I felt very leery when an investors' group headed by longtime Republican activist Brian Tierney bought the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News in the hand-off from Knight-Ridder to McClatchy Newspapers to Tierney's Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C last spring. Over the years, Tierney has been a conservative talking head on local news programs, a contributor to Republican campaigns, and a PR guy known for bullying techniques when defending his clients against the media.
When he took over the newspapers, he vowed that there would be no interference in the editorial side from him or his partners. Since then, I've been cautiously pleased by the Inquirer news coverage, which has been often withering in covering Iraq, and not shied away from all the unfolding Republican scandals.
And I'm pleasantly surprised to see that most of the endorsements announced so far have been for our side. More on the flip...
To learn more about Tierney, a good starting place is
this article in the Philadelphia Weekly
In the Pennsylvania Senate race, the paper gave the nod to Bob Casey over Rick Santorum, calling Casey "clearly superior." They were pretty harsh on Santorum:
Santorum, whose primary residence is in Virginia, exploited a Pennsylvania law by enrolling five of his children in classes at a Pennsylvania cyber school. It cost the Penn Hills, Pa., school district, where Santorum owns a smaller home that he visits infrequently, tens of thousands of dollars before local officials cried foul....He bears responsibility for mixing the toxic elixir that poisoned the Republican-led Congress with lobbying scandals. Santorum led a relentless, heavy-handed effort to install only Republicans in top lobbying jobs....A Philadelphia charity founded by Santorum has blurred the lines between charitable giving, federal grants and political campaign operations....Santorum often squanders his capacity to represent all citizens by espousing divisive views. He linked a priest sex-abuse scandal to Boston liberalism; scolded moms for working if they don't need to; and seemed to equate homosexuality with "man on dog" sex....Santorum supports the war in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other glaring mistakes of the Bush presidency. He talks as if he would be first in line to vote for military action against Iran....Santorum was head salesman for Bush's wrong-headed plan to privatize Social Security. He tolerates huge budget deficits.
In the New Jersey Senate race, the Inquirer went for Robert Menendez, calling it a close call between two good choices. The edge seemed to come out in this paragraph:
Both candidates have solid environmental records and energy policies. Fiscally, both favor balanced budgets, but only Menendez realizes that this means rolling back tax breaks for America's wealthiest. Kean would lock in those tax cuts. Menendez has been a consistent critic of the conduct of the Iraq war; Kean's cries for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign come a little late. Menendez is much more rational than Kean on immigration reform.
In PA-06, the nod went to Lois Murphy over Jim Gerlach, once again calling it a close call between two good choices. They criticize both for overly negative campaigns, praise Gerlach for trying to be a voice of moderation in the Republican Party, but ultimately give it to Murphy:
Murphy smartly favors pay-as-you-go budgets, and a revival of government's proper regulatory role. Gerlach wrongly wants the Bush tax cuts made permanent. Both support progressive energy policy. Murphy's big edge is that her party's agendas will usually be in sync with this moderate district. Gerlach often hasn't been so lucky.
In PA-07, the nod went to
Joe Sestak, though called it a weak choice between two disappointing candidates. Some quotes:
The Justice Department is investigating whether Weldon used his position to help his daughter's lobbying/consulting firm. Another daughter was hired by a defense contractor after Weldon helped the company to get a federal contract. This smells as bad as it looks.
You expect admirals to have integrity and leadership. Sestak seems to. But he stumbled badly during an Inquirer debate, belittling Weldon's work with "bubbas" in the district.
Weldon is an expert on Russia and North Korea. But he can undercut his credibility with loose-cannon behavior, such as flogging his "Able Danger" theory of the Pentagon's failure to stop 9/11....Unable to defend the war in Iraq any longer, Weldon now wants the generals to decide when to bring troops home. His concern comes late. Sestak rightly believes the Iraq war is a "tragic misadventure" and wants troops withdrawn by the end of 2007.
In PA-13, they give a "clearly superior" nod to Dem incumbent Allyson Schwartz over Republican Raj Bhakta.
The disappointment comes with the PA-08 endorsement of Mike Fitzpatrick over Patrick Murphy, though they do call it a close call between two good choices. Here are their reasons for going with the Republican:
Fitzpatrick's avowed aim to remain a moderate in the Republican caucus is convincing, and he backs it up by earning strong support from land-conservation voters and labor and, of late, by calling for a new Iraq strategy. As a former Bucks County official, he has experience working with communities on regional issues such as flooding, transit and economic development. An interest in health-care reform and Internet safety are pluses.
No endorsement yet on the Ed Rendell-Lynn Swann gubernatorial race.