There’s a foul stench rising from PA-7 this week. Democrats behind Bryan Lentz, the man running behind the better-known Pat Meehan in this southeastern district, have helped third-party candidate and “birther” sympathizer Jim Schneller get on the ballot.
From Philly.com:
The circulators of [Jim] Schneller’s third-party nominating papers, which he filed Monday in Harrisburg, are practically a who’s-who of Delaware County Democrats. They include:
* Swarthmore Democratic Party leader Colleen Guiney, whom Lentz has previously described as “the hardest worker on my campaign.”
* Richard Cairns, Lentz’s neighbor, who helped clear the Democratic primary field for Lentz by challenging the nominating petitions filed by two other candidates.
* Abu Rahman, president of the Delco Asian American Democratic Association; Julie Klein, a Democrat who has helped raise money for Lentz, and Arthur Manos, a Democratic union representative with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 152, who has supported Lentz.
The Lentz campaign has refused to confirm or deny if it played a role in placing Schneller on the ballot. Schneller, 54, of Wayne, who is running as the American Congress Party candidate, would likely siphon conservative votes from Meehan in a nationally watched race that could be close.
Democrat Bryan Lentz refused to comment when asked earlier today, saying, “questions about the tea party campaign should be directed to the tea party candidate.”
As Jim Geraghty at NRO’s Campaign Spot posted from Politico this morning, Schneller “once filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania demanding that President Obama present his birth certificate.”
Schneller, for his part, denied any knowledge of help from Democrats in obtaining signatures to qualify for the ballot, asserting, “All I know is the people who turned in petitions for me were exuberant about my platform”
But that’s the point: The Democrats supporting Lentz who helped Schneller get his signatures would be exuberant about any third party that could take votes from Meehan in what will surely be a red-hot race in November.
The Democrats behind Bryan “Know Nothing” Lentz have proven a willingness to engage in ethically questionable behavior in an effort to hold on to Joe Sestak’s Congressional seat. Jim Schneller, at best, is displaying an incredible capacity for gullibility.