Time for Orie to resign

Jane Orie has no credibility left.  No one right now knows who was involved in the fraudulent documents, but it is ultimately her responsibility since she should have known about them.  Heck, they weren't even good forgeries.  Who in their right mind though they would get away with it?

You can't blame this on Zapalla.  Senator Orie, it is over.

Jane Orie Trial

After the first week of testimony, how many of you are regretting that you voted to re-elect her?  The prosecution spent the entire week parading staffer after staffer in front of the jury to the point that one juror had to be replaced for sleeping.  Can you blame this person?  It must have been like watching the same rerun over and over again as each staffer repeats pretty much the same thing.

Below are some links to articles from the PG and Trib about the trial things caught my eye:

1. A few years ago, I received a voice mail from her regarding an email I sent her about the city's financial condition (I wrote to Mike Turzai as well, but no one should be surprised that I got no response form him.).  I was impressed that she thought to call me back.  Now I wonder if that we really her.  I wonder if staffers practiced do her voice or didn't bother.
2. Trying to claim that the GOP's annual political dinner was a "public policy forum" may be showing how bad it is for the defense.  I have gone to the Democratic version.  It is a $100 a plate affair (I have never paid for it.), and there is nothing non-political about it.

Also, keep in mind that the whistle blower went to then Attorney General Tom Corbett's office first and they refused to take this case.

Witness: Staffers pretended to be Jane Orie in campaign calls - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Orie staffer says campaign office was for appearance purposes - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Focus in Jane Orie trial moves to sister Janine - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Orie's lawyer evokes Zappala - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
GOP's dinner not political? Orie judge raises eyebrow - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Jane Orie raised your taxes 420%!!!!!!

Unless you live in Ross Township.

According to Orie logic, Ross Township Commissioner Dan DeMarco voted to raise taxes 150%.  Thanks to North Pittsburgh Politics, this was the occupation tax.

Using Orie logic, she voted to raise this tax 420% for just about all of us as most municipalities couldn't wait to raise this tax.  This includes the Republican McCandless Town Council where both she and I live.

The tax increase was originally intended to help the City of Pittsburgh, but instead of just applying it to Pittsburgh, Jane Orie voted to increase the tax state wide.  My wife and I do not work in Pittsburgh, and yet she raised our tax 420%.

Dan DeMarco could have taken the full $52 as well in Ross Township, but they only took what they felt they needed and left $27 on the table.  Would it be a stretch of Orie logic to claim that  Dan DeMarco actually cut the tax by 52% from $52 to $25?

North Pittsburgh Politics: Jane Orie/Dan DeMarco mail wars

North Pittsburgh Politics wrote a great series of posts on Jane Orie's mailings that have been cluttering our mail boxes since September along with Dan DeMarco's responses:

Sen. Jane Orie's shameful mailing
Jane Orie's Fantasy World
Will these mailers convince you that Jane Orie didn't abuse tax payer's money?
Dan DeMarco Mailers
Rest of Jane Orie mailers so far
Why did Jane Orie get indicted? Hmmm
Dan DeMarco Mailers

You can certainly see a pattern in Jane Orie's mailers.  As time goes on, she goes further and further off the deep end.  I can't wait to check my mail for the next one.  The Zapalla's are out to get her!  She is fighting the "Good Old Boy" network!  Never mind that you don't get to be Senate Majority Whip unless you are one of those "Good Old Boys" that you are allegedly fighting against.

The only reason that Zapalla brought the charges is because, unlike Attorney General Corbett, he was doing his job.  The whistle blower went to Corbett's office first and his office blew her off.  It also wasn't like Zapalla did it on his own.  He convened two Grand Juries that brought the charges to her and her family (Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin may be getting indicted as well.).  I guess the Grand Juries are out to get Orie as well.

I have met Dan DeMarco and he is everything in person that his mailers show.  He is very personable and sincere.  He will be a fine State Senator.

The choice on November 2nd between Dan DeMarco's sincerity and Jane Orie's insanity is a pretty easy one.

Primary Thoughts

I worked at my local poll after work Tuesday. There were two people that I noticed voters were genuinely excited about. On the Republican side was Keith Rothfus who easily dispatched Mary Beth Buchanan. I was really hoping Buchanan would win, because it would be fun watching her blow her top on a regular basis. Too bad we will miss out on that.

"Experts" are already dismissing him and practically giving Altmire his seat back. The rationale is that he isn't the fundraiser Buchanan was. I think it will be a hard fought campaign with Rothfus running a low budget campaign working mostly on the ground and Altmire mostly on the air, because that is where their strengths currently lie. No one should forget that Altmire won a similar low budget ground campaign 4 years ago against a well financed Melissa Hart.

The person on the Democratic side that people seemed to be excited about was Dan DeMarco. Maybe they were just excited about another write-in opportunity on the voting machines. There were 4578 write-in votes for the Democratic nomination to the State Senate. We won't know the results for some time, but I have a hard time believing that a majority of those write-ins voted for Jane Orie.

DeMarco will also have to run a strong ground game, but will have the benefit of Jane Orie's indictment and her overall disposition which lately has not been very positive. Just looking at their campaign fliers, he looked warm and friendly, and she looked like she was going to bite my head off. I think DeMarco will be well served to maintain the positive vibes against Orie's negative vibes.

Later, I'll post on the Governor's race where John Corbett seems to be losing it (I hope I don't get subpoenaed for saying this.), and the Senate race where I think the more you find out about the real Pat Toomey the less you will like him.

The last very local race is for State House which will pit career politician Mike Turzai against Dr. Sharon Brown. She got 4166 votes in the Democratic primary which is significantly higher than any other nominee for Turzai's seat in the last 10 years. If you add in the votes Turzai received, she got 37% of the overall vote. That is a pretty good starting point considering that in the general election, the closest a Democrat got was 28%.

She will also need a strong ground game as well and might be well served to work with Dan DeMarco. The two of them working together against the pair of Mike Turzai and Jane Orie might be a good tactic.

They could tie Turzai in with Orie's troubles and also benefit from the anti-incumbency mood. No one that we will vote for in the fall has been in office longer than Turzai and Orie. Both are career politicians just like the kind that people hate. The only other incumbent that we will vote for is Jason Altmire, and he has only held an office of any kind for 4 years. That is hardly a career.

Tired of Jane Orie Junk Mail; Supporting Dan DeMarco!

I just received yet another post card from Jane Orie trying to fool me into writing her name in as a Democrat. I actually lost count, but this may be the fifth one I received.

I am so annoyed at receiving her junk mail day after day after day that I will be working the polls in support of Dan DeMarco. If she is so scared of this man then he must be a great candidate!

Indicted Jane Orie running for the Democratic nomination?

She is mounting a write in campaign for the Democratic nomination so she won't have to worry about having an opponent in November. I got two post cards from her already. Missing from both cards is the fact that she is a Republican. Mike Turzai never admits to being a Republican either. I have always wondered if they are both embarrassed to be Republicans.

Anyway, the real Democrat running for the nomination is Dan DeMarco of Ross. His credentials are impressive and he deserves you support.