pa-7

Crosswell Hopes You’re an Illiterate Moron

/ Rich Wilkins / 4 Comments

Meet union busting, carpetbagger Republican Ryan Crosswell. I’m sorry you have to, but he and his rich Republican friends are trying to buy him a seat in Congress. His manager claims PA-7 is accepting him with open arms, but every single donor he has but one was from outside of the district. Of course, if his manager has his way, you probably don’t really understand where the district is. Honestly, if you listen to Crosswell’s out-of-touch manager, you might actually believe the sky is green.

Crosswell’s manager either doesn’t know that Pottsville is not in the 7th Congressional District, or doesn’t want you to know it’s in the 9th District. Just read the response he gave to attacks on his lack of any connection to our community.

Grimshaw added Crosswell was a “lifelong Republican that suddenly changed his thinking and became a Democrat to run in our district… [and] to my knowledge, until recently, he never even lived here.”

Worob noted Crosswell grew up in Pottsville.

“Like a lot of Pennsylvanians, Ryan left the state for public service. He joined the Marine Corps, then served as a federal prosecutor,” Worob said.

“He has spent his life serving his country, because that’s what people from here do — they put others before themselves. And like many people who leave Pennsylvania to serve, he decided to come home when his service was over.

“The people of the Lehigh Valley and this district have welcomed him with open arms.”

Again, who the hell is welcoming him with open arms? All of his donors don’t live here and absolutely no one is endorsing him. Second, Ryan Crosswell did not “come home” to the Lehigh Valley. After the Marines, Crosswell moved to North Carolina to bust unions, then to Louisiana to do some Prosecuting, and then to Washington, DC to do Donald Trump’s bidding. This guy didn’t “come home,” he’s almost certainly never been to Jimmy’s Hot Dogs, or went to a show in the old “Croc Rock,” or spent an evening taking in the salad bar at the Bethlehem Diner. His home is Pottsville. That’s not here. In fact, it’s a bit of a ride.

Then there’s the whole matter of Crosswell busting unions. Here’s what his guy had to say:

“Ryan worked at a large law firm early in his career, and left that job over a decade ago to join the Department of Justice where he protected our country from fraudsters, pedophiles and corrupt politicians until the day that Donald Trump tried to force him to drop a case against one of his cronies,” Worob said in a prepared statement.First off, Crosswell started buying domains for a Congressional campaign years before Eric Adams was even charged with a crime. Potato, Poh-tat-oh, right? But let’s talk about what Ryan Crosswell says he did at Littler-Mendelson:

McClure noted candidate and former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell‘s work with Littler Mendelson — “the largest union-avoidance law firm in the United States,” according to McClure, who is Northampton County executive.

“This firm made millions helping corporations crush organizing efforts,” he said. “That’s not someone who shares labor’s values or belongs in a Democratic primary.”

Crosswell’s campaign manager Noa Worob said Crosswell never worked on a case that involved union busting.

You’ll see under the title “Associate” what Crosswell had on his LinkedIn a few months ago. Crosswell says he litigated cases against employees who the employer allegedly violated “non-compete agreements/restrictive covenants.” He notes that he did so in areas of professional staffing and retail. In April of last year, the Biden Administration tried to ban these agreements, and at the very top of the article you’ll see that one of the reasons is that these agreements are increasingly being used against lower wage and hourly workers. The ban was later blocked by a Trump appointed judge, maybe Ryan knew them? Crosswell’s former comrades in the Trump Administration are expected to kill the ban for good.

Here’s the truth though- Crosswell got out of law school and took a job at a firm that does major union busting activities. He literally says he didn’t bust unions, he just sued employees to enforce non-compete agreements that are straight up predatory in nature. It’s disgusting. Of course when Crosswell went to that firm, he registered to vote as a Republican. He registered as a Republican in North Carolina before the 2012 Election, probably helping Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama there. Then he moved to Louisiana and registered as a Republican there, voting in their 2016 Republican Primary and in the general election- I’d love to know who he voted for in that Republican Primary. Then he took a job from Donald Trump and registered as a Republican in Washington, D.C. as Trump enacted the Muslim ban, appointed judges who overturned Roe v. Wade, and eventually attempted a coup on January 6th, 2021 to overturn an election. He voted in the 2020 Election as a Republican and stayed registered as a Republican even when Trump was trying to overturn our democracy and his allies on the Supreme Court were taking away a woman’s right to choose. According to the latest voting records I saw, Crosswell didn’t even return his ballot for the 2024 Election. Then he’d like you to know he became very angry and left the GOP. Honest to God.

