Bob “Crooksy” Brooks has centered his entire campaign for Congress around the theme that he is “one of us.” He has simultaneously argued that he is an authentic, working class person because of his jobs as a fire fighter, bartender, and whatever the hell else he claims, but also that he is the choice of the Democratic establishment because he’s endorsed by the Governor, two-time Presidential nomination loser Bernie Sanders, and some other folks that ran for President and got the “not quite” from the voters. It never quite made sense, and it appears as though it didn’t close the deal with Lehigh Valley Democratic primary voters, despite millions in dark money spending intended to push him across the line. It seems likely that a very clear majority will reject the Governor’s pick for this seat on Tuesday, even if he doesn’t lose the primary. God willing though, he’ll lose outright.

This whole dumb campaign has always been about a bunch of outsiders telling us that this long time deadbeat was the “true Democrat” to take on Ryan Mackenzie in the Fall. Bernie Sanders? Not from here. Pete Buttigieg? Not from here. Elizabeth Warren? Not from here. Chris DeLuzio? Five hours away with good traffic. Josh Shapiro? He’s spent more time on the Main Line, because he’s from down there. They all propped up multiple dark money Super PACs and kept endorsing a guy that nobody up here really knew, and let’s be honest, the ones that did, didn’t like him. The lack of endorsements from literally almost anyone in Bethlehem City Hall for this guy, a guy they have negotiated contracts with, across multiple administrations and councils, is deafening. Not one Northampton County state legislator or county elected official, no elected official in Easton, was willing to endorse a labor leader from their back yard, despite the obvious goodwill it would carry from the Harrisburg elites. His only local endorsements at all came from Allentown- a city where his union has a very strong local, and where frankly all the people who endorsed him were recipients of campaign contributions from both him and that local. So basically no one that actually had to deal with Bob, or live around Bob, was willing to back him. It was all outsiders, trying to force us to accept him.

Bob’s case all along though has really been he’s more “one of us” than the others, and that’s why he’ll win. Who is this “us” that he is talking about? For the last four cycles we nominated Susan Wild as our standard bearer in this district. She went to Washington and behaved as a Democrat, mostly voting with the party and not criticizing the party like Bob. And what was his criticism for? Congresswoman Wild went down to Washington and voted to expand health care access, rebuild infrastructure, raise wages, protect Civil Rights, protect women’s rights, protect marginalized communities, and try to make housing more affordable. No, it didn’t all come to pass, but she did all you can do as one member of Congress, she supported our Democratic values. Bob does not support our Democratic values. He thought Barack Obama sucked as President. Why? Did he dislike the Affordable Care Act, Dodd-Frank, killing Osama Bin Laden, saving the automobile industry, executive action on the DREAM Act, ending the Iraq War, or which of Obama’s many achievements as President? I’d love to know. Or was it just that Barack Obama was a Black man? I can only ask that because Bob also expressed his dislike of Colin Kaepernick after he protested against police brutality towards Black people, which well, is pretty racist. Those aren’t Democratic values. Bob chose to defend guns and call for school prayer with the ultra right-wing III’ers in response to a mass shooting in majority Latino El Paso at a Walmart. Bob definitely didn’t share our Democratic values there. When it’s been time to be a good Democrat, “Crooksy” has been consistently absent. After his international union decided to not endorse Kamala Harris, “Crooksy” declined to do so at the state level. As a union leader, he has funded election denying, anti-women’s right to choose Republicans and given them political cover. In a moment where he thought he was safely talking to college students recently, he admitted that he backed current Republican Gubernatorial nominee Stacy Garrity for State Treasurer because Governor Shapiro asked him to in 2024, showing that he’ll do whatever for his powerful masters, even screw over the Democratic voters who nominated that candidate. I guess that access was worth giving up whatever values and beliefs Deadbeat Bob claims to have. I think we can safely say though that his values are a lot different than most of our’s. The last person we nominated for Congress never behaved or spoke this way. She came prepared to discuss the issues and policies impacting our lives, unlike Bob.

