2026-election

There is no Magic Money, Which is Why Leaders Have to Make Tough Choices

/ Rich Wilkins / 1 Comment

The federal government is shut down. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has no budget or appropriations bill. These are just words on a page to most people, because most people don’t eat, sleep, and pray politics, believe it or not. They go to work, take care of their families, and try to live their lives the best they can. They cannot simply decide to stop doing that, so their time to read about what the government is doing or proposing is very limited. They kind of need the cliff notes version so they have a basic understanding of the problems, and what should or can be done. I’m going to give it to them here- there is no money.

Your county, your city, and your school board basically are being kept open using your local taxes- often property taxes, but also sometimes sales and income taxes as well. Yes, the federal and state government are still collecting revenue from you right now (taxes), but they have no legal authority to spend new money moving forward. For now there are still some payments that were pre-approved that are going out, but even they are starting to run out of legal authority. In the not so distant future, there will simply be no more money going from the feds or the state out to counties, non-profits, cities, townships, public-private partnerships, or school boards. The net effect of this is devastating. Most of what counties, municipal governments, and school boards do are mandatory actions imposed on them from Washington or Harrisburg. A school can’t cut school lunches or busing, for instance. A city can’t stop providing a police department or fire department, in some form. The feds and the state send along a rather large chunk of cash to finance all of that. Local governments don’t tax nearly a high enough rate to pay for all of these programs on their own. They still must provide them either way.

In other words, there is a breaking point. I recently slammed Roger Maclean for saying “we’ll get our money” in his Lehigh County Executive debate with Josh Siegel, because that is an ignorant statement. Even before the Federal shutdown, the “Big Beautiful Bill,” DOGE, and the last appropriations bill all cut federal payments to state and local governments. Now that cut is currently a zero. Worse yet, the state contribution to local governments and services is now zero. If they don’t give you money, money does not magically show up. Lying to the public and to public workers and saying “it will all be okay” is not only irresponsible and immoral, it takes the heat off of the people who should be doing their jobs and funding the locals. Congress shut down the government to cut Affordable Care Act subsidies, aka health care for working people who buy it. The State Senate hasn’t come to work in three months because they want to kill SEPTA and make Josh Shapiro look like a weirdo. No local official should be giving these people a pass. Local elected leaders should be pointing out all the ways this is beginning to hurt normal people.

Unfortunately a month out from an election, there are a lot of irresponsible children running for office who want to pretend nothing is wrong. Unfortunately both parties are doing it. I get it, nobody wants to be mom telling you to eat your peas and carrots instead of cake, and certainly nonsense like this from “The Quiet Man” Tom Giovanni, silent because he’s confused, isn’t helpful:

“As a candidate for Northampton County Executive, I believe it is unacceptable that the current administration has chosen to cut essential programs and furlough hardworking employees simply because Harrisburg has failed to pass a state budget. Leadership is about preparation, responsibility, and putting people first. Our county should never be held hostage to gridlock in the state capital.

Instead of hurting workers to make a political point, I recommended that the administration follow Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s example of providing loans to counties to cover short-term budget needs. That would have protected services and employees while avoiding unnecessary disruption.”

Garrity’s loans will not be sustainable soon, and are not free money for the county, but let’s get to the heart of this- actually Tom, people suffer when Harrisburg fails to pass a budget. It turns out state and national government are actually important in our society, and we’re learning that in real time. The county does not tax their population a high enough rate to absorb the costs of running itself if the state just decides to stop paying them. If your response to that is “do less!,” then please proceed to tell us if you’re going to close the prison, stop providing a court system, get rid of the department of children and youth, or close the nursing home. If you can name another county office that actually exists, you can choose that too. For the most part though, cutting those services would run into legal trouble, because most of what they do is mandatory under federal and state law.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all the Democrats though who also aren’t willing to bite the bullet. The truth is that the solution to the counties and municipalities running out of money is Harrisburg and Washington making agreements that re-open the governments. There is no other answer, and frankly given that Democrats aren’t in charge of anything federally or the vacationing State Senate, we should be saying that. I’ll be voting for Tara Zrinski, but I don’t agree with her here:

We need to create avenues of mutual aid within the community by calling on community partners to fill some of the gaps in human services. We have already delayed funds to service providers but we did not entertain temporary redistribution of County Funds or a Tax Anticipation Note, which would allow us to borrow against anticipated property tax revenue. This TAN would be paid back when the State passes a budget but with approximately $350,000 – $400,000 of accumulated interest. This has been the sticking point for the administration that has no desire to bail the State out because the interest would not be paid back by the State. We cut our nose off to spite our face though. That interest is a small small price to pay for the safety of our community and the security of our workforce that knows we have their backs. Literally, it is an estimated 2 cents for every $1000 of assessed property value in the County. 

