Andy Warren Challenges Murphy's Signatures in 8th District.

[VonDoomPhd]

On a positive note, Warren's political career is now officially fucking over.
Forever.

I believe the challenge will fail.
Murphy has over 2000 signatures.
Probably around 500 will be thrown out on technicalities (I think that's the equation: for every thousand expect 250 to be invalid.)


More on this mind-bending solecism as it develops...

[LynneSin]

1. What the hell is this all about

And isn't Lois Murphey (an amazing woman) running in the 6th? The 8th is my old district up in Bucks County

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. Patrick Murphy is running in the 8th

http://www.murphy06.com

[mrgorth]

2. What a piece of shit this guy is

I will officially make sure that this asshole doesn't speak to either of my organizations.

[VonDoomPhd]

3. Update

The challenge itself was brought by one Jane Faust. Jane is a disgraced Bensalem Twp. committee person (Republican) that was herself accused and convicted of forging signatures on her nominating petition. Mind you, she only had to get 15 signatures. Of those fifteen she forged 5.
(here is a link to the appropriate court documents: http://www.courts.state.pa.us/OpPosting/Cwealth/opinions/1197/ps0klgtu.wp5.)

The attorney representing her in this challenge is one Larry Otter.
Otter is a well-known Andy Warren partisan/operator as well as being an all around busy-body. Up until a few days ago he was representing the Coalition For Voter Integrity in their suit against the state. When CFVI dropped Otter in favor of a New Mexico lawyer with experience in such cases, Otter became furious and said, "Don't you know who I am!? I'm the guy that's going to take down Patrick Murphy!"
My source is impeccable and he/she insists those were his exact words.

[mrgorth]

5. I had to hear

a Warren partisan preach at a meeting last night about how much better of a chance Warren had against Fitz. Does this shit happen every election season?

[JPZenger]

6. 2 Types of Challenges

If a candidate did not get a sufficient number of registered voters of their party to sign their petition, that is fair game. However, too many of these challenges involve the other type - the extreme technicalities. They try to throw out signatures because of a missing middle initial or an incomplete address, etc. Those people should be shot because they are interfering with the democratic process.

[bleedingheart]

7. This is why you need to get double the signatures required or more

and why it is immensely important to find out who the actual registered Dems are in your area. I use my street sheets to get signatures. Otherwise I am wasting my time...

People will sign those petitions when they aren't registered because they are ashamed they are not...

I typically have a good and reliable person do the first signature on each sheet...that way people can see how it should be done.

[VonDoomPhd]

8. This is the second type of challenge.

Murphy and his people had street sheets and were pounding the pavement almost to the second the sheets had to be dropped off in Harrisburg.

Singatures will be attacked because his campaign manager, although a registered Dem in Bucks County, had moved away before moving back into the area and never changed his registration....I know. It makes no sense.
Signatures will also be attacked because a few circulators may not have been registered Dems when they garnered signatures.
And, of course, signatures will be attacked because of missing initials, incomplete addresses and people writing down their city when it should be the township (even though it says City, Boro or Twp. on the petitions themselves.)
Larry Otter is tenacious and thorough. He is the kind of person you want on your side.
Why he feels a need to act for the letter of the law for his buddy Warren instead of the spirit of Democracy is beyond me.

Murphy collected over 2000 signatures, by the bye.
I still doubt that over half will be thrown out.

[mrgorth]

9. Doom

I'm being told by a Warren volunteer that Warren is not involved at all with the challenge. Is there anyway to know for sure that Otter is acting on Warren's behalf?

[JPZenger]

10. Pigeonshit

Who else but Warren would be motivated enough to hire an expensive attorney to throw someone off the ballot?

Remember Warren was a lifelong Republican until last year. He is trying to make sure that only two Republicans are allowed on the ballot, as opposed to a Republican and a Democrat.

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. So you are saying that Andy Warren, who served for 16 years as

a Democrat on the county Commission, is actually a Republican? :shrug:

[VonDoomPhd]

13. GOOD NEWS.

Just got off the phone with the branch of Murphy06 that is reading over the challenges.
MUPRHY HAS ENOUGH SIGNATURES.
There are 529 individual challenges.
Murphy has a hair above 2200.

[JPZenger]

14. Wrong - He was a Republican as County Commissioner

I just checked my facts in the official Pennsylvania Manual for 1995. Warren was a Republican as a Bucks County Commissioner. Here's more:
----

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/3/17/92128/4451

"Murphy's primary opponent is Andy Warren: a lifelong Republican who suddenly had a change of heart and became a Democrat when the local Republican bosses passed him over for a Congressional Seat and a Commissioners job. This is isn't speculation or insinuation. This is a fact. Warren, in fact, even admitted that if he ran for office on the local level he would still be a Republican.

And I guess it appears as if a lifetime of Republican dirty tricks dies hard. Over the past few weeks, the Warren campaign has been shamelessly and desperately attacking Patrick Murphy, most notably for not spending enough time in the district. In case you were wondering where Patrick was Mr. Warren - he was serving our Country in IRAQ!

