By Matt Snyder
Herald Staff Writer
MERCER COUNTY March 04, 2010 09:36 pm
A local Republican primary candidate for Congress is calling for U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, Erie, D-3rd District, to return $14,000 of campaign money he says is “tainted.”
The money was donated by top Democrat U.S. Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York. Mrs. Dahlkemper, though, pointed out Rangel’s donation came from his war chest, which isn’t a subject of the ethics inquiries hailing down on Rangel.
But Rangel is ethically radioactive, and Mrs. Dahlkemper should give back the cash, said a campaign spokesman for Paul Huber, a Meadville businessman who is among a half dozen Republicans competing to take Mrs. Dahlkemper on in the fall.
Huber’s spokesman, Danny O'Driscoll, said that 28 other Democrats have given Rangel’s money back or donated it to charity, turning in a total of $400,000 already.
The National Republican Campaign Committee has been hitting Democrats on the subject this week, seeking an edge in a politically charged midterm that political prognosticators are saying could hold heavy Democratic losses.
Mrs. Dahlkemper sent a release in the matter, citing statements from non-partisan watchdog groups like Common Cause and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who said Rangel’s war chest isn’t tainted.
Unless the money in Rangel’s war chest is ill-gotten gains, said a Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics spokeswoman, there’s no ethical lapse in keeping it. She called the Republican dig “silly.”
O'Driscoll also said Mrs. Dahlkemper made a similar call to former U.S. Rep. Phil English during her campaign against him in 2008 – she asked English to surrender $200,000 in money from Big Oil.
At the time, Mrs. Dahlkemper accused English of taking money from Big Oil at the expense of the interests of Pennsylvanian families.
Besides Huber, there are five other announced candidates running for the Republican nod this May: Steven M. Fisher, 52, Cochranton, a health insurance salesman; Ed Franz, 48, a Conneautville hourly worker at General Electric in Erie; Clayton W. Grabb, 47, Butler, a pharmaceutical salesman; Mike Kelly, 61, Butler, a car dealership owner; and Dr. Martha Moore, 52, a Sandy Lake family doctor.
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