In plain English, Ryan Crosswell worked at one of the largest union-busting law firms in America. At that firm, he says he tried to enforce predatory agreements against low wage workers to prevent them from moving jobs. He registered as a Republican multiple times, including after Trump was elected President, and voted in Republican Presidential Primaries and in general elections as a Republican. Crosswell lived everywhere but in the Lehigh Valley, and this was never his home at any point in his life.

Ryan Crosswell is a Republican. Ryan Crosswell is a carpetbagger. Ryan Crosswell screwed over the working man. He’s really hoping you’re too dumb to realize that.

Bob “Crooksy” Brooks Becomes First Political Candidate to Ever Talk About the Working Class and Jobs

/ Rich Wilkins / 7 Comments

Bob “Crooksy” Brooks is the kind of working class hero who stiffs his mother-in-law for $55,000, so you know he’s an authority on helping out the little guy. Like his hero, Deadbeat Bernie Sanders, Crooksy thinks the Democratic Party sucks. They apparently don’t want to talk to working class people, Crooksy says:

His campaign is playing up his volunteerism as a youth baseball coach and his tattoo: a bulldog in a fire helmet.

“The party of labor, I believe, is the Democrat Party, but I don’t think the Democrat Party talks about or to the working class people anymore, and I think we need to get back to that,” Brooks said in an interview. “The Republicans, they talked about us, they talk to us, but then they go down to DC and they vote against us.”

What in the blue hell is this clown talking about? If you want to say that Kamala Harris message of working class values didn’t get through, fine, but Crooksy is living out some sort of white-guy-from Nazareth fan-fiction where she didn’t try to. The CWA International Union didn’t agree, at least according to this entire page. If that doesn’t convince you, here’s what PBS said about the economic plans of Kamala Harris. And if you need a bit more, HERE’S LITERAL COVERAGE OF WHAT SHE SAID CAMPAIGNING IN PITTSBURGH LAST YEAR. Maybe Crooksy Brooks’ tattoo of a bulldog on himself is more the message though, right? Is that the point he’s trying to sell here.

Here’s what you need to know- Bob Brooks is a fraud, he’s a poor man’s version of John Fetterman. “Oh look at me, I have tattoos, Bernie Sanders loves me, and I say the word middle class and how the Democratic Party sucks, three times in every paragraph that comes out of my mouth!” Of course I was against John Fetterman in 2022, but you know, that’s history. Brooks has the same media team trying to create a picture of him that is very similar to the one Fetterman began with. They’re flat out lying to you. This guy is a blue collar hero like milk from last month is still good for you. Kind of like he’s “endorsed by Josh Shapiro,” but Shapiro has said that nowhere.

Crooksy Literally Takes Labor Day Off From Campaigning

/ Rich Wilkins / 7 Comments

I hope you all enjoyed your Labor Day. Apparently Bob “Crooksy” Brooks was doing something fun. The self-proclaimed “working class hero” apparently didn’t have time to show up to the Lehigh Valley Labor Council Labor Day Picnic on Sunday, despite his big labor endorsements from his own union and the SEIU. Was he off campaigning with State Legislators from other parts of the state? Was he off campaigning with lifelong deadbeat Bernie Sanders in some other state? Was Crooksy stiffing his ex-mother-in-law for even more money? Maybe he was on the internet posting memes from the 3%’ers arguing for arming everyone and making kids pray in schools again? Maybe he was off stealing someone else’s landscaping business? I’m not sure. To hear some folks tell it, he never was much for doing the work. I don’t know why anyone is shocked that this guy already doesn’t really want to campaign.

This guy, who fashions himself a big labor leader, and is banking on essentially usurping the labor support of other candidates, didn’t even want to go hang out with the union people. Sure, he raised a decent amount (less than Crosswell) on his launch, but that was pushed to him by DCCC employees and Deadbeat Bernie’s friends. This guy has no idea what it takes to campaign and win a seat. This fire is too big for Crooksy, and he will prove that to you, again and again.

Bob Brooks Endorsed By…. zzzzzzzzzz…. Oh, a Bunch of People Not From Here and His Own Union

/ Rich Wilkins / 6 Comments

Bob Brooks told folks he had the support of the Governor. I guess he meant the Lt. Governor. He also claimed Hakeem Jeffries himself wanted him to run. Maybe he meant Deadbeat Bernie Sanders. Then there was his claim that labor was going to run over to support his campaign. I guess he only meant SEIU and his own Fire Fighters union.

