“Which one would you like?” Wenger unflappably replied. Brubaker suggested the left one.


“I thought you’d want to be on the right!” Wenger cracked. Brubaker took off his own shoe and held both up, side by side.


“I would like you to understand that they’re two different shoes,” he told about 125 people crowded into the Eicher Arts Center in Ephrata.


So if Brubaker succeeds in replacing Wenger in the 36th state Senate district, he won’t be a copy of the original. “Because the shoes are not the same,” Brubaker explained.


“His are bigger! His have a better shine on them!”


Brubaker and Wenger, the retiring 30-year veteran, stood side by side at the Wednesday fund-raiser, which brought about $6,000 into Brubaker’s campaign for the Republican nomination on May 16.


But Brubaker will need more than that to win, especially since his opponent is Heidi Wheaton.


Wheaton, an East Hempfield Township supervisor, has raised the stakes in the 36th primary by investing heavily in early radio, TV and billboards.


The tactic raised Republican eyebrows, but the point is to raise Wheaton’s name recognition in the district, which stretches across northern Lancaster County into Chester County.


Brubaker has the party endorsement, and Wenger’s backing, both of which will be critical.


At the fund-raiser, though, and at other GOP events, Brubaker has told audiences that his campaign will need more money for radio and TV, in response to Wheaton’s aggressive media buys.


“Ninety-two percent of elections in Pennsylvania are won by the person who spends the most money,” Brubaker said. “I’m offended by that. ... I think we need campaign finance reform.”


In the absence of reform, Brubaker will have to return fire. “This campaign will not spend the most,” he said. Instead, he intends to raise enough money to be competitive and to run a “fiscally smart campaign.”


Party people were hoping that they’d avoided an expensive brawl in the primary after Brubaker won the GOP endorsement in February.


Wheaton had other ideas. Republicans speculate she is sinking anywhere from $300,000 to $400,000 into the campaign.


Jim Hughes, a spokesman for Wheaton, scoffed at those numbers as inflated: “That would be a ton.”


Still, Wheaton, a businesswoman, isn’t skimping. Her commercials run regularly on WGAL-TV’s news. Her SUV is a rolling billboard.


One of her stationary billboards on Route 283 got unwanted attention last weekend, when someone vandalized it. She is bringing former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, a conservative darling, to town April 18 for a $35-per-ticket fund-raiser at 6:30 p.m. at Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Hughes added, “Keyes won’t be the biggest name we have.”


Brubaker is responding with fund-raisers of his own, including one on Tuesday, and by rolling out 3,000 yard signs and a first mailing of 35,000 pieces. He has a campaign office in Lititz and a full-time campaign manager, Andrew Heath.


Neither his campaign nor Wheaton provided a campaign finance report for review last week. The reports are not yet posted on the state elections bureau’s Web site.


Wenger’s report for Jan. 1 through March 27 shows that he gave Brubaker $750 of his $95,425 campaign treasury. Last week, Brubaker issued a six-point “integrity pledge,” saying he would never vote to raise his own pay or pension, would never take a taxpayer-paid trip outside the state, would not accept a taxpayer-funded car or take “per diem” pay for traveling to Harrisburg and would be fully accountable to voters by maintaining reports of his public expenses at his district office.


“No constituent will be denied free and easy access to view how their tax dollars are being spent,” he said in a statement.


Brubaker responded Wednesday to some murmuring in the GOP that his campaign hadn’t been aggressive enough in the early going: “The first part of this campaign was to listen. If there’s any criticism of this campaign,” the listening to voters was important.


Later, he noted, “I’m not in it to be a headline guy.” At the fund-raiser, he also fleshed out his platform, calling for progress on property tax reform, lower business taxes, prison reform — he toured prisons on Tuesday with the reform group Justice & Mercy — and “open and accountable” state government.


“I’m not into raising taxes,” he said, and described himself as pro-life and pro-Second Amendment.


He noted that with estimates that 14,000 people will vote in the primary, he needs 7,000 to 8,000 to win.


