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ELECTION 2010 Signs in Back Mountain area tie Democratic congressman to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

July 23, 2010

Anti-Carney force takes new tack

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
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DALLAS TWP. – Someone’s at it again.

A new group of signs against the re-election of U.S. Rep. Chris Carney has popped up along state Route 309 in the Back Mountain.

The latest version is more colorful and detailed than the previous one that said “Dump Carney” and pictured the congressman’s name in a red circle with a line through it. This time the anonymous sign maker connected Carney to fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi, depicting him as a hand puppet of the Speaker of the House. “Dump the Puppet!” reads the sign.

The signs have angered the Chris Carney for Congress campaign while the camp of Republican challenger Tom Marino distanced itself from them.

"How seriously can you take somebody who doesn’t have the courage to take responsibility for their attacks?” asked Max Cummings, campaign manager for Carney, in a prepared statement Wednesday. “This is just another example of the petty politics that have no place in northeastern Pennsylvania."

Marino, a Lycoming County resident and former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, won the May primary and in the November general election will face Carney, D-Dimock, who is seeking a third, two-year term in Congress.

Personal attacks are not fair game, but issue attacks are, said Jason Fitzgerald, spokesman for the Tom Marino for Congress campaign.

Sounding similar to the sign maker, Fitzgerald said one issue is the more than 91 percent of the time that Carney voted with Pelosi on legislation. That voting record, he added, reinforces Marino’s position that Carney is a liberal Democrat out of touch with people in the 10th District that covers all or parts of 14 counties in the mostly rural central, northern and northeastern parts of the state.

He said the signs are “in no way, shape or form associated with the campaign.” Marino campaign material contains a notation that it has been paid for by the campaign, he said.

Still, Fitzgerald would not call for their removal. He said he has seen other handmade signs on private property during his travels across the district during the campaign.

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