How Low Can They Go?

Carl Romanelli is running for the Senate. You've probably never heard of him, even in Pennsylvania, which is where he's running. You probably won't hear about him, either, at least not about his platform or what he would do in office. His role is not to win, it is to drain votes from Bob Casey, the Democratic nominee, who currently holds double-digit leads over the incumbent, Sen. Rick Sanctimonious, in the polls.

Romanelli got on the ballot in the usual way, by presenting signatures. His campaign to get those signatures cost more than $66,000. Where did he get the money? From Republicans, of course. What, that's not what you expected? Well, it's true. Of $66,000 that the Luzerne County Green Party (the vehicle for the signature gathering) raised in July, all but $30 came from Republican donors. That's not a misprint--exactly $30, from Romanelli himself, is the entire scope of money raised from donors (or in this case, a donor) who are not Republicans.

Clearly, Republicans hope to drain votes from the Democratic candidate in their desperate struggle to keep Sen. Sanctimonious in office.

Now there's nothing illegal in this. But it's not exactly the democracy they teach in civics class, is it? In fact, it's a pretty loathsome, cynical practice.

Then again, what else would you expect from the Republicans?

(It will be interesting to see if the good people of Pennsylvania find out about this tactic and, if they do, whether it will help or hurt Sanctimonious' campaign.)