Well, here are my 2 cents– County Executive McClure has presented this as an inevitability. But there is nothing inevitable about abandoning our workforce. There are alternatives. There are reserves, reallocations, and other strategies available that don’t involve punishing workers or jeopardizing public safety. Leadership means problem-solving—not taking the easy way out by balancing the books on the backs of our workforce. When we destabilize human services, we invite higher long-term costs, greater risks, and more pain for the very residents we are sworn to protect. So today I stand with SEIU 668 workers, and I call on County Executive McClure: stop these furloughs. Protect the people who protect Northampton County. And I call on Harrisburg legislators: end the gridlock. Pass a fair budget now. You are literally arguing over what amounts to 6% of your overall budget– for what? To lower medicaid, to take away SNAP benefits. Where are the adults in the room?

Ok, so basically “the plan” here is to borrow money against money we’re supposed to get back in the future, never mind that we don’t know when that will be and therefore don’t really know if the $350-400k number will be final, and continue providing services? We should reallocate funds- should that be Medicaid/Medicare funds for Gracedale, the funding for the jail, the funding for the courts, or what mandatory spending should we end? And we should accept the 6% interest on a loan because Ann Flood and Joe Emrick don’t want to fund SEPTA and the GOP State Senators wanted to spend September and October at their beach houses?

Yes, I think it’s fucking awful and barbaric to do things like furlough caseworkers who literally work for way less than they’re worth to protect children, or to close Safe Harbor and services for the homeless, or to really lay off anyone who is working for the county, almost everything they do down there is to help those who are the least fortunate in our society. It’s awful and barbaric, and it’s who the hell we are as a society. The State Senate is not some abstract entity that has nothing to do with the people, the State Senate is the people. Ryan Mackenzie wants to cut subsidies for working poor people buying the Affordable Care Act and dramatically raise health insurance rates for people paying full price, such as myself (a recent amputee), but Ryan Mackenzie is in Washington shutting down our government for a reason- he was elected to go there. Let’s stop pretending we’re so much better than our government as a society, we picked the bastards who are in it.

What the local officials are proposing here is simply shifting the pain and suffering of the incompetence in Harrisburg and Washington from municipal and county employees to the broader society that pays their salaries. Is that fair and moral? Probably yes actually, you voted for this. Is it sensible or even remotely a sane way to run a community? No, of course not. Re-distributing the pain and suffering on to our full society sounds absolutely nuts if you say it out loud, and if you do it in front of someone they’ll either hit you or have you committed. Yes, it’s obviously an easier, temporary way out. It’s also utterly stupid.

If you sit here and say furloughs are a good thing, you’re a heartless moron that is robbing Peter to pay Paul. If you sit here and say we should just borrow our way through the ineptitude, you’re inept. The only good solution would be a Harrisburg and a Washington that aren’t trying to do anything possible to screw the least amongst them, and funded their governments. That is the solution. There is no “magic carpet ride” to utopia here. The money that keeps children, old people, the disabled, the sick, and the mentally incompetent safe in our society, it comes from the federal and state governments. Do I think McClure is insane to propose furloughs in the middle of both the campaign to succeed him and his own Congressional campaign? Yes, it could very well be political suicide. These are the actual choices being presented to us locally though by our elected state and national leaders.

Yesterday our neckbeard Vice-President basically suggested emergency rooms should not have to treat the “illegals” that are over-running them (that is not happening). That would, of course, be a violation of the law, everywhere in America. I wonder how many people have considered or fathomed what this would look like though? I have friends in foreign countries, some of them have seen dead bodies from people who starved or were left untreated while sick. This is a choice a society can make, and it’s a choice that the Vice-President of the United States is advocating. We really aren’t better than this.

Anyway, I lost you by the second paragraph I’m sure. My original point was people don’t have time to read all of this shit. So I lead with the point- there is no money, because Harrisburg and Washington. If you got anything, I hope you got that. There will not be any “magic money.”

Why I’m Not Going to Give Crooksy or Crosswell an Audience to Answer my Attacks

/ Rich Wilkins / 3 Comments
From the horse’s mouth.

I was invited to tonight’s Lehigh Valley 4 All meeting to ask Bob “Crooksy” Brooks questions about the things I’ve written about him. I’m going to decline at this time. I’m sure his team would say that vindicates him, that it shows I’m throwing baseless accusations at him from behind a computer screen and won’t defend them. If I were him, that’s what I’d say too. I’m going to proceed to tell you why that’s a pile of shit.

