those who initially say they are undecided but are asked a follow-up question, are included in the survey, Toomey’s lead stays at 6 points — 48 percent to 42 percent. Independent voters favor Toomey by 15 points, 42 percent to 27 percent, while just 68 percent of Democrats support Sestak, according to the poll. Seventy-seven percent of Republicans support Toomey, it says.

If there’s hope for Sestak within the numbers, it’s this: Among those who said the economy was the election’s top issue, Sestak was favored over Toomey 48 percent to 40 percent. Forty-six percent of those responding to the poll rated the economy the top issue.

But Toomey’s favorables remains far better than Sestak’s. The Republican is seen “very favorably” by 22 percent of voters, compared to 12 percent who see him “very unfavorably.” Sestak’s numbers are inverted: 15 percent see him “very favorably” while 21 percent see him “very unfavorably.”

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Update, 2 p.m.: A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday afternoon says Toomey leads Sestak by 10 points, 47 percent to 37 percent. It’s the first time any public poll has showed the Republican leading by double digits.

PoliticsPA: Sestak ad hits Toomey on corporate taxes (VIDEO)

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Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Joe Sestak’s first TV ad criticizes GOP opponent Pat Toomey as “Wall Street’s Congressman,” saying the former Lehigh Valley congressman wants to ease the burden on large corporations while the middle class struggles.

It’s a familiar line of attack from Sestak, who has spent his entire general election tying Toomey to Wall Street, where he once worked. The ad buy is reportedly worth $110,000, according to the Inquirer, and will play in most markets across the state except the largest, in Philadelphia.

Toomey has been on air since July 6 and has also received third-party buys from, among other groups, the Club for Growth and the Chamber of Commerce.  The DSCC went on air on Sestak’s behalf about 10 days ago.

Sestak’s 30-second spot highlights a video clip of Toomey on CNBC advocating that congress eliminate corporate taxes entirely. Pulling a page from the campaign’s famous ad against Specter, which showed the senator admitting that “his change in party will allow me to get re-elected,” the ad repeats Toomey’s suggestion that corporate taxes be eliminated.

“The solution is to eliminate corporate taxes all together,” he said.

The ad frames the Republican as an ally of Wall Street, not the middle class.

“The middle class is struggling, but Toomey thinks it’s oil companies and Wall Street banks who should pay no taxes — zero,” a narrator says.

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Update, 3:15 p.m.:

A spokeswoman for Toomey said Sestak’s negative attack is indicative of the fact he has nothing positive to say about his own candidacy while criticizing the Democrat for taking Toomey’s comment out of context.

“In the 2007 video, Pat was merely trying to explain that consumers ultimately pay for taxes on businesses through higher prices,” said spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik. “Pat agrees with President Obama’s own expert tax panel which proposed cutting the tax on businesses to make U.S. companies more competitive. Pat understands that a zero tax rate on businesses is impractical for a host of reasons, and that’s why he has consistently argued for lowering taxes on businesses to create jobs, and that’s a major difference between Pat and Joe Sestak.

“Pat believes jobs comes from cutting taxes and reducing deficits and Sestak believes jobs come from more Washington spending and a failed stimulus bill,” she said.

UPDATED: Toomey pounces on earmark controversy; Sestak repsonds

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By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Update, 5:00 p.m.:

Sestak’s campaign responded to Toomey Monday by saying the congressman’s office did everything it was supposed to to ensure the earmark request was proper. Heads of non-profit organizations routinely are involved in other for-profit enterprises, a spokesman said, and that shouldn’t disqualify them from receiving earmarks.

“The office did its appropriate due diligence,” said spokeswoman April Mellody, adding that the money in question was never actually appropriated. “If someone misrepresents themselves to the U.S. Congress, that should certainly be addressed.”

Sestak, who supports earmark reform, has been a leading advocate of government transparency while Toomey has refused to reveal his history of earmark requests, she said.

“The fact is Joe Sestak has led the way to transparency and earmark reform,” said the spokeswoman. “If we’re going to talk about earmark reform, then quite frankly Congressman Toomey should stop hiding his own earmark requests.”

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Pat Toomey’s campaign on Monday pounced on a Morning Call story that revealed Democratic Senate nominee Joe Sestak might have delivered a $350,000 earmark to a for-profit company, which is against the rules.

Either Sestak knowingly broke the rules or didn’t do nearly enough research on the earmark request before handing out the money, neither of which is good, the Toomey campaign said.

The Morning Call reported Saturday that Sestak gave the Thomas Paine Foundation, a non-profit organization that advocates for keeping religion out of government,  a $350,000 earmark to develop a prototype for an offshore wind turbine. Although the organization does not appear to have any history developing wind technology, its owner, Drew Devitt, also owns a for-profit energy company, New Way Energy LLC.

The paper reported that Devitt acknowledged the money would go to him — his home address is listed on the earmark request — and could be used for commercial application.

“One of the things Obama did for 2010 was to eliminate for-profit filing for line items, so obviously New Way wasn’t qualified,” Devitt told the Call. “But Thomas Paine wasn’t for-profit, so it was eligible to file for a line item.”

