League Of Conservation Voters Endorses Matt Cartwright Against Blue Dog Tim Holden

There's less than a week before primary day in Pennsylvania and, according to two consecutive polls, progressive challenger Matt Cartwright is leading reactionary and corrupt Blue Dog Tim Holden. It's the only race in the country where the Democrats have a plausible shot at replacing a dogged ally of Boehner's and Cantor's with a real Democrat. Even in Holden's blood red bastion in the newly redrawn district, conservative Schuylkill Co., way down south and unrelated to the rest of teh bright blue northeast Pennsylvania district, longtime Holden supporters are sick of him, especially Democrats.

Democrats in this Holden stronghold weren’t enthusiastic about re-electing Holden to an 11th term. Democrats such as Vickie Lord, a longtime tour guide at Pottsville’s Yuengling Brewery, knows Holden as the “local boy” who always aired positive advertisements. But the negative ad wars have worn on her, and now she’s not sure for whom she’ll vote in next week’s primary.

“Sometimes people get old and stagnant in their ways,” she said. “I’m not opposed to new ideas, new faces, refreshing things every once in a while. Just because you’re there 20 years doesn’t mean you should be there 20 more. Maybe it’s time for a change.”

And Vickie isn't alone on being turned off to Holden's brutal barrage of vicious negative attacks against Cartwright-- who has waged an entirely positive campaign. Former state Rep. Jim Wansacz, currently Chair of the Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners, is bucking the Democratic Machine and endorsing Cartwright today. And today the local MoveOn.org chapter also came on board for Cartwright. Having persuaded MoveOn nationally to back Cartwright, the local chapter will be engaged in a tremendous Get Out the Vote effort next Tuesday.

As we saw the other day, that great champion of women's rights and warrior against the "Republican" War Against Women, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, gave $2,000 to anti-Choice fanatic/anti-bith control freak Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA) a $2,000 contribution. Debbie, Jr-- Allyson Schwartz-- jumped in with another grand. They could have easily sat it out while lifelong Democrat and pro-Choice progressive Matt Cartwright defeated Holden and made the House Democratic caucus more Democratic by one. But Wasserman Schultz and Allyson Schwartz wanted to prove, just one more time, that they have no principles whatsoever-- and that the battle over women's health is just a convenient cudgel they can wield against their partisan enemies, the Republicans (unless they live in South Florida, in which case they are forgiven).

The League of Conservation Voters, on the other hand, is based on very transparent principles. Their main concern is saving the environment from devastation and destruction. Tim Holden has a long and putrid record of standing with Republicans and the corporations who bribe him-- for devastation and for devastation. Blue America has billboards up all over PA-17 based on the key role Holden played in helping the GOP pass the Halliburton Loophole which allows for fracking. The LCV has taken the battle to the small screen with a massive $230,000 ad buy. You can watch the 30-second ad above.

The LCV didn't mention Lee Fang's report on the latest Holden shenanigans in the effusive endorsement in the PA-17 race. “Matt Cartwright," said LCV Action Fund President Gene Karpinski, "has fought to hold corporate polluters accountable to protect Pennsylvanians from the hazardous chemicals released in natural gas extraction. LCV Action Fund is proud to endorse Matt Cartwright because he understands that the policies needed to grow America’s economy and keep our competitive edge are the same policies that will protect the air we breathe and the water we drink for generations to come.” I think when he reads Fang's report he'll go into orbit-- so would most Americans.

Holden, a member of the pro-corporate Blue Dog caucus, appears to be raising last minute campaign funds using a new bill that will allow agricultural giants in the mid-Atlantic region to continue to dump pollution into the Chesapeake Bay. While Cartwright picks up a number of public interest endorsements, Holden appears to be parlaying his polluter bill into political support.

Rod Snyder recently hosted a fundraising event for Holden in the offices of Tri-State Strategies, a Pennsylvania lobbying and consulting firm. Snyder is the president of the national Democratic club called Young Democrats of America, whose bylaws prohibit providing “official endorsements to any candidate in a contested primary election,” so presumably Snyder hosted the event in his personal, not his YDA, capacity.

But Snyder also happens to be a lobbyist for the National Corn Growers Association. According to the NCGA’s latest disclosure filing, which was submitted to the Senate late last year, Snyder has been working on developing a new Chesapeake Bay bill that would prevent the EPA from using the Clean Water Act to create a multi-state solution for dealing with industrial farm run-off. The issue has been quite contentious, with many big ag interests working to undercut the EPA. Snyder has not responded to our request for comment.

And in March, Holden came to the rescue of industrial farm interests with a bill he introduced along with Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). Holden’s bill would prevent the EPA “from implementing the long-awaited, court-ordered Chesapeake Bay restoration plan known as the Chesapeake TMDL (total maximum daily load).” The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Doug Siglin says Holden’s bill would “undermine the pollution limits currently in place, derail clean-up efforts, and undercut the federal government’s role in making sure that all Americans have access to clean, swimmable, fishable waters.”

Holden’s bill bailing out industrial farm operations hasn’t escaped noticed from big lobbyists. Republic Report reviewed recently filed FEC disclosures and noticed an interesting pattern:

– On March 7, Holden introduced his bill to kill EPA efforts to regulate cross-state industrial farm pollution into the Chesapeake Bay.

– On March 12, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives gave Holden $1,000.

– On March 26, the National Turkey Federation PAC gave Holden $2,000 (in addition to $1,000 earlier this cycle).

– On March 26, the Cotton Growers PAC gave Holden $1,000.

– On March 26, Dean Foods Company PAC gave Holden $2,500 (in addition to $2,000 already given to Holden this cycle).

– On March 30, the National Chicken Council PAC gave Holden $2,000 (in addition to $1,000 given to Holden earlier in the cycle).

– On March 30, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association gave Holden $2,000.

– On April 11, the National Corn Growers PAC gave Holden $2,500.

– On April 13, the pork industry’s Pork PAC gave Holden $3,000.

Meanwhile, the American Postal Workers Union based in Scranton (Local 101) has no choice but to stick to its principles-- the principle of survival in particular. Existentially threatened by conservatives who want to shut down the post office, the postal workers aren't playing the DC Dems' little footsie game with conservatives who call themselves Democrats. Their decision to endorse Matt Cartwright over Holden came after a unanimous vote of the local membership. As Kevin Gallagher, President of Local 101, explained, “We need someone who will fight for our Area and middle class families and to keep decent paying jobs in our Area... including the Scranton mail procession plant.”