So who is the “us” they are talking about. I’m going to be honest, I don’t think it’s anyone. I’ll say something nice for a moment about our friends and neighbors who chose to register as Independents and Republicans- they don’t live their lives like Bob, they’re better than that. “Crooksy” made the decision a long, long time ago to literally stiff his family for a buck. Over 20 years ago he accepted a $55,000 loan (he calls it a gift, but…), which in 2008 he signed a promissory note to pay back each month. He paid back $100 and not a dime more for the next decade. Whatever he and his ex-wife want to say (by the way, she still owes that money too according to the court ruling, so I wonder why she’s defending him?), if they disputed that they owed the money, they never should have signed the note. Then she sued him, and won, at the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas. He appealed, arguing that she waited too long to sue him, and the Superior Court of Pennsylvania rejected his argument, and ruled in her favor. That was in 2022. He still hasn’t paid a dime of that money, instead “quit claiming” the property to his new wife, who has the exact same damn name as his old wife, save for one letter. He really thinks he can run away from a contract that he signed. He goes so far as to exclude it as a debt on his ethics filing with the House of Representatives, which prompted an ethics complain being filed against him. Look, I obviously have some deep differences with my Republican and Trump voting friends and neighbors, I worked for Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. I would not talk to them, much less still be their friends or acquaintances, if I thought they were such a deadbeat that they would try to stiff their family out of money and then lie it away to the world. This guy claims he’s a family man on his website. We all know the Republicans will rip that to shreds if we nominate him, and frankly they would be right in this case. The number of people in “Crooksy’s” version of “us” is limited to people who would scam family members out of money they loaned them to help them start out. That’s frankly a very, very small “us.”

Bob doesn’t really even deny anything. With him, it’s always “well there’s more context,” or “it’s complicated” kind of double speak going on. He hides, his campaign and supporters try to intimidate people, and he repeats Josh Shapiro’s name five times every time someone tries to call him on the carpet for his choices. When some outside group comes in to hold him accountable, he just cries it’s “MAGA,” without offering out any evidence either way. The guy truly thinks he should be given a pass to everything, as if he’s something great. I get that he’s a narcissist, but I’m more disappointed with those who have defended him. They know this guy is unworthy of the office of Congressman, which is an amazing thing to say in these days and times, quite frankly. The support this man has received is bootlicking at the highest of levels, done by people who value their place in the party and the favor of the Harrisburg and Washington establishments above all principle and Democratic values. It’s gross. We don’t have to defend the indefensible. There are decent people running as the other options. This man is not one of us, he is not worthy of our support.

So what is Bob Brooks, who is the “us” they speak of? Basically a bunch of consultants in DC decided after 2024 that the coalition of people who voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was insufficient, and needed to be replaced. They are willing to sell our values out and try to appeal to people who oppose our values, figuring that we’ll just stay in line anyway because of Donald Trump. They might be right about how Democrats will behave. They’ll be wrong though, maybe in 2026, maybe in 2028, or who knows, but most people don’t consider themselves an “us” with a guy who stiffs his mother-in-law and behaves like a narcissist when called on it. Most people, even people with issues with their family and money, don’t go seeking out to scam them out of money. In the not distant future, whether it’s Tuesday night or in the next few years, people will discard Bob for the disloyal person he is. With him, it’s not just a story, it’s who he is.

I have said who I will vote for on Tuesday. I have expressed my distaste at different points for one other. I am willing to say though, unequivocally that I would vote for Lamont, Carol, or Crosswell in the Fall if they are nominated. Lamont and Carol are actual Democrats from here, and I am at least satisfied that Crosswell will be an improvement on Mackenzie at this point. Bob would be a low point in politics that I am not willing to accept. I hope that on Tuesday we reject this attempt to force a fundamentally flawed person down our throats, and re-think the party values that got us to this point. Join me in voting to reject opportunism, bigotry, narcissism, lies, and bootlicking. Vote no on Bob Brooks and his lifetime of opposing “us” every time it mattered.