The Lehigh Valley

Crosswell Hopes You’re an Illiterate Moron

/ Rich Wilkins / 5 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.

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.

Is It Brooks’ Big Day?

/ Rich Wilkins / 5 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 / 26 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.

PA-7 Poll Shows McClure Up Big

/ Rich Wilkins / 6 Comments

People get caught up in “horserace coverage” during elections, but the reality is that nothing actually happens until money is being spent and votes are being cast. With that said, I told you about a poll a couple of days ago that was out in the field for the PA-7 Democratic Primary. I didn’t know who had actually done it then though. It turns out the poll was done by PPP (Public Policy Polling). For who? I don’t know. I managed to get the results though. McClure holds a 16% lead in the initial ballot, with Pinsley and Obando-Derstine tied for second. Brooks and Crosswell are within the margin of error of zero initially. After bios McClure and Obando-Derstine are the only serious candidates, with McClure’s lead only mildly changed. Crosswell gets out of being within the margin of error of zero, but only up to 7%. Even after bio, Brooks is only at 5%. The concept of a candidate like Brooks does better with the public than the actual candidate does. Pinsley actually goes down after people heard his bio. When informed that Crosswell is a lifelong Republican, with a union buster past, and no ties to the community, 88% of Democratic voters said they had very serious or somewhat serious concerns.

Only the Pinsley part of this shocks me. Lamont McClure has a base of support that he built up winning races over the past 15+ years, there’s probably no way to really drive him down in Northampton County. While Carol Obando-Derstine is a relative unknown, Democratic voters like voting for an educated woman who is an immigrant to this country. There’s a rationalization for these candidates running. I would think the same for Pinsley, as he’s occupying the political “left lane” in this race, but the polling didn’t bare that out. Crosswell is the creation of some Beltway consultants who want to just pour money into creating a fictional story that didn’t really happen. As for Brooks, while people say they want to vote for a blue-collar bio, fire fighter, and little league coach, that’s not what they end up selecting when push comes to shove.

Again, this isn’t votes being cast. Polling assumes everyone can get their message out at equal levels, which they can’t. On top of this, almost 40% are undecided at the end of the poll, which I’m sure some Carvillian Geniuses in DC and the Valley will say shows this race is going to change. This race is starting to shows shades of the 2018 primary though, in which Susan Wild won by 2.4% with 33.5%. There are five candidates this time instead of six, but were Roger Ruggles or David Clark running to actually win in that race? Carol, by way of bio, is probably going to grow into a candidate who gets close to 30% simply by staying viable. I don’t see how or why she would do better than Congresswoman Wild did in that race though, seeing as how the district is more conservative than it was then. McClure’s positives are very high, like Morganelli in that race, but he isn’t out of step with the party on Trump, immigration, or abortion, like Morganelli was. In this race it will be Crosswell answering for negatives. Brooks kind of looks like the Ruggles in this race. Pinsley wants to be the Edwards. At least right now, this race looks like maybe it’s a two dog hunt. Maybe.

Carpetbagging Republican Crosswell’s Out of Town Donors Try to Buy the Lehigh Valley

/ Rich Wilkins / 13 Comments

You can’t make this up if you try. No, really. Crosswell’s first finance report is out. It’s incredibly bad. Don’t take my word for it. From Lehigh Valley News:

Crosswell, the latest candidate to enter the race, raised more than $320,929 in just three weeks, records show. 

That amount, which came entirely from individual donors, led the field of Democrats. After expenditures, he had $254,003 on hand as of the end of June, according to the reports.

Crosswell resigned from the U.S. Justice Department in protest after the Trump administration opted to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams for political reasons. 

His campaign, which has focused on upholding the rule of law, appears to have attracted significant support from the legal community. Dozens of attorneys from across the country have donated to his campaign, records show.

However, it appears almost none of the money he’s raised came from within the district. 

LehighValleyNews.com identified only a single donation from within the Lehigh Valley or Carbon County on the 200-page report — a $500 contribution from an Allentown woman.