“I’m positive that in your opinion, I’ll make a few bad votes,” he said. “I expect you to hold me accountable. “... I believe I’ll need to prove myself in office every day.”


— The Democrats’ candidate in the 36th, Jason Leisey, last week condemned the billboard vandalism and said that while he and Wheaton might disagree on the definition, “In this case I think we can agree that those Lancaster County values include a belief that the political process should be about finding common ground while discussing our differences in a civilized manner. Graffiti does not qualify as a respectful way of expressing our differences of opinion.”


Leisey’s campaign manager, Robert Spicer, called on Brubaker to join Leisey “in denouncing this act and pledging to run a clean campaign.”


— Wheaton’s Web site, www.lancastervalues.com, last week was ranked third best among state Senate campaigns by Lancaster County’s own Ben Donahower of the Keystone Campaigns blog.


— Wengerism of the week, from the Brubaker reception: “Everybody that’s here is good for at least 10 votes, and that doesn’t mean you vote 10 times!”


He also told your columnist after the speeches that he was glad he didn’t have holes in his socks that night.





97th District




Endorsed Republican John Bear last week renewed his call for incumbent Roy Baldwin to release to the public the amount of tax dollars spent by the House GOP on a series of phone calls, mailings and television commercials that Bear said were used to bolster Baldwin’s candidacy.


Bear said he had received no response from Baldwin to his public statement or to a certified-mail letter.


“Roy Baldwin claims to be a supporter of reforms that will make the workings of the legislative process more open to us. But he won’t tell us how much you and I are paying to help him keep his job as state representative. That is wrong,” Bear said.


Baldwin said Saturday that he had turned the letter over to Steve Miskin, an aide to House Majority Leader Sam Smith, for a response.


Earlier, Baldwin had been the beneficiary of the Legislative Phone Program, in which the state House GOP caucus deployed phone banks to contact 97th District constituents to ask their opinion on issues and whether Baldwin could help them with anything.


Incumbents like Baldwin, who was spurned for endorsement this year partly for his support of the now-repealed pay raise and partly because of hard feelings between him and some Republican committee members, also are featured in TV spots financed by the caucus.


Bear noted that earlier press reports showed Baldwin was collecting more than $100,000 a year in salary and perks. “Roy is already costing taxpayers more than nearly every other state representative from Lancaster County,” Bear said.


If he’s elected, Bear said, “I want to assure voters that if they honor me with their vote — not one dime of their tax dollars will ever be used for phone calls, direct mail and television commercials to prop up a campaign.”


Bear will be the guest of honor at a reception hosted by Marilyn Berger April 26 at Bent Creek Country Club. The reception is from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tickets are $250 per person or $300 per couple. For information, call 725-6663.





100th District




With Republicans still speculating on whether the state Ethics Commission will begin to look into allegations that state Rep. Gib C. Armstrong’s legislative staff did campaign work on the job, Armstrong’s challenger issued a statement last week saying he had nothing to do with the charges.


Three ex-employees in Armstrong’s Quarryville office leveled the allegations. One, Heather Macmillan, had said she would file a complaint with the Ethics Commission, but the commission’s rules preclude complainants from discussing their actions.


Bryan Cutler, who’s running against Armstrong in the GOP primary, said he and his campaign staff first read the allegations in the newspaper.


“At this time, I feel it is most appropriate to take a ‘wait and see’ position,” Cutler said. Ryan Aument, Cutler’s campaign manager, denied suggestions that the campaign orchestrated the charges.


Cutler also criticized Armstrong’s failure to commit to debates and said that in response, he is expanding his series of “meet and greet” events into “town hall” forums where voters can question him.


The meetings, each from 7-9 p.m., are free and open to the public: April 22, Christiana National Railway Historical Society Building; April 29, Strasburg Fire Company; and May 6, Conestoga Fire Company.


Armstrong’s campaign expense reports for the period from Jan. 1 to March 27 show that he raised $13,882, spent $11,418 and had $13,054 left.


He collected $8,250 from political action committees, including $5,000 from the Pennsylvania Future Fund, controlled by Republican national committeeman Bob Asher.


