Were You Invited To Tim Holden's Big Party Saturday?

Tim, Pennsylvania's own Frackenstein Monster

I'm still laughing that clueless Blue Dog Tim Holden sent out a frantic press release to every media outlet in Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district-- most of whom he was contacting for the first time since less than 30% of the district was part of his former district. In the press release he claimed, among other preposterous paranoid nonsense, that Blue America is a "SuperPac." Actually we're the opposite-- a good government, grassroots, completely independent political action committee whose average donor has given a little less than 45 dollars. As I've said before, Holden is a notorious corporate whore who will do anything for anyone who pays him enough. He takes a fortune from sleazy DC lobbyists-- and was one of the only Democrats who was bribed by Abramoff-- and he's taken $5,875,215 from PACs (and that doesn't count all the cash he's been vacuuming up since December). That's 59% of everything that's been contributed to his campaigns. Isn't that... Super?

Anyway, one of the most notoriously sleazy lobbyists in Washington-- one of the congressional paymasters for AT&T, J. Michael Schweder-- threw Holden a big fundraiser. Schweder first started funneling money into Holden's smarmy career in 2002 but he gives widely-- to anyone he thinks is corruptible-- like the Republican Party of New Jersey, which he gave $1,500 last year. Holden spent Saturday evening raising campaign cash with Schweder at a fundraiser. Consider yourself cleaner if you weren't invited. AT&T has doled out $48,239,446 in bribes to Congress-- most of it to Republicans-- since 1989. And they spent $134,989,336 lobbying Congress in that same time period. And, of course, they've been involved in several controversial incidents involving privacy and pricing. Throughout his career, Holden has accepted $114,800 from PACs controlled by communications and technology companies like AT&T.

After passage of Bush's grotesque legislation, the so-called “Patriot Act,” which Holden supported, AT&T was repeatedly accused of allowing the National Security Agency to tap into circuits carrying customer's phone calls and e-mails. A recent case involving GPS technology in smartphones has also called into question whether AT&T allows the government access to their systems to track the movements of U.S. citizens without legal authority.

In an attempt to seek immunity from violations of federal law, AT&T successfully secured special legislation from its friends in Congress. Tim Holden supported the exception for AT&T. Holden always supports exemptions for corporation who write him big enough checks. It's what he's known for.

As for Schweder-- no one could have been a better fundraiser for someone as corrupt as Holden. Schweder was also a contributor to Mike Veon, Brett Feese, Robert Mellow, John Perzel and Vincent Fumo... all of whom have been convicted of the same kinds of government corruption Holden specializes in-- and each of them either has served time, is serving time or is awaiting sentencing.

Holder likes to style himself "the Dean of the Pennsylvania Delegation." Well, Dean Holden is whistling a happy tune and cashing checks from corporations who have backed corrupt political insiders. Every single one of those checks comes with strings attached-- and Tim "Quid Pro Quo" Holden knows it well. Conservative voters in Berks, Dauphin, Lebanon, and Perry counties may not care about being ripped off by politicians but Holden is about to meet voters in places he's never run in before-- far more enlightened parts of Pennsylvania like Lackawanna. Monroe, Luzerne, and Northampton counties where people are disgusted with this "politics as usual" attitude. This kind of greasy money corrupts and Holden is cozying up to a lobbyist and mega-corporation that routinely backs corrupt politicians.

The Blue America campaign in PA-17 has been about Holden's role as Dr. Frackenstein and his quid pro quos regarding the cash he's taken from fracking-related companies and lobbyists in return for getting the Halliburton Loophole passed. But we wouldn't want anyone to get the impression that that's the only thing wrong with Holden. It's just all our "SuperPAC" could afford. Have you ever contributed to a SuperPAC-- or, I should say, a "SuperPAC." Try it here-- and help us make Pennsylvania one Blue Dog cleaner.


No One Is Accusing Holden Of Blowing Up The Gas Compressor Near Scranton, But...

This wouldn't have happened yesterday if Holden didn't take massive bribes from fracking-related companies to push through the hideous Halliburton Loophole.

The incident in the Lathrop compressor station off Route 29 in Springville Twp. drew emergency responders from nearby counties and shook homes as far as a half-mile from the compressor complex.

...The Lathrop station pressurizes gas from Marcellus Shale wells in the county for transport through pipelines. It was sold to Williams by Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. as part of a deal announced in 2010 that also included a second compressor station and 75 miles of the natural gas drilling company's gathering pipelines.

Something tells me "Concerned Mom" isn't going to be voting for Tim Holden-- or Tom Corbett-- any time soon. And she isn't the only one concerned about Corbett and Holden selling out the state to the frackers. Let the law suits begin!

A group including seven municipalities Thursday sued the state of Pennsylvania over its new law regulating the rapidly growth of natural gas exploration, saying among other things that it unconstitutionally takes away the power to control property from towns and landowners for the benefit of the oil and gas industry.

The approximately 120-page lawsuit was filed in state Commonwealth Court and includes Robinson, Peters, Cecil and Mount Pleasant townships in Washington County; South Fayette Township in Allegheny County; and Nockamixon Township and Yardley Borough in Bucks County.

Among the provisions cited by the lawsuit are requirements that drilling, waste pits and pipelines be allowed in every zoning district, including residential districts, as long as certain buffers are observed.

"As municipalities can expect hundreds of wells, numerous impoundments, miles of pipelines, several compressor and processing plants, all within (their) borders, they will be left to plan around rather than plan for orderly growth," the lawsuit said.

The industry began descending on Pennsylvania in 2008 in earnest to tap into the Marcellus Shale, a natural gas formation deep underground that is considered the nation's largest-known reservoir.

Opponents of the sweeping, six-week-old law say it prevents municipalities from protecting homes or businesses, and possibly even schools or parks, from drilling activity that could damage a community's quality of life and property values.

Several land-use lawyers have said the new law seemed unprecedented for its detail in limiting what a municipality can require when it comes to exploration of the Marcellus Shale. However, none said they viewed it as unconstitutional.

No wonder Dr. Frackenstein flipped out when he saw our billboards!