The dearth of local donations could feed more political attacks that cast him as a carpetbagger. Crosswell, a former Marine, moved to the district earlier this year and switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democratic in December. The Pottsville native had no prior ties to the district other than athletic competitions in high school. His three opponents have accused him of district shopping — a claim Crosswell denies.

For a moment I’ll leave aside the false narrative that the Adams decision pushed him to run and let the rest speak for itself. Croswell got exactly one person to donate to his campaign from the district. One. This guy isn’t even pretending to represent the Lehigh Valley, he’s trying to buy his way into our seat with a bunch of lawyers from North Carolina, DC, California, and God knows where else paying his tab. I’m sure if we looked over their voter registrations, plenty of them are his buddies from his union busting days in the Republican Party, but it really doesn’t matter if they aren’t. They aren’t from the Lehigh Valley. That’s fine with Crosswell though, because neither is he.

I’ll just point out though something that is just as bad, especially if you’re a solid Democrat who believes in the policies and values of the Democratic Party. While raising $321k, he couldn’t find one Democratic group to back him. Not a single PAC gave him money. Not one union. No pro-choice organization. No environmental group. Nobody. This is because he has long held the values of the Republican Party when he went to work and vote. One has to worry now that if he does find a group to give him money, it will be because he basically sells himself. He came into this with none of our values. This whole campaign is being astroturfed by union busters and Beltway elites.

The other two Democratic candidates have not matched Crosswell so far, which can be expected based on past Lehigh Valley congressional primaries. This isn’t a wealthy district, and this happens to be where they made their actual lives and careers. They’re from here, and they’re Democrats. I certainly have my preference, but I could probably deal with either one being our nominee. Being honest about who you are is the first and most important step to asking for someone’s vote.

I Wonder How Much Union Buster Money is in Crosswell’s $320K?

/ Rich Wilkins / 9 Comments

In an earlier post, I told you how Ryan Crosswell is a Republican carpetbagger, running a fraudulent campaign for the Democratic nomination in PA-7. Ryan didn’t grow up in this district, or ever live in it until earlier this year. He registered to vote as a Republican in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Washington, DC (That we know of), and voted in the Republican Presidential primary in every one of Donald Trump’s races for President, so far. He claims he had some epiphany to become a Democrat when Trump’s DOJ decided to drop the charges against Eric Adams, but he purchased his campaign websites long, long before that. He just thinks Democratic voters are dumb enough to be bought off by a Republican from the Beltway.

Despite that, VoteVets and other DC groups are astroturfing together a well-funded campaign for the carpetbagger. He announced that he raised $320,000 in the first three weeks in the race. That’s an impressive amount of money, for regular candidates. This guy is going to need every penny of it though to distract voters from the fact he’s got no connection to this district, and that he’s not a Democrat. Turns out though, he’s got lots of help with that. He doesn’t just have VoteVets helping him, or the mega law firm that he works for in San Diego currently (yes, that’s in California). In fact, the guy is likely being funded by actual Republicans.

Back before Crosswell was working for the Trump Administration he worked for a firm called Littler Mendelson in Charlotte, NC. As they would tell you it, they’re the best of the best in employment law, from the perspective of the employer. Ask literally any labor union in the United States and they’ll tell you they are a notorious anti-labor firm. In regular people speak, Littler Mendelson is a union busting law firm. According to Crosswell’s LinkedIn (above), he specialized in the kind of “non-compete” agreements that the Biden Administration was trying to weaken or end in some cases.

Basically, in addition to not being from here and being a Republican, Crosswell is asking a district that literally was the birthplace of the working class (Bethlehem Steel and Mack Trucks) to elect a union buster. I would laugh at this, if he didn’t have so much money.

Of course Crosswell would raise a bunch of money to try and buy a district he has no relationship to. One has to just ask though- how much union buster money is in that $320,000? Given that nothing in his record suggests that he changed his mind from his previous Republican positions on any other issue, one has to wonder how working on the Eric Adams case changed Crosswell’s career long beliefs in anti-union practices?