...Here is the last straw. It appears that Andy Warren has enlisted the help of a former Republican and a convicted felon to try and get Patrick kicked off the ballot: Murphy's petition challenger is Jane Faust, a Democratic voter from Bensalem, Otter said. Otter confirmed that Faust is the same former Republican committeewoman convicted in 1996 of forging signatures and consequently barred from holding elected office...Andy Warren is a guy who got blasted for giving his girlfriend-staffer a 27% raise while a county commissioner, and a guy who got busted for trying to have the taxpayers buy him a car and a vacation to Israel..."

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. Thank you for clearing that up!

So he isn't a Democrat for ideological purposes, only due to oppotunity.

[VonDoomPhd]

16. If you get a chance...

You should read the court documents regarding her case.

She needed a minimum of 15 signatures.
She got exactly 15 signatures.
5 of which she forged.

:)

[JPZenger]

18. Challenger from a Crime Family

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-04232005-480011.html

It seems that Ms. Faust, the challenger of Murphy's petitions, comes from a crime-ridden family. The above link is to a story about her son, who was already on parole when these charges were filed. There also was a PA. court case about Harry S. Faust Jr. driving at a very high rate of speed who was trying to beat a conviction on a technicality. I think that also was her son.

[VonDoomPhd]

12. Warren's professed ignorance.

Warren didn't have to hire Larry Otter. Larry volunteered to represent Jane Faust in this challenge for two reasons.
1.) Otter loves challenging signatures. It's a hobby of his.
2.) Otter and Warren are longtime buddies along with Tom Lingenfelter. In late January and throughout February when Viskovich was still in the race and I had opportunity to spend a great deal of time in upper Bucks at varying functions, Otter was usually there as well. And of course before and after the candidates did their song and dance, Otter was always chatting it up with Warren. More to the point, Otter has never declared himself to be anyone but a Warren supporter. In fact, in late November (Warren declared on Jan. 5), this nugget of information was given Viskovich by Otter regarding the 8th district race: "Warren's got it locked up. He's the front-runner." Viskovich responded with, "But he's not even running" to which Otter could only make a wry smile. (For the record, I worked on the Viskovich campaign and the run-up to it from October to the endorsement meeting. I was senior advisor on policy and campaign strategy.)

Finally, Warren has not decried the challenging of signatures. I know for a fact that parties have contacted him and accused him of orchestrating this. He denies it and acts shocked. The question is then put to him, "Well, if you're so shocked you should hold a press release and say so" and then there is silence...

I am trying to establish a Warren/Faust connection as we speak. The closest I can come up with now is a document that details a meeting between a citizens group and the Turnpike/95 interchange project group. Included in this group are members of Penndot. Problem is, I know none of the names nor what they are doing now. Needle in haystack shit.
Here's the link if any of you can dig around (Warren was a regional supervisor at Penndot from 1995 to 2005.)

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:YYURuXdkOXMJ:www.paturnpikei95.com/PDFs/CAC23-summary.pdf++%22jane+faust%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=117&client=firefox-a

I think Murphy is doing the right thing by staying above the fray.
Still, it's times like these that I wish Viskovich was still in the race just to see him take Andy's teeth to the curb and step on the back of his head (metaphorically, of course.)

[JPZenger]

17. That particular connection seems weak

I'd love to see a connection between Warren and Faust. But I think the link you provided is a dead end. It simply means Faust was appointed by Bensalem Township to an advisory committee on a project about how to design a PennDOT project.

[JPZenger]

19. Statement from Murphy's Campaign Manager

This posting was made on liberalblogspot:

"This is Josh Nanberg, Patrick's Campaign Manager.

I don't generally comment on the blogs (since it makes me a bit of a lightning rod), but just want to clear things up.

On March 7, I delivered to Harrisburg 2,211 signatures, more than twice the 1,000 that Patrick needed to put his name on the ballot. As with all of these things, there is an error rate to be expected and, knowing that Andy had Larry Otter in his corner, we wanted to have as large a cushion as possible. You see, Larry Otter is known for challenging people's petitions. It's his hobby.

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there is a 7 day challenge period in which a qualified elector (so in this case, a Democrat from the 8th Congressional District) may challenge any candidate's signatures. Generally, this is only done if there are serious problems with the petitions and a reasonable chance that the challenge will result in a candidate not appearing on the ballot.

In this case, the challenge was just malicious.

In order to have Patrick Murphy's name removed from the ballot, Mr. Otter (who is acting as attorney for Jane Faust, the petitioner) will have to prove in a court of law that more than 1,200 individual signatures are invalid.

This will not happen.

The Warren camp sees the writing on the wall. They know that they can't win if there's anybody else on the ballot. So this is where they're putting their resources.

The actual petitioner, the woman who is so offended by our campaign's signatures, is Jane Faust.

Jane Faust is a convicted criminal.

Jane Faust was convicted of voter fraud.

Jane Faust, when running for REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE WOMAN in 1996 falsified her petitions.