I suppose Bobby found some friends though, as you can see in his graphic above- a bunch of State Legislators who don’t live in the 7th Congressional District. You have Representatives and Senators from as close as Mt. Pocono and Scranton, or Philadelphia and lower Bucks County to the South, and as far as from Harrisburg and west of Pittsburgh, and hell, even Erie. What you don’t see is either Democratic State Senator from the Lehigh Valley. You don’t see any of Allentown’s Democratic State Representatives, either of Bethlehem’s, or the one in Easton. You don’t see the Lehigh County Executive, the former Democratic Congresswoman, or any local Lehigh Valley politician. No one here, who actually has to deal with nominating Bob Brooks actually wants to nominate Bob Brooks. He has a laundry list of Democratic politicians from the rest of the state, all of whom are making the political calculation that it’s good politics to support a statewide union President in some other district. I get it. It’s very misleading though. It’s probably helping him raise money, his campaign is claiming to have raised $100k in the first 24 hours, but I’m sure that’s largely from outside of the Lehigh Valley too, like an other candidate.

Maybe the problem for Brooks is too many people in PA-7 know too much. The stakes in the Lehigh Valley are too high to back a candidate who probably won’t be able to defend himself when the Republicans come for him. He calls himself a “family man” on his website, but the conduct doesn’t match the words.

This whole campaign is a John Fetterman styled bait and switch. Run as one thing, be another. Build all kinds of support from people not here, be vague with everything, then be something totally different. Not coincidentally some of the same folks are involved. I have a feeling the disappointment will come earlier this time. There’s a reason they call this man Crooksy.

Of Course Deadbeat Looney Toon Bernie Sanders Backs Bob Brooks in PA-7

/ Rich Wilkins / 20 Comments

Well, it was finally time for Bob Brooks to announce his run for Congress yesterday. When this saga all began, there were promises of the Governor endorsing Brooks and calling on everyone else to drop out, as well as a wave of unions switching their endorsements to back Brooks. Instead what we got was the Lieutenant Governor that like 3% of the Lehigh Valley has heard of, the farce of an endorsement from SEIU, Brooks own Fire Fighters union, and a Congressman that was the warm up act for Bernie Sanders in Bethlehem. Oh, and we got Bernie Sanders, the two-time Presidential Primary loser. What a shock. Bernie certainly sees a lot of himself in Bob.

About a month or so ago, I told you about how Bob Brooks borrowed $55,000 from his mother-in-law and never paid her back. She proceeded to sue him, and win, then beat him on appeal in the Superior Court. He never paid her back, and eventually just abandoned the property to his ex-wife. The actual judgment was for $130,386.36, which probably was pretty impressive to Bernie Sanders, who himself is a deadbeat. Sanders first steady job was when he was elected Mayor of Vermont. To hear how those who knew Bernie described him as a young father in the 1970’s, you get why he was drawn to the guy not paying back his in-laws. Bernie was broke and couldn’t pay his bills. Bob had a pretty good job, but couldn’t pay his mother-in-law. I get it. Neither one wanted to pay for the family they have.

Bernie’s a good role model for Bob on some social issues too. Bob Brooks has stated support for guns on demand and prayer in school in the past, in accordance with the beliefs of the 3%’ers militants. To give Bernie credit, he never sympathized with radical militants here in America, but he has had to “evolve” on gun rights, from protecting gun manufacturers in 2005 to supporting most gun safety measures. Given just the stuff we know about Bob so far, I’m sure he’ll have to evolve on immigration, or some other similar issue, just as Bernie has since his 2007 vote against immigration reform. The one area I’m not sure fits is Bob’s support of prayer in schools, but Bernie does have weird positions on gender roles that he backed away from. Bernie kind of wrote the playbook, I guess?

The one area they are a perfect match in is running campaigns to be a spoiler. Long after he had no chance at victory, Bernie Sanders continued his campaign for President in 2016, doing harm to Hillary Clinton. Bob has no pathway to victory in this race, but he’s unwittingly running to throw this race too.

When you get down to it, it makes complete sense Bernie Sanders would pick Bob Brooks to be his candidate in PA-7. It also makes sense that the rest of the JV squad was sent in to endorse instead of the Governor, Democratic Leader of the House, and everyone else they promised. The birds of the feather really did flock together.

This fire really is too big for Bob Brooks.

Is It Brooks’ Big Day?

/ Rich Wilkins / 4 Comments

Well, let’s try again. This is like the fourth time that Bob Brooks has been set to announce he’s entering the race for Congress. Maybe this time he means it. Then again, now that I’m writing it, I doubt it. But he’s supposed to announce his candidacy today though.