The U.S. House this year barred delivering earmarks for for-profit companies. A Sestak spokesman said the congressman was unaware Devitt also ran a for-profit wind-turbine business.

It’s the second time earmarks have tripped up Sestak in the general election. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in July that Sestak had received more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from companies that received earmarks despite pledging not to accept donations from companies that received the federal money.

The Toomey campaign said it was bad enough Sestak had failed his own earmarks ethics test.

“Now, Sestak is violating House rules by using a non-profit as cover for doling out tax dollars to his pet project,” said Toomey spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik. ”Joe Sestak and the Washington wasteful earmark game are so out of control that you can’t make this stuff up.  It would almost be funny if it wasn’t such a tragic waste of tax dollars.

“Congressman Sestak, please tell Pennsylvanians why it’s okay to break House rules to fund a wind turbine project for an atheist group with our tax dollars,” she said.

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Update, 3:00 p.m.:

State GOP Chairman Rob Gleason held a conference call with reporters Tuesday over the earmark flap, saying that voters deserve to know why Sestak delivered the earmark to a company without any previous history in wind technology.

“The people of Pennsylvania deserve to know the truth,” he said. “Why did Congressman Sestak fight to get funding for this project even though this grouop has no history of working on wind turbines?”

As the Toomey campaign did, Gleason linked the controversy to Sestak’s past earmark issues to characterize him as just another politician.

“For all his talk about being a different type of congressman, the facts simply tell a different story,” he said.

PoliticsPA: Club for Growth goes to bat for old boss Toomey (VIDEO)

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By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Club for Growth, the fiscal conservative advocacy group Pat Toomey once ran earlier this decade, is hitting the airwaves in Pennsylvania in support of its former boss with an ad that criticizes Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Joe Sestak as “very liberal.”

The 30-second spot highlights Sestak’s support of a $300 billion mortgage bailout and a so-called “cap-and-trade” bill. It also criticizes Sestak for supporting for a stimulus bill larger than the $787 billion one approved by Congress in early 2009.

“We can’t afford Joe Sestak’s liberal schemes in the Senate,” a narrator intones.

The criticism echoes the main line of attack against Sestak from the Toomey campaign, which has sought to frame the Democrat as a rubber-stamp for President Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s “extreme liberal agenda.”

The group described the ad a “substantial buy on both broadcast and cable television around the state.” If so, it would be the fourth third-party organization to run ads against Sestak, joining the Chamber of Commerce, Emergency Committee for Israel, and the Karl Rove-backed group American Crossroads. Only one third-party group, J Street, not tied directly to either party has run an ad in support of Sestak, and that was in direct response to the spot from the Emergency Committee for Israel.

The DSCC began airing ads supporting Sestak last week after Toomey’s campaign had been on the air for two months.

But the Club for Growth ad does provide an opening for Sestak and Democrats to link Toomey to his Wall Street past, which has been the focus of their campaign against him so far.

“Wall Street derivatives pioneer Pat Toomey said he stopped working on Wall Street two decades ago, but that hasn’t stopped his Wall Street buddies from rushing to bailout him out today,” said DSCC National Press Secretary Deirdre Murphy, in a statement. “Already on the defense in all corners of Pennsylvania for his deep ties to Wall Street and over his history of pushing for Social Security privatization, it’s fitting that Toomey would turn to those closest to him for a bailout.”

PoliticsPA: F&M poll highlights enthusiasm gap for Democrats

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By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

A new poll released Thursday from Franklin & Marshall College, which reported GOP statewide candidates Tom Corbett and Pat Toomey each possessed a roughly 10-point lead, illustrates the enthusiasm gap plaguing Democrats this year both in Pennsylvania and across the country.

It’s why Toomey, Corbett and a host of GOP congressional candidates appeared poised for success despite running in a state that has 1 million more registered Democrats and has eviscerated most Republican candidates the last two election cycles.

Only 37 percent of Democrats are likely to vote, the poll reports, compared to 45 percent of Republicans. More strikingly, half of those who voted for GOP presidential nominee John McCain in 2008 are likely to vote, it said. That number drops 15 points, to 35 percent, for those who supported President Obama.

The enthusiasm gap’s effect can be seen clearly in the difference between polls on the statewide races that surveyed registered voters with likely voters. GOP gubernatorial nominee Corbett, for instance, leads Democratic opponent Dan Onorato by only 1 point, 29 percent to 28 percent, when all registered voters are considered. But his lead swells by 10 points, 38 percent to 27 percent, when likely voters are considered.

The poll shows the same effect in the Senate race. U.S. Senate nominee Toomey leads Democratic opponent Joe Sestak by 3 points, 31 percent to 28 percent, when the polls surveys registered adults. With likely voters, Toomey’s lead grows by 6 points, 40 percent to 31 percent.

On the generic ballot, Republicans lead Democrats 41 percent to 35 percent among likely voters.

The poll also underscores the status of both Corbett and Toomey as favorites in their respective races. Toomey leads Sestak by 5.5 points in the pollster.com poll average; Corbett leads Onorato by more than 9 points in the same poll average.