Meuser, Hackett clash over negative ads

JENKINS TWP. — It only took about 12 minutes for the gloves to come off in the third and final debate between 10th Congressional District Republican candidates Dan Meuser and Chris Hackett.

Meuser was the first to land a punch in the one-hour debate aired live on public television as he went after Hackett for what Meuser described as negative campaigning.

The two Republicans squared off in the studio of WVIA-TV, Channel 44, for the last time before the April 22 primary. The winner will face the presumptive Democratic candidate, first-term Rep. Chris Carney, Dimock Township, in November.

When asked about the amount of campaign spending by both candidates – more than $1 million by Meuser and nearly $750,000 by Hackett – Meuser fired first.

“It’s too bad frankly, that this is the way it is,” Meuser said. “But when my opponent began his negative attack, we had to defend ourselves to set the record straight and dispel the twisted facts and misinformation. And that costs more money.”

Hackett came back by chastising Meuser for airing an ad that Hackett said is aimed at scaring senior citizens about his stance on Social Security.

Meuser said he won’t tinker with Social Security, while Hackett said he would favor allowing young people to take their money out to invest it privately.

“I think negative campaigning is in the eyes of the beholder,” Hackett said. “I feel it’s important for me to contrast my values and beliefs on the issues and how they differ from Dan. Whether it has to do with donations to Democratic candidates, voters have a right to know and it’s a candidate’s obligation to let it be known.”

That got a rise out of Meuser, who denied, as Hackett has claimed, that he or his company – Pride Mobility – ever donated a dime to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Meuser said he would never claim to have brought a company to the area and then have the CEO refute that publicly. Hackett came under fire for taking credit for convincing C3i, a firm that provides customized support to pharmaceutical companies, to locate in the area. A company official later wrote a letter to the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce denying Hackett’s claim.

The two sparred on the issue of earmarks and pork-barrel spending. Hackett said he opposes them and would never engage in any deals to secure funding for local projects by agreeing to building bridges to nowhere and monuments to congressmen.