Jane Faust was sentenced to 4 years disenfranchisement, one year probation, and is forever prohited from holding an office of trust or profit (including Committee person) in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

She has also been charged more recently with assaulting a police officer, but that's neither here nor there.

This is who the Warren camp chose as the person to represent them in making the case against Patrick Murphy.

As Andy likes to say, it's lunacy.

As things stand now, we will be required to appear in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg on March 30 to answer the challenge. At this point, the Warren camp will have accomplished their goal: They will have forced us to waste precious resources--time and money--in order to defend what is, at best, a frivolous law suit.

The attorney that we've retained is very good, but not cheap...and this certainly wasn't in the budget for the campaign. I highly doubt that it's coincidental that they did this just as another fundraising quarter was coming to a close (meaning that when the serious political followers and donors look to see who's got the money to be considered a "top tier" candidate, we'll have a disadvantage).

Let me be clear. This suit will not deter us. If the Warren camp's intention is to question our character, bring it on.

If their intention is to make us look incompetent, bring it on.

If their intention is to get us out of the race, by hook or with a crook, bring it on.

We have enough signatures. We have enough support (at the recent endorsement meeting, we beat Andy by more than a 2-1 margin for the endorsement). And we are ready to take on Mike Fitzpatrick in November and return the district to Democratic control.

Thanks for all of your support,

Josh"

[JPZenger]

20. Lawyer Tried Same Thing in 2004 in the 8th District

http://www.northeasttimes.com/2004/0311/campaign.html

The exact same thing was tried by Otter in 2004. They got a Republican to switch parties to run as a Democrat in the 8th District. Then Otter filed a challenge to try to knock the real Democratic candidate off the ballot.

"Tom Lingenfelter, a Democrat running in the 8th Congressional District, is challenging the petitions of his primary opponent, Ginny Schrader.
A hearing is scheduled in front of Commonwealth Court on Thursday, March 11. Schrader turned in 1,287 petitions.
Lingenfelter, a historical documents and manuscripts dealer from Doylestown, is running for the seat for the fourth time. The candidate switched to the Democratic Party in order to face Greenwood in the general election.
According to counts by Lingenfelter and his attorney, Larry Otter, there were no more than 217 people, including an infant.
Lingenfelter hopes to knock Schrader off the ballot for insufficient signatures. Lingenfelter, who is pro-life and opposes big government spending, thinks he’d be the stronger Democrat to challenge Greenwood."

Otter also has been making a nice living by sueing muncipalities across the country for limiting political signs. The main limit that is challenged is that political signs cannot be posted more than so many days before the election. He then makes each municipality pay him a nice sum of cash.

[mrgorth]

21. This race

is driving a wedge through the democratic community in Bucks. It makes me sick.

[Freddie Stubbs]

22. So is this Warren guy actually getting

a significant amount of Democratic support? :shrug:

[mrgorth]

23. Maybe, like, a 3rd

but it's ugly. The 2 sides don't like each other. It's not healthy for the party. An older man in my local dem group has resorted to insulting me in e-mail because I won't let him carp on about how the Bucks County endorsement was a mistake.

[VonDoomPhd]

24. Yeah. The mud is flying.

What I find remarkable is how all the real "lefty" Dems are piling on Murphy and attacking him for not being a true anti-war candidate and are then by default supporting Warren who couldn't give a straight answer on Iraq much less point it out on a map. The other faction of lefties bemoan the fact that neither Warren nor Murphy are to their liking as neither is a "true progressive." My response to them has been somewhat laden with venom as these are the same people that had an opportunity to actually do something for my previous guy (Viskovich) before the endorsement meeting. Very good on lip-service, but god forbid you ask them to do some actual work. These are the same folks that now call Viskovich a traitor because he's assisting Murphy's campaign however he can.
The only goal is to put a democrat in the 8th district seat.
Unfortunately, only a handful of people seem to get this.

The rest of them seem to believe this a prime opportunity to flex petty muscles and engage in the time-honored practice of self-aggrandization.

I said it before, I'll say it again: The only positive in all this is that Andy Warren's political career is over.

It is infuriating.

[mrgorth]

25. Look at this crap

On Polman's blog:
http://dickpolman.blogspot.com/2006/03/not-so-fast-for-fightin-dems.html#links

They're trying to act like Murphy is a DC dem and has no grassroots support now.:eyes:

[VonDoomPhd]

26. Judge To Rule On Murphy Today

The ruling will either vindicate Murphy or knock him off the ballot altogether.
This is not about individual signatures, apparently, this is about the candidate's affidavit.

We'll see...

[VonDoomPhd]

27. MURPHY BEATS THE RAP!!

The case was thrown out of court on a technicality.
Poor Larry.
Live by the sword, die by the sword.

[JPZenger]

28. Larry's Client Got Thrown off the Ballot

I hope Attorney Larry Otter works on contingency. He attacked Murphy's right to run on a technicality and Otter lost on a technicality. Otter was also working for a GOP challenger in Dauphin County against an attempt by the GOP incumbent to thrown the challenger off the ballot. Otter lost and that challenger is off the ballot on a technicality