Brooks has major problems as a candidate. The reality is that the GOP would tear him to shreds in a general for these issues. Of course that’s assuming that Democrats will even nominate a pro-gun, religious radical. At least according to polling, that’s not likely. After being read the following, Brooks goes from 3% support to 5% support:

Bob Brooks is president of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association and a small business owner. He served more than 20 years as a firefighter and EMT for the city of Bethlehem before retiring in March. He has taken on many public safety leadership positions locally and statewide, including on Governor Josh Shapiro’s transition committee on emergency management as a member of the Pennsylvania State Fire Advisory Board. He has coached many levels of baseball in the community, most recently at Nazareth Area High School. Do you find this a very convincing, somewhat convincing, or not a convincing reason to vote for Bob Brooks?

I dunno, I feel like the buzzwords “firefighter,” “small business,” and “Shapiro” were enough positives, but baseball coach didn’t move anyone? Yet no one seemed to care.

While this seems foolish to me, others disagree. According to reports, SEIU will be endorsing rather quickly in this race. After weeks of claiming the Governor will endorse on day one, reports are now that he will not endorse at all in this race. In the least shocking news of the race, the IAFF will reportedly switch their endorsement to their brother in arms, as they actually should. If you listen to at least one of their leaders though, they’re switching because I was too mean to the guy here. I doubt I actually hurt someone’s feelings if they’re tough enough to run into a fire, but politics is a contact sport. Toughen up, buttercup.

At the top I posted a screenshot of the text message Brooks agreed to send on the behalf of his now opponent, Lamont McClure, endorsing him earlier in this race. One line really stands out for me, because it explains exactly why this cynical candidacy shouldn’t get off the ground:

“I know a thing or two about putting out fires, but the one going on in the Republican-controlled Congress is too big, even for me.”

I could not agree more.

Crosswell Tells the Crowd He’s Stopping Emil Bove’s Nomination…

/ Rich Wilkins / 1 Comment

Out of town Republican running for the Democratic Congressional nomination Ryan Crosswell found Northampton County over the weekend to meet the Democrats there and ask for their support for him for Congress. Good for him honestly. Unfortunately, I hear it went very badly. One candidate called him an opportunist in her speech, for which she is spot on. Another noted his “in-artful use of a political metaphor.” I’m down the beach this week and didn’t get to see the bumbling, blunder filled speech, so I asked some people what he said. Apparently he claimed he’s been fighting the nomination of Emil Bove to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Now of course that’s silly- Crosswell is no longer at the Justice Department, after “bravely” cutting and running from his former post, he’s also not a Senator or staffer dealing with the nomination, and there’s no public record anywhere of him leading some kind of protest. I’m glad he opposes Trump’s henchman for the nomination, but based on what? He’s opposed to unions too. Neither one left Trump after his flunkies attacked the Capitol on January 6th. Both of them were fine with Trump when the high court struck down Roe v. Wade. Based on their long held Republican views, when Crosswell registered as a Republican in Louisiana, North Carolina, and Washington D.C., I would presume Mr. Crosswell is for this nomination. I guess he’s not though, this time. Maybe there’s a primary coming up, or something.

Still no Announcement, but Brooks Hiring Staff in PA-7

/ Rich Wilkins / Leave a comment

I’m pretty sure that if I told you Bob Brooks was entering the race for Congress on say, tomorrow, he’d push back his announcement. I guess it’s something I said. While he reportedly has lined up SEIU, his own union, and the DCCC, he’s now delayed for over a month and a half since initially telling people he would enter. Coincidentally, not much that was initially promised has happened either. The Governor called no one to ask them to drop out, and sources around the Governor claim that never happened. Not coincidentally, they have not pushed anyone out. Two sources within Shapiro land adamantly claim he will not endorse in the Democratic Primary. Even so, Brooks-watch has outlasted several Trump scandals now.

It is clear that Brooks hired a paid media team, and now two separate sources relay that he has hired staff. He has hired a manager who managed a Congressman that recently flipped a long time red seat in a neighboring state. He has also apparently hired a finance director who will also serve as Deputy Manager. He is taking on some significant payroll with his hires before he even enters and raises any money. Everyone better hope that Brooks raises money the way some folks initially were told he would, and not at the “$175-200k” level that they’re now downplaying expectations to for him. Maybe they’re worried that Democrats won’t like him?

