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GOP PAC Targets Cartwright Over Trucking Bill

Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Lackawanna) is a top target for Republicans in November. While a crowded GOP field fights to face the incumbent Democrat in the Trump-friendly 8th District, a super PAC aims to shape a narrative in the race. 

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC endorsed by House Republican leadership, debuted a new website, crookedcartwright.com. The allegation stems from a piece in the conservative Washington Examiner about a Cartwright bill that would significantly increase the amount of insurance liability coverage required for truck drivers and companies. Cartwright and his wife Marion Munley hold a financial interest in his wife’s family law firm, where she works as an attorney specializing in truck accident lawsuits. 

“Crooked Matt Cartwright was supposed to be looking out for Pennsylvania families, but the only thing Cartwright was looking out for in Congress was ways to grease the wheels of his family’s business interests,” said CLF Spokesman Calvin Moore. “Matt Cartwright got caught abusing his office and our new site, CrookedCartwright.com, will be an ever-present reminder to voters of how Crooked Matt Cartwright put himself over Pennsylvania families.”

Cartwright’s campaign fired back saying that the website and GOP efforts are a sign that they are “putting politics over people” and that safety on his constituents is at the heart of the bill.

“This cheap stunt exposes the whole sham for what it really is – politics over people. Over 4,000 Americans died in 2018 in large truck accidents, and northeastern Pennsylvania is home to two of the most truck-congested highways in America,” said Cartwright Campaign spokesperson, Colleen Gerrity. “I don’t think these Washington, D.C. insiders would find this so funny if they had to drive their families up and down 81 every day. It’s no wonder a dark money-fueled Republican front group would try to smear Congressman Cartwright with a phony ethics complaint – they would try anything because they know he has never, and will never, back down from taking on corporate interests that put profits over the safety of northeast Pennsylvanians.”

The Citizens Voice reports that the group that filed the complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics is the “Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust,” which the paper describes as “a government watchdog group with deep conservative Republican ties.”

The website also includes a graph showing Cartwright’s net worth increasing since being elected to office and videos of him avoiding questions about corruption published by the GOP super PAC. 

Cartwright is one of three Pennsylvania Democrats that the group announced as targets on their initial 2020 list.

6 Responses

  1. I agree. When a truck drifted over and sideswiped our vehicle, we found that trucking companies the nation over are self-insured for accidents under $1 million; and their inhouse risk mgmt departments decline claims within that category with impunity. There is no oversight by state or fed agencies, since they are not considered insurance companies. We called the company out by notifying our TV station, writing letters, and contacting the company covering them for catastrophic cases. We took them to court and won. Most victims are busy and unschooled in what to do, so let their insurers foot the Bill’s for the trucking companies’ bad acts. Luckily, I had just retired and had time to take this on. According to feedback we received, this is common practice amongst trucking firms and they get away with it.

  2. Just another sad attempt to discredit Congressman Cartwright. They tried a few months ago with an actress posing as a constituent, teacher and mother, who falsely accused Cartwright. Then it was exposed the same woman was in eight other ads accusing Democrat candidates across the country of the same ills. The R’s must think everyone here in NEPa have short memories when it comes to spurious campaign attacks.

  3. So a rightwing rag publishes a hatchet-job article about Cartwright, which article was probably ghost-written by a GOP PAC, then the GOP PAC uses it as “proof” to smear Cartwright in election campaign. So crudely hypocritical. The real corruption is the GOP PAC and its propaganda arm. Cartwright is trying to make sure people injured by negligent truckers do not get screwed again by the trucker’s pitiful insurance coverage that leaves the victims holding a worthless jury award. How strange calling that protection of accident victims to be corruption.

    1. So you think the fact that cartwrights wife makes $ from legal cases related to trucking is completely a freakish coincidence?

      1. Rather than worrying about this nonsense, why isn’t this PAC spending its cash publicizing the fact that Moscow Mitch McConnell’s wife works in the Trump administration. This conflict should prevent McConnell from involvement in the impeachment hearings.

      2. Maybe you should worry about the people hurt by big truck crashes instead of the lawyers who hold the truck companies accountable for the injuries they cause.
        Remember, if the injured can’t get fully compensated by those responsible, the costs get shifted to the public safety net system funded by us taxpayers. In other words corporate socialism.

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