Published: December 11, 2005 10:47 pm         

Group attempts to have a challenger for every incumbent in next year’s election  By Jane Smith

12/12/05 — WATERFORD — Wearing blue jeans, a dark flannel shirt over a black turtleneck sweater, Russ Diamond paced the floor of the Libertarian Headquarters here for more than 90 minutes to get his message across: “Vote ’Em All Out.”

The “Em” he was referring to are the state legislators and all government officials.

Diamond, 42-year-old computer business owner from Lebanon County, urged the approximately 50 persons in attendance to get involved now and line up a candidate to run against every incumbent as a protest against last July’s pay raise.

Diamond, who said he is a conservative Republican, ran unsuccessfully for Congress and the state House as a Libertarian last year, according to an Inter-net site. He said he ran at the urging of people in his district.

Touting the success of his organization in making history by defeating Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro for retention in the Nov. 8 election, Diamond said it was because of the Internet. Legislators, he said, “had no clue the role it would play,” citing the thousands of people that can be contacted now that did not have access 10 years ago.

Despite the fact the Legisla-ture has repealed the pay raise, Diamond said, “That is not good enough for me,” saying there is nothing to prevent the Legisla-ture from repeating the measure.

“It’s a matter of trust,” he said, noting if the Legislature did that “in the middle of the night when nobody was looking, what else are they doing?”

Diamond said he got involved after talking with his nephew, who was furious that one state senator received a $34,000 pay raise when his nephew was operating a pizza shop seven days a week and not making $34,000 a year.

At the same time, Diamond said the Legislature is not doing its job. While it talks about property tax reform, Diamond said that is just a symptom of the problem. He said Legislature has not addressed the “broken education, health care, poor economy and poor business climate in Pennsylvania.”

Instead of addressing those problems, Diamond said legislators are involved in the “Incum-bent Protection Program” and worry more about being re-elected than solving the state’s problems.

Although it was snowing outside and cold, Diamond said now is the time to recruit candidates for the May primary. Noting nominating petitions must be filed by March 7, he said they can be circulated for signatures beginning Feb. 14, meaning candidates should be ready to go by the end of January. “That’s only six weeks away,” he said.

Those running for the House of Representatives need 300 signatures; for the Senate, 500.

“Why are you not running for office?” he asked the audience. “What is holding you back?”

“Money,” was one reply. “Education,” was the second.

Money should not be a major factor, he said, noting the Republicans spent $1.5 million to help keep two Supreme Court justices on the bench. “We spent nothing and we made history,” he said, referring to Nigro’s defeat.

“You don’t need a lot of money to speak about great ideas,” he said. “They (the Republi-cans) spent millions of dollars to support a bad idea.”

He said what is needed is a $100 filing fee and “time. The most important thing you do,” he said, is spending time campaigning, noting it takes a lot of “shoe leather.”

He said education is not a criteria for election. Requirements for a state representative are that the candidate must be 21 years of age, have lived in Pennsylva-nia for four years, in a specific district for one year, and pay the filing fee. “That’s it,” he said. He asks that candidates asking for his organization’s help be able to “read the constitution and know the difference between right and wrong.”

“We have 74 candidates so far; we need a lot more,” he said of the 2006 elections where all 203 state House seats and 25 state Senate seats will be up for grabs. He also wants to defeat the governor and all incumbent office holders, saying they all deserve to be taken out of office. He wants an opponent on every ballot.

“I can’t do it alone,” he said as he urged people to get involved and work together. He said it would be better to have only one candidate on a ballot opposing an incumbent, noting if there are more than one, they split the votes and the incumbent will be nominated again.

Responding to questions about philosophies about candidates, Diamond said that is not the concern of Clean Sweep. He said if one starts worrying about philosophy and policy, it will divide the efforts.

Instead, he said, elect anyone who runs against an incumbent, regardless of their philosophies. He said no matter if the person is a “thief, a crook or a liar,” to vote for them, noting they can be defeated in two years. The important thing for 2006 is to vote out all the incumbents, he said, noting it’s time to make Penn-sylvania a better state and a great asset.



Jane Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at jsmith@meadvilletribune.com

Story Comments

Operation CLEAN SWEEP; there's a nice ring to it and this guy Mr. Diamond deserves lots of credit and support. I'll vote against all my local incumbents and any other member of that good ol boy network in Harrisburg.

This kind of thinking could clear out the rubbish currently in office. I add my voice to "Vote 'em out!"
Political Activist

get them out!!!!!!!!!!
al

Every last one of them. You have my vote!
smiley1

i agree. they're all scum
caroll

It certainly would make government interesting again. But where would the PAC monies go? What would lobbyists do with the new folks that came in? Where would the candidates comes from? How would they get campaign funding? Good luck - the old boy's (and girl's) network will produce new candidates just like it did the old ones. I'm cynical enough to believe there's no new blood anymore.
lifefeedsonlife

Not one person who has commented has expressed concern that Mr Diamond said we should even elect liars &/or criminals. Not only that, but he is suggesting education is not important. While it is not a requirement (nor do I think it should be) to run for the office of representative or senator, education is important and should be a signficiant factor in voters' decisions for whom to vote. Please don't be so blind people. And don't vote against someone simply because he/she is an incumbent.
DrTruth

We need a plan to get all third parties together to get the do nothing, get me re-elected partisan Democrats & Republicans out of office
HIPPYBIKER

Ms. Smith took my comments out of context in this article. In the Q & A portion of the PACleanSweep meetup on Decenber 11, 2005 in Waterford, someone asked, "What if the new people we put in turn out to be thieves, crooks and liars just like the ones we have now?" My answer was, "Yes, that's certainly a possibility, but it doesn't matter because we can just as easily CleanSweep them in another two years as well." Ms. Smith's interpretation insinuates that I advocate knowingly electing scofflaws. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Russ Diamond