I’ve been at an event with Crooksy and Crosswell since I started writing about them. If they were truly mad and felt they had a legitimate beef with what I wrote, they could have addressed it then. Neither of them did. I have no reason to give either one a chance to prepare answers for an audience. One’s a bartender and one’s a lawyer, two professions that know how to talk their way around anything. In both cases, I have laid out unassailable facts, not opinions or presentations, about them. I posted the Superior Court’s opinion on the matter of Crooksy stiffing his ex-mother-in-law, which clearly shows he didn’t pay her back for 14 years, meaning no, it wasn’t just part of a messy divorce like he claims. Why would I give him equal footing with me to lie about that for an audience? I posted the actual screenshots of his social media where he says he thinks we need more guns and prayer in schools, and where he talks about hating Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem. Did I add on my opinions? Sure. But what I gave you out front was the documentation of this man’s views and actions. I am not going to literally debate if they happened with him. If he wants to accuse the Superior Court of Pennsylvania of lying, he can do that himself. Bob Brooks did everything I said. If you want to decide those things don’t matter to you, you can do that on your own.

I’m going to say the same for Ryan Crosswell, who no one is asking me to give a forum to at this point. Again, I’ve laid out the facts here. Crosswell is not from here and is a lifelong Republican until a few months ago. Voter registration is a public record, and it shows him repeatedly registering as, and voting as, a Republican in such far off places as Louisiana and Washington, D.C. There’s not much to argue there. I showed you Crosswell’s LinkedIn, which talks about his work at an infamous union busting law firm, and in which he talks about his work to screw workers. Crosswell filed a finance report in July that showed almost all of the money he is raising is from out of town, with just one donor in the district. Again, these things aren’t really up for debate.

There are five candidates in this race. I’m not going to debate all five of them about their life stories. I’m not attacking three of them, all of whom are long time Democrats who have lived in the Lehigh Valley for years. I’m attacking two guys who really shouldn’t be running in a Democratic Primary in the Lehigh Valley. The response both have given so far is to tell people that I’m attacking them on the behalf of Lamont McClure. That’s a load of shit. Go check McClure’s campaign finance reports, I do not work for him. I will not be working for him in this primary either, including in the future. I like Lamont enough, but he’s not paying me a check to do anything for him. I have not worked for a political candidate since May of 2024, most of my work is now for independent expenditures, and will be remaining as such. I’m not going to debate these kinds of lies for an audience, where how one presents themselves can sway the crowd on who they are going to believe, these guys are both trained talkers. I am laying out the facts on these individuals in black and white letters. This shouldn’t be a matter of interpretation, it should be a matter of facts. If Crooksy wants to debate if he’s a deadbeat or not, he can send mailers to the voters telling them he’s not. I sure as hell am not going to give him a platform to do so.

The primary voters in 2026 can decide what they think of the facts, but I’m not going to debate what the facts are with people that would screw family members or working people. If primary voters choose one of these guys, we’ll see how the full electorate reacts. My guess is not very well.

Crooksy’s Excuses for Stiffing His Mother-In-Law Lack Any Credibility

/ Rich Wilkins / 7 Comments

So I was in a room with Bob “Crooksy” Brooks this morning. No, there wasn’t a fist fight. I was too busy guzzling coffee to cause a scene. I did meet his manager though. Nice young lady, we have some common friends. I hope she enjoys her stay here in the Lehigh Valley. Well, most of it.

Friday a local activist leader let me know she really liked Crooksy when she met him. I’m not shocked, the guy tends bar at the Holy Family Club in Nazareth, that takes people skills. I mean, gotta talk for them tips, you know? Anyway, she said she asked him about my allegation that he took $55k from his mother-in-law, and he answered it satisfactorily for her. His answer? It was all part of a messy divorce.

You know what, I get why that makes sense. Divorces are inherently messy, right? If this was a question of when the suit itself was filed, or why, that might be satisfactory. The problem is, the actual issue happened years, and years before the legal proceeding. The case was decided in the Superior Court in 2021. The initial trial was in 2020. The actual case took place between 2004 and 2008. From the Superior Court opinion:

In June 2004, Michael Wiley transferred title to a residential building lot to his future daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Robert Brooks (Defendants).2Prior to the transfer, Michael Wiley funded the subdivision of the land, and Defendants agreed to pay him $55,500 for the cost of subdividing and the value of the lot. However, Defendants never paid Michael Wiley.

In 2008, at the request of Michael Wiley, Carol Wiley had a promissory note drafted which memorialized Defendants’ debt, and provided that Defendants were jointly and severally liable to pay CarolWiley $55,500 at 6.5% interest, in 120monthly payments of $630.19, beginning July 1, 2008. On July 12, 2008, Wiley and Defendants executed the promissory note in the presence of a notary. Defendants never made any of the payments prescribed in the promissory note.

