Antoun on "Honest Politics"

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Antoun on "Honest Politics"
Integrity was never her best subject

Pronouncements issued by the Paxton Herald on honest politics have all the credibility of Yasser Arafat's condemnation of terrorism.

Ed Rendell . . . He Wants To Be Governor . . . But, He’s an Opportunist!

The last fiasco involving Ed Rendell, the candidate for Governor, running against Bob Casey, Jr. reveals clearly that the man is some kind of political opportunist! Rendell evidently doesn’t understand the basics of honest politics!

The political system in the United States is set up to allow for people with different ideas, to register in a particular party, and support a candidate to run for office to represent those political ideals. Rendell ignores that fact!

If you are a registered Republican you should be allowed to vote for the Republican candidate that represents your ideas.

If you are registered Democrat, you should be able to vote for a candidate that best represents your ideas. BUT. . . to switch parties, just for the sake of political ‘razz-matazz’ is what might be termed "political prostitution."

Ed Rendell is asking Republicans to register Democrat for 30 days in order to vote for him. Ed Rendell should be ashamed of himself. This is bad politics!

We hope Bob Casey wins over Rendell . . . big time!

According to Antoun, "If you are registered Democrat, you should be able to vote for a candidate that best represents your ideas."

But what if a candidate running on the Republican primary best "represents your ideas?"

Under Pennsylvania's closed primary system, voters registered as Democrats can't vote for a candidate running as a Republican and vice versa.

The 2002 Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary illustrated the dilemma some voters faced. Of all the candidates, only Ed Rendell running as a Democrat has a pro-choice platform.

What if you're a registered Republican who supports a woman's right to make reproductive decisions?

The way around the closed primary is to switch political parties at least 30 days before the election which qualifies voters to cast ballots in the primary. After the primary, voters can switch back to their party of choice. This has given rise to the term, "30 Day Democrats."

If you care enough to switch parties to cast your vote for a candidate holding views similar to your own, you're a "political prostitute" in Antoun's opinion.

A story published April 17, 2002 in the Patriot-News noted, "A total of 357 Dauphin County voters changed party affiliation between March 4 and April 10, according to county elections and voter registrations director Steven Chiavetta."

According to the Patriot, there's some pretty impressive names listed among the "political prostitutes," including Dauphin County's top judge.

President Judge Joseph H. Kleinfelter and his wife, Saundra, jumped party lines last month, according to records in the Dauphin County Bureau of Registration and Elections.

Kleinfelter, who is registered to vote in West Hanover Twp., said he switched because of his admiration for Rendell, who served as Philadelphia district attorney in the 1980s at the same time Kleinfelter was a deputy prosecutor in Dauphin County.

-- Patriot-News

Other prominent names also appear, including a local attorney who advertises in the Paxton-Herald:

Attorney Herbert "Corky" Goldstein and his wife, Linda, vice president for economic development of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, are among those who have switched for Rendell.

"My wife and I have been lifelong Republicans but we are very interested in this statewide gubernatorial campaign and we want to be able to vote in that primary. Right after the primary we plan to move back to our Republican party," Goldstein said.

Goldstein, a former candidate for the Dauphin County bench, once worked with Rendell in the Philadelphia district attorney’s office.

-- Patriot-News

These people have all made an effort to support the candidate, regardless of political affiliation, who best represents their ideals. We doubt they give a damn what Annette Antoun thinks.

Obviously Antoun also read the Patriot article and got her panties in a bunch. Following publication of the Patriot story her incoherent editorial again railed against party switching.

She excoriated everyone including "Judges, Attorneys and anyone else who switches Parties" to vote in a primary election for the candidate of their choice.

Annette doesn't "get it."

While she decries "interference" and "political fraud," she's practiced it for years.

See the articles on West Hanover Township and her real estate relationship with Henry Young for what we think are textbook examples of interference and political fraud. Of course, our definitions are probably quite different than Antoun's.

We think that anyone who goes to the trouble to switch party affiliations to vote in a primary has demonstrated admirable investment in our political process. These are not the apathetic voters oft decried in editorials.

We don't think Annette has anything worth listening to on the subject of "honest politics." We think she has a lot to learn, but integrity was never her subject.