Patrick Tell, of Tell Manufacturing, gave $2,500, while Fred Anton of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association donated $1,000.


Armstrong spent $5,000 on a poll done by Susquehanna Polling and Research and $500 for the services of master political consultant Hallowell & Branstetter. He also paid Macmillan $572 on Feb. 10 and $553 on Feb. 24 for consulting.


Cutler’s report wasn’t available by the weekend.





Campaign trails




— Republicans Keith Charles in the 96th state House district and Wheaton in the 36th Senate district are among five legislative candidates around the state to sign “The Promise to Pennsylvania,” a reform package with echoes of the Contract With America.


“I signed ‘The Promise’ because we have a culture in the Capitol that has grown out of touch with the people,” Charles said.


Mike Folmer, running against Senate Majority Leader Chip Brightbill in the 48th Senate district GOP primary, is one of the original developers of the package.


— Speaking of Folmer, he had a good week: Last Saturday, he picked up the endorsement of Club for Growth President Pat Toomey, the conservative version of “American Idol,” and later in the week a Rasmussen Reports poll showed Folmer ahead of Brightbill, 45 to 27 percent.


The poll was commissioned by Pennsylvania Club for Growth, which also has endorsed Folmer.


“This poll confirms what PACFG has been saying,” said Kathryn English, executive director of the state club. “The taxpayers are ready for a change; incumbent Chip Brightbill’s support is lagging well below 50 percent despite the fact that he is the Senate majority leader and well-known by Republican primary voters.”


— Patrick Snyder, who’s running against Keith Charles for the GOP nomination in the primary, kicked off his campaign Saturday at Fulton Elementary School on West Orange Street, despite the only-fit-for-ducks downpour. Snyder is a School District of Lancaster board member.


— In the 37th District, Democrat Lee Heffner hailed the state House’s passage last week of a minimum wage increase, from $5.15 an hour to $7.15 by next July. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.


“One of the key issues that my campaign for new leadership you can trust in Harrisburg is working families,” Heffner said. “While Rep. (Tom) Creighton supports pay raises for himself, he opposes supporting the hard-working people of Pennsylvania.”





Political potpourri




— Dr. Anthony T. Massimini, a former Catholic priest, will discuss the “Democratic Vision for a Moral America” on April 20 at the Ephrata VFW, 141 S. State St., Ephrata. The talk, which begins at 7:30 p.m., is sponsored by the Guy Bard Democratic Club of Northern Lancaster County. Massimini is adjunct instructor in philosophy and ethics at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.


— A local chapter of the John Birch Society will host a forum on state House Resolution 64, which asks Congress for a moratorium on free trade agreements because of their harmful impact on jobs. The group opposes a planned Free Trade Area of the Americas and will replay a five-minute Lou Dobbs broadcast from CNN on the topic at the forum, at 6 p.m. April 17 at the Ephrata Public Library.


— The Susquehanna Valley Center for Public Policy, a nonpartisan think tank based in Hershey, will launch a new interactive Web site, www.thevoiceofpa.net, at an April 13 reception in Harrisburg. The site is Pennsylvania’s Web base for television, radio and streaming media Web casts focused on state government, politics and culture.

Millersville University professor Dr. Charles Greenawalt is the senior fellow of the center.


— Mark your calendars: April 17 is the last day to register to vote for the May 16 primary.


— Looking for information on the county’s new voting machines? Click on the “Lancaster Votes!” link on Lancaster County’s government portal, www.co.lancaster.pa.us. You’ll find an online demonstration and more details about how the eScan and eSlate machines work.


— Republicans running for office — including all you dozens of attorneys planning to run for judge next year — might want to sign up for the party’s annual golf outing Aug. 17. Champ Dennis Reinaker, now a Lancaster County Court judge, can’t return to defend his title because judges can’t hang with politicians. And, as outing chairman Jeff Wright told the Hempfield GOP breakfast last weekend, “There is some thought that there’s a connection between winning (the tournament) and getting the endorsement.”


Fore!




Helen Colwell Adams is the Sunday News political writer. E-mail her at hcolwell@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-4962. blog comments powered by Disqus