On August 27, 2018, Wiley filed the underlying breach of contract action against Defendants. Brooks filed a reply and new matter on October 25, 2018 raising several affirmative defenses, including the statute of limitations, statute of frauds, and lack of consideration. On October 31, 2018, the trial court entered default judgment against Jennifer Brooks after she failed to respond to the complaint. Wiley filed a response to Brooks’ new matter on November 13, 2018.

The court held abench trial on August 11, 2020. At the close of Wiley’s case, Brooks moved for compulsory nonsuit, asserting that the action was barred by the four year statute of limitations governing contracts, and that no consideration was given for the debt because Wiley did not own the real estate and did not advance funds. The court denied Brooks’ motion, but ordered the parties to file post-trial briefs addressing the statute of limitations and statute of frauds. After reviewing the briefs, the court on September 11, 2020 entered a verdict in favor of Wiley and awarded damages of $130,386.36.

Let me break that down as simply as possible. In 2004, Mr. Wiley funded a subdivision of a property to Brooksy and his soon-to-be wife, to the tune of $55k, and they agreed to pay him back. They didn’t pay a red cent back. In 2008, FOUR YEARS LATER, Mr. Wiley was concerned enough that they would never pay him back that he and his wife made Brooksy and their daughter sign in front of a notary that they would pay them back, on a schedule, with interest. They never made one payment. Not a dollar. TEN YEARS LATER, Mrs. Wiley sued him and their daughter. The daughter didn’t even bother to contest the case. He did. TWO YEARS later, it went to trial. Brooks did not contest that he signed the note, or that he didn’t pay them back. He basically said they waited too long to sue him and Mrs. Wiley wasn’t the actual person who gave him the money, so she couldn’t sue. The court rejected that argument.

I’m not a lawyer. I also know that divorces are messy. I’m not here to comment on the legal questions raised. Here’s what I know- this dude got a loan from his father and mother-in-law in 2004 and paid back not one cent for 14 years before it went to court. He doesn’t even contest that he stiffed them for 14 years. He basically tried to say they’re shit out of luck for waiting to hold him accountable.

This is not an issue of an ugly divorce. This is just basic dishonesty.

Rumor Mill- Crooksy Rakes in the Cash, Union Buster Crosswell Fades

/ Rich Wilkins / 2 Comments

The DCCC rumor mill is loud these days. As they try to prop up candidates they like and penalize candidates they don’t, they tell folks things in hope that they put it out there. I’m more than happy to oblige. In PA-7, they want you to back Bob “Crooksy” Brooks, a deadbeat who stiffed his mother-in-law, and will be torn to shreds over it by Ryan Mackenzie and the GOP. The guy is DOA in the general election, and probably wouldn’t be good if he did win, but he makes money for their chosen consultants, who happen to also be Senator Fetterman’s team, and he’s the head of a union. Sure, he’s a bad candidate, but he furthers some folks careers. So they want you to know that “Crooksy” is going to blow away the other four Democrats in fundraising, as this guy did last reporting period. They are telling people that Bob “Crooksy” Brooks will raise $400k in the third quarter.

Crooksy’s number, if he actually reaches it (a month ago they were saying $200k, so read into it what you will), is pretty decent. It’s not shocking though, nor is it a number that makes him a prohibitive favorite. “Crooksy” Brooks hired folks who helped build Bernie Sanders and John Fetterman’s mythological campaigns, and also raised a bunch of money when people believed they were working class heroes. In Fetterman’s case he raised a bunch of money online and basically drowned his primary opponents, before going on to basically vote with the Republican Party in the United States Senate. Crooksy is just their new grift to get paid. With three full quarters of fundraising, and reasonable depreciation built into it after his launch, Crooksy would be on pace to reasonably raise about $1 million for this race. The problem for Crooksy is he starts way behind, and people don’t really like him more once they’re told about him. He’ll need to spend most of his million introducing himself and making people like him, and that’s assuming no one comes in and tells the voters he’s a gun nut racist, who stiffs his mother-in-law, to the cost of a few hundred thousand dollars. He’ll need a lot more.