I can’t see how this works out. I can’t imagine how anyone else thinks so either. The more I think about this, the more I think this is about taking votes from other “local” candidates and helping the union-busting, carpetbagger Republican win the primary, and making a few folks some money along the way. While the “local” candidates fight each other for scrap money, he keeps raising money from his fat cats everywhere else. Then when the primary actually comes, he out spends everyone. Brooks cuts into McClure’s Northampton vote by just enough. Boom, the DCCC gets the candidate they actually wanted, one who can raise his own money. They’ve decided that’s the most important thing a nominee can have here. Listen, I’m not going to sit here and say money isn’t very, very important. I’m just saying I’m amazed now that we have a gun nut entering the race with supposed Beltway approval, and we already literally have a Republican running in the Democratic Primary. Even a decade ago this wouldn’t fly. Here we are though.

A Pro-Gun Militant Entering the PA-7 Democratic Race?

/ Rich Wilkins / 21 Comments

So this was sent along to me from a woman via e-mail Wednesday. I’m not friends with Bob Brooks on Facebook, but nothing looks inauthentic about it. I also got the sense from the proton mail email address that this person is in opposition research. The woman who sent it to me noted that the folks who posted this are 3%’ers, far right nuts. Sheriff Bieber is definitely a pro-Trump character. I see that last night it got out, so I might as well comment on this.

I’d be fine with prayer in schools if these nut bags didn’t mean their kinda prayers, but our founding fathers were very clear about opposing the establishment of a state religion. I don’t know what Bob Brooks thinks this meme meant about guns, but it meant “no gun control at all.” Zero. If he wants to run as the NRA’s candidate for Congress, I guess he’s welcome to do that. I guess a Ten Commandments in every public building and an AR-15 in every home is the path forward.

I’m sure his handlers will fill him up with the right things to say, that’s their job, but all of this suggests a very “Make America Great Again” world view. As if there was some past time where prayer in schools and a good whooping at home made sure kids grew up right, to be decent Americans. This suggests that our changing society is to blame for our ailments. I guess we could go back to pre-2008, 1972, 1863, 1960, 1954, 1919, or whatever year he’d like. Look, I think the Democratic Party has gone absolutely batshit on plenty of social issues, but I’m really not longing for the backlash of conservatives who long for “yesterday.” All this shows is that the non-candidate Brooks was wildly out of step with Democratic Primary Voters, and this run for Congress is a bait-and-switch.

This is what happens when the DCCC just keeps recruiting more primary candidates, not vetting them, and then wondering why they have massive flaws. They’re already lowering expectations on him, from initially promising the Governor would ask everyone to drop out of the race, endorse him, and raise him money, to he will raise like “$175-200k” in this quarter, and then miraculously every outside group will run here to fund him. By next week they’ll be like Jeb Bush asking you to clap. This is such a bad idea.

McClure Goes Big

/ Rich Wilkins / 2 Comments

I used to live in Vegas. The only betting I did was on sports (If only Pete Rose had said this from the start…). If you ever played the table games in a casino though, you understand the idea of going “all in.” Yesterday, Lamont McClure did that in the PA-7 race. He has a good poll and a lot of advantages in this race, but his fundraising numbers finished third last quarter. So, he loaned himself $200,000 for the campaign. This isn’t money carried over from his County Executive races or anything like that. It’s personal money.

Let’s start with the obvious here- I don’t think $200k assures victory, or anything like that. The reality is that while many of the candidates in this race are struggling to raise cash, someone will spend a lot more than $200k, possibly in this quarter alone. Rumors are that Ryan Crosswell will raise another $350k, almost entirely from outside of Pennsylvania, let alone the district. The truth is that with every additional candidate the DCCC recruits into this race, it’s more and more likely that Crosswell’s out of town Republican donors buy this primary. They don’t care, they’re fine running a Republican as a Democrat, I guess. In fact, they’re claiming their new guy will raise $175-200k, and that will bring in some outside fantasy money. The truth is they’ve not delivered a single promise to this date associated with this candidate, so why should we believe it?

Here’s what $200k does do though. $200k will pay for roughly six pieces of district-wide mail. When you’re the candidate in the lead, and you have the most name recognition, that eases any fall from grace caused by other candidates out spending you. If you’re polling 40% in Northampton County now, it means you probably hold most of that- and that’s about 18% of the total vote. What this means, in moron proof terms, is that there is no physical path to victory for a second Northampton County, labor backed candidate who currently basically polls at zero. You can scream and yell about all the fictional general election polls, all the fictional endorsements from statewide figures, and how your personal negatives actually won’t hurt you- none of that matters. If the existing front-runner spends $200k on paid communications, that’s probably not going to win the race- but I guarantee you, the other person trying to run on the same lane on the track will lose. This isn’t opinion. It’s math. I’m not sure what personal gain some people have with pushing this charade, but they’re not giving honest, decent, good advice.