Then there’s Union-Busting Ryan Crosswell, who was at one point the darling of the Washington types, but then the DCCC got some flack for running a Republican and backed away. The truth is that they’d still be fine with Crosswell as their nominee, but they know they can’t say that out loud, and now they got some static from the district, so they have to pretend they don’t like him. The truth? He’s probably actually better than Crooksy, provided that you don’t care at all what your Congressman actually believes, or if they actually have any grassroots support in the district they aren’t even from, or really if you just don’t care about anything. Since they know Crosswell is a bad look, they have to at least go through the motions of shitting on him. They are putting out there that he will not hit his $300k goal for the third quarter, as donors back away from him as they learn more. If Crooksy wasn’t better for business for the Beltway types, I’d predict him getting this same treatment next quarter.

Then there’s poor Carol Obando-Derstine, an actual Democrat from the Lehigh Valley who doesn’t hate Colin Kaepernick. Sure, Carol’s pretty corporate in her career choices, but she at least has business running in this race. So of course, the Beltway crowd wanted her to drop out, thereby pushing any women candidates out of the race. Then, when she got endorsements from some Latino Groups and Emily’s List, Bernie’s DSA goons made sure to deny her the SEIU endorsement that the local members wanted to give her. Crooksy needed that endorsement, stealing from his mother-in-law wasn’t going to finance this campaign on it’s own! Honestly, this kind of treatment of a former Democratic staffer is a really bad look, but she’s in the way of the fat cats getting paid. The Beltway elites want you to know that her entire campaign staff is fleeing her in droves, and she’s refusing to raise money. They’re predicting she’ll raise “under $100k.” She might. They want you to know that though so you back their chosen candidate though.

Then there’s Lamont McClure, Northampton County’s two-term Executive, who isn’t raising cash fast enough for their liking. To hear these Beltway warlords tell it, McClure might not report any money at all this quarter. Dude can’t even rub together two nickels for heat. What’s the guy even doing in the race? We know he gave himself $200k this quarter, so I assume he’ll raise that much at least. They assume though that the one candidate to win a major local office in this race is dead at this point. In fact, that’s their excuse for why the Governor didn’t tell him to drop out. To date, my math says he’s raised at least $430k for this race, which is less than Crosswell for sure, and maybe Crooksy, but probably enough for him to stay in. Basically though, the Beltway Chieftains want you to know that while local voters, elected officials, and unions always like him, he’s dead.

Then there’s Mark Pinsley. The rumor here is he’s still on Planet Earth. Poor Dude won a couple of elections and these folks act like he doesn’t even exist. They didn’t even take time to shit on him in their rumors. Hell, they didn’t even let lunatic Bernie endorse him, and he’s trying to run like him. I guess they hope he just goes off and runs for State Senate, again.

Part of the reason the Democratic Party loses is voters see right through our astroturf narratives. Republicans put up authentic lunatics, we put up Crooksy. It seems that in the case of PA-7, the Beltway Elites are desperate to find literally anyone to be their candidate besides a Democrat from the Lehigh Valley. I’m sure voters will love that.

It’s Time for Governor Shapiro to Figuratively Punch the Pennsylvania Senate in the Face

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

In theory, the law is that the General Assembly shall pass a budget, and the Governor shall sign it by June 30th. That almost never happens cleanly. Usually though, the legislature stays in session and at least pretends they’re working/negotiating. Like you at least have some level of shame when you don’t do your job, right? That’s natural. In 2025, that’s no longer a thing. The State Senate left town in June and just decided to not come back to work ever again, basically.

Now, I’m going to be fair for a second. I actually agreed with them back in May and June- how the hell do you pass a budget when you have no idea how much the Federal Government is going to give you? Between DOGE and the “Big Beautiful Bill” it was fair to say there was too much uncertainty. Based on the lack of actual partisan noise at the time, I think even the House Democratic Majority realized this. It was close to impossible to plan a year’s worth of spending when there was so much chaos. Granted, most of the State Senate Republican Majority were vocal supporters of Trump, so their complaints here are ironic. Just because they were hypocrites didn’t make them wrong though.

That time has passed. Governor Shapiro gave everyone time to figure out what was going on. Republicans passed their “Big Beautiful” pile of shit in Washington. Sure, some things can change at the margins going forward, but not so badly that you don’t move forward. Given that we’re now a quarter of the way into the budget year, the legislature could fund the last nine months with basic certainty. They just won’t.

So here’s the thing, the Governor and local officials of both parties did a nice job across Pennsylvania preventing the pain from hitting the general public. Schools opened, road projects continued, the hospitals received their Medicaid money, and so on. Counties continued providing services. You can only bleed so much blood from a stone. If you only have $100, all the magic tricks in the world don’t turn that into $110. The Feds are sending less money to counties, schools, and municipalities. The state is running out of legal authority to send any money to them either, because there’s no budget. Why should you give a shit? Safe Harbor in Easton, who cares for a large chunk of our local homeless population, announced the county is out of money to provide them to provide the services. Northampton County announced they would furlough human services employees at the end of the month. They’re out of money. If that doesn’t hit home enough for you, I think Bernie O’Hare explained it fairly plainly:

NorCo’s Human Services Department investigates allegations of abuse and neglect aimed at our children and elderly, the most vulnerable members of society. It provides a wide variety of services to individuals who have mental health issues. It provides services, usually through vendors, aimed at the prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug abuse. It also helps veterans and their dependents. 

The state funds between 80-90% of the salaries of these workers. But since the state budget impasse on June 30, the county has been paying these salaries on its own. McClure estimates that the county has spent $8-12 million so far and estimates that figure might be as high as $20 million by the end of October.

So basically, everybody who desperately needs help will stop getting it. Kids, old people, and mentally unhealthy people will be left to fend for themselves. The State Senate’s response? Take a long Summer vacation. This is serious stuff, but they’re treating it like nothing. Meanwhile, their ally running for Lehigh County Executive just thinks he’ll “get his money,” but honestly he’s just too stupid to handle this stuff. We’re heading towards a societal disaster in Pennsylvania. I realize some people like to say they’d rather live in Mississippi or Iowa than California, but are you really ready to put that to practice?

It’s time to punch back. This irresponsibility is going to cost lives. As someone who now lives about a half step from ruin, this hits home to me. People often ask what Democrats do for them- this is a good time to show them. I actually think he went a bit mild here, but McClure did get this right:

“Republicans in the State Senate have failed the people of Pennsylvania by refusing to pass a budget,” said McClure. “For three months, their dysfunction has left counties like Northampton footing the bill, costing us millions of dollars just to keep essential services going. … This is unacceptable. They must do their job, pass a budget, and stop punishing taxpayers and seniors alike.”

While I appreciate McClure and any other Democrat making this case, let’s be honest, County Executives and Congressional candidates are not the loudest voices in the room. All they can do is make their case the best they can. Those voices would be Governor Shapiro and Senator Fetterman, and we already know Senator Fetterman will let us down. Governor Shapiro is doing a great job running the government of Pennsylvania and deserves to be re-elected for that. We now need him to raise his voice though and maybe take an unsafe political stand. Him barnstorming the state and even national media and making the case that the State Senate Republicans are literally going to get people killed to have their extra long vacation would put the pressure needed in the very small number of swing districts left in the Senate. People who want to be national politicians need to know how to fight when it’s time. For Governor Shapiro, it is time. He has certainly made the case against the Senate GOP so far, but he needs to scorch the earth. The time has come.

I Guess His Mother-In-Law’s Money Wasn’t Enough, Bob “Crooksy” Brooks Needs Your Money

/ Rich Wilkins / 1 Comment

Make sure you hold your wallets, Crooksy needs your cash! I guess the $55k he stiffed his ex-mother-in-law for wasn’t enough to finance Crooksy’s campaign. I get it though, campaigns are hard. It’s hard to get elected when the only people who like you don’t live in your district. Everybody who knows Crooksy best won’t support him. He blows them off, and they know he’s inauthentic with all of his talk about supporting “working people.” At least Vermont Senator and Democrat hating lunatic Bernie Sanders has his back though.

Look, I do have some empathy for Crooksy’s team though, lying is really hard. The truth is, we all know he isn’t a Democrat (more on that later). Crooksy posts pro-gun, religious fanatic, lunatic shit on his Facebook when he’s advocating for political violence. Crooksy even puts up pro-segregationist/slavery shit ripping on Colin Kaepernick. This guy really thinks we’re going to believe he’s a Democrat. I honestly think Crooksy knows in his heart that he’s in over his head here, but I guess his handlers who created John Fetterman think they can pull off the con-job again. They pulled SEIU in on the con. They even did so over local objections. They are going to need an astronomical amount of money to convince people to elect a deadbeat that sides with Republicans on social issues, in a Democratic Primary. Even if they survive that, do you really think Ryan Mackenzie and national Republicans aren’t going to use the same information I gathered on Bobby “Crooksy” Brooks to destroy him in the Fall? Stealing from his Mother-in-Law alone is enough to sink him in the Lehigh Valley.

So yeah, watch your wallet. Crooksy needs your money in a bad way. If 877-338-2472 shows up on your phone, mark it spam and junk. It’s a waste of your time.

“Crooksy” Adds More Endorsements From People Who Can’t Find Allentown on a Map

/ Rich Wilkins / 2 Comments

The less you know about Bob “Crooksy” Brooks, the more you like him. If you don’t know that he stiffed his ex-mother-in-law for $55k, you might think he’s working class. If you don’t know that he shares propaganda from groups that advocate political violence, you think maybe he’s a Democrat. If you don’t read what “Crooksy” says about Kaepernick, you think maybe he’s not a bigot. The more you know though, the less you like him.

“Crooksy” is running the Fetterman handbook for how to campaign though. He’s collecting endorsements, just none of them are from here. Democrat hating lunatic Bernie Sanders enthusiastically supports “Crooksy.” I doubt any local unions will support him after he had better things to do than come see them though. The truth is, the guy is awful and shouldn’t have run, and everyone around here knows it. If you don’t live in the Lehigh Valley though, there’s not too much harm in endorsing a guy that Ryan Mackenzie would crush. This is why state legislators from other parts of Pennsylvania love Crooksy. He’s probably not taking money from their constituents.

“Crooksy” is racking up the endorsements from leftists from other parts of the country though. In addition to the geriatric socialist from Vermont, he got the guy who got to be Bernie’s warm up act when he came to the Valley back in the Spring. I guess he figures no one in Pittsburgh will ever know. In case that’s not enough, he got the endorsement of California “Bernie Bro” Ro Khanna, who he wants you to know is a Pennsylvania native. He lives in Silicon Valley now, because you know, Bobby is a real working class icon here. Crooksy has lots of support from California and Vermont politicians. He has none from any working folks here.

Bob “Crooksy” Brooks looks great if you get to stay ten thousand feet away from him. If the Democratic Party is stupid enough to nominate this clown, Ryan Mackenzie won’t let any voters in the Lehigh Valley stay ten thousand feet away though. The racism, the violent political rhetoric, the stealing from his mother-in-law- Mackenzie will put it on our televisions, on our computer screens, and in our mailboxes. To be honest, we kind of deserve it if we’re dumb enough to allow it. None of the people who know Crooksy all that well want anything to do with him.

Would Bob “Crooksy” Brooks Kill the ACA?

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

The Democratic Party should absolutely shut down the federal government, it’s not doing anything of value right now. If you need a specific reason to shut it down, the GOP is trying to strip away subsidies for people to buy the Affordable Care Act. This should simply be a red line. There is no good reason to strip health care away from more people. Of course our useless DEMOCRATIC U.S. Senator John Fetterman says he will fund the government anyway. In 2028, we need to be done with this bum. We can get a better trust fund baby Democrat, if not an actual good Democrat. Kick him to the curb.

Given that Bob “Crooksy” Brooks is running for Congress and would take the same votes, and has the same handlers telling him what to say and do, verbatim, we have to ask- would Bob “Crooksy” Brooks tell his constituents to go to hell too? Would he treat his constituents like his ex-mother-in-law? Will Brooks vote with the people he agrees with on social issues? Given this man’s record, we have to ask.

Every candidate in the PA-7 Democratic Primary should be answering though. I’ve seen posts from McClure and Obando-Derstine so far. I hope the rest let us know if they’re with us or against us.

What Does Bob “Crooksy” Brooks Think About Political Violence? Well, Let’s Look at His Past…

/ Rich Wilkins / 11 Comments

By now if you read this site, you are probably of Bob “Crooksy” Brooks running for Congress. I am too. The idea this guy thinks he can win, or that he’s a Democrat, is completely insane. This is basically Steve Lynch with John Fetterman’s handlers. The guy stiffed his ex-mother-in-law out of $55k. He appealed it, and lost. Then, instead of paying up, he walked away. Maybe that was just being lazy, not crooked though. Of course he was endorsed by Democrat-hating lunatic Bernie Sanders. Of course he was, just like his hero, John Fetterman. Much like Crooksy’s hero Fetterman, he also has some way out of line views on race too. I really hoped this guy wouldn’t drag his friends through a campaign that will end in defeat, a matter of when, not if. He’s insisted though.

As I wrote about this guy, multiple sources sent me things to know about Crooksy and his past. Above, you see a social media post that I chronicled at length. In reposting that meme, Crooksy makes clear that he believes in prayer in schools, and guns in any lunatic’s hand that can grip them. It’s bad enough that Crooksy is a right-wing militant, he doesn’t belong in a Democratic Primary, but the meme was put out by the 3% militia men. He’s basically sending out January 6th’ers stuff on his social media.

On August 19th, a woman that I will identify as Karen sent me over a full memo of additional materials and context on Brooks. Karen does not appear on any other campaign’s payroll, which doesn’t mean she isn’t, but I certainly don’t know her. As she shed more light on who Crooksy is, it’s become clear he’s totally unacceptable.

When Crooksy posted the meme above is significant. Just days after an armed nutbag went into an El Paso, TX Walmart and killed people, there was Crooksy posting pro-gun material. One could say that it isn’t proof of support for the killer, but the fact that it’s material from radicalized right-wing fanatics who do. support killing Latinos and lots of other people, and that didn’t dawn on him at the time as a bad thing is significant. Crooksy posted this in 2019, years before a Congressional run, and frankly before he was even a major labor figure, so while now John Fetterman’s handlers have their hands on him to tell him not to say anything this crazy, this 2019 post by Crooksy is a better representation of who he is. When he didn’t think everyone was looking, he was in favor of right-wing radical propaganda and beliefs. Now that he wants to be your Congressman, you are getting a cleaned up version. Reality is though, he’s a right-wing gun nut.

A bunch of people in Washington and Harrisburg want to sell you a vision of some working class hero that will go “fight for you” in DC. It’s astroturf. God knows who he’ll take from and what he’ll actually believe if you give him a chance to go there. Crooksy is just Fetterman 2.0.

Was I Too Mean? Or is Bob “Crooksy” Brooks Basically a Racist Nut?

/ Rich Wilkins / 23 Comments
Ok, I’m going to admit two things. The first is, I actually held back the worst stuff about Bob “Crooksy” Brooks, a Congressional candidate in PA-7, to this point. For a while, I felt like maybe it was overkill. You see, I told you that he stiffed his ex-mother-in-law for $55,000, then lost a lawsuit and appeal. Then since he lost and owed over $130k, he just abandoned the property in his divorce settlement and left it to his ex. You see, when I first published it, I really hoped the guy would just not run. He not only announced, but also announced his endorsement from Deadbeat Bernie Sanders and every other person not from PA-7 besides Governor Shapiro. Of course, this guy had promised Governor Shapiro (and even got a newspaper to print), but what’s the truth to him? Once I knew he was getting in, I decided to tell you a bit more about “Crooksy,” mainly that he’s a militant religious and gun nut that aligns with the 3%’ers. Then, the “working class hero” that stole from his mother-in-law decided to not even attend Labor Day Celebrations with other unions, despite being a statewide union President. He’s just lazy, frankly. Others alluded to that before. Yes, the guy is a deadbeat that stiffed his mother-in-law, it’s not even my opinion. Two courts in Pennsylvania found it. Yes, he’s a right-wing nut. Frankly though, I sat on some stuff. Criticisms from an Allentown Fire Fighter in the political spectrum made me think twice. Sure, this guy is a bum. However, I can’t tell you the last time the Fire Fighters Union and I disagreed on a major campaign. Frankly, I was conflicted.

Well, now I’m not. The other night I ran into a longtime, lifelong friend at the Phillies-Mets game, I’m talking someone who came to see me in the hospital after they chopped off my leg. He’s a fire fighter for a city in the Lehigh Valley, not an overly political guy, and he asked me a question that cut like a thousand knives- are you anti-fire fighter? I had spent three hours waiting in line at a fire fighter’s viewing the night before, I spent my early, formative years in politics organizing with fire fighters in Iowa for Presidential campaigns. Not only was it such a cut at me, to say that through a personal friend? Blaspheme. I guess I was only a friend to this particular union leadership when they didn’t support a deadbeat. Fine.

So here’s where I admit the second part- I held back all the stuff where Bob Brooks really shows you who he is. Bob “Crooksy” Brooks not only stiffed his mother-in-law, his internet history is a horrendous dumpster fire of far-right wing radical rhetoric. Not only did he post about wanting school prayer and guns on demand, “Crooksy” posted the above straight up racist bullshit. Post the 13 stars? That’s one thing. To do so and then make a point to attack Colin Kaepernick directly during the “Black Lives Matter” and kneeling controversies? Bob Brooks is showing you here who he is. He was not yet a candidate for Congress when he put this out. In fact, he hadn’t even staged his coup to be the State President of the Fire Fighters yet. Bob Brooks holds views on race that are way out of line with most civilized people, not just liberals. Most of my Republican friends wouldn’t even post this.

There’s a lot more coming about this “douchebag,” as he called Kaepernick (I don’t even really like Kaepernick, the guy openly says he didn’t vote in 2016, but this is outrageous.). Since his friend in Allentown claims I did this at the behest of a certain candidate, I will go ahead now and confirm that this came from another campaign’s opposition research people, not those of Lamont McClure (he is not paying this individual supplying it, nor is anyone on his behalf.). Later on I will post whole memos on him. Bob Brooks is in way over his head here. There’s a reason even some of his friends called him “Crooksy.” I wonder if they knew just exactly who he was? Do we think Lt. Governor Austin Davis knew he “Crooksy” was?