Topic category:  Other/General

A Democrat, a Republican and a Libertarian walk into a bar. No, this isn't a joke. It happened. The three men spent hours discussing how to straighten out Pennsylvania government and by the end of the night, all three agreed on almost all of the issues. Imagine that.

The Democrat is Irv Livingood, who is challenging 14-year incumbent Rep. Dante Santoni Jr. in Pennsylvania's 126th Legislative District. The Republican is Bill Reed, who is taking on 20-year incumbent Rep. Dennis Leh in the 130th Legislative District.

The Libertarian is Russ Diamond, founder of PaCleanSweep and an independent candidate for governor of Pennsylvania.

The bar is the social quarters of the Alsace Manor Fire Company in Berks County, about 50 miles southeast of Philadelphia. The occasion was a campaign rally for Livingood, who is the chief mechanic for a municipality north of Reading and a first-time political candidate.

Reed, who owns an auto body shop, has run twice before for Berks County commissioner, but lost both times. Diamond ran for Congress in 2004 as a Libertarian and also challenged his local legislator that year. Both campaigns were unsuccessful, as was a run for school board in his hometown of Annville, Lebanon County.

Diamond's fortunes changed on July 7, 2005, when the Pennsylvania Legislature voted at 2 a.m. to give its members, the governor and the state's judges pay raises of 16 percent to 54 percent. That vote would launch Operation Clean Sweep and send incumbents running for their political lives.

The reform movement led by Diamond and a handful of other activists forced the repeal of the pay raise, the defeat of a state Supreme Court justice at the polls last November and a record number of challengers to incumbent legislators for the May 16 primary.

Ten months into his crusade to clean up state government, Diamond has found a daunting challenge. He wants to replace Ed Rendell as governor of Pennsylvania. Diamond's first hurdle — and it's a big one — is to collect a minimum of 67,000 signatures from registered voters just to get his name on the ballot.

Rendell and his GOP challenger, Lynn Swann, needed 2,000 signatures to get on the ballot. When the two major parties write the rules, they don’t exactly want competition, so people like Diamond or members of minor parties have to spend months scouring for signatures just to get in the game.

Diamond collected a few dozen names at his stop in Berks County and persuaded many of those in attendance to collect more signatures on his behalf.

One of the people who agreed to gather signatures for Diamond was Vicki Rhodier, a registered Republican.

"I am a believer of this Russ Diamond," Rhodier said. "I am totally impressed with him. His viewpoints are mine."

Where else would you find a Republican willing to circulate a petition to get an independent candidate on the ballot? That's the beauty of PaCleanSweep, the nonpartisan, grassroots organization that has united Pennsylvanians of all political persuasions.

Another person at the event, William Sakellaropoulos, described himself as a Libertarian who is disgusted with the mess Democrats and Republicans have made in Harrisburg. He didn't know much about Diamond, but after hearing him speak and asking several questions, he's found somebody he can support for governor.

"This man makes a lot of sense," Sakellaropoulos said. "This is the kind of leadership we need in this state."

Sakellaropoulos left the meeting with a "Livingood for State Legislature" lawn sign in one hand and a petition for Russ Diamond in the other hand.

A self-admitted "cheapskate," Diamond is trying to win the governor's seat without money, the fuel of all modern political campaigns.

While Ed Rendell sits on a $16 million campaign war chest and Lynn Swann tries to bolster his $1.5 million bank account, Diamond is mounting a grassroots campaign with a Web site, www.russdiamond.org, where supporters can donate money via credit card, and small group of volunteers.

Livingood and Reed also show the disparity between well-financed incumbents and everyday people who are trying to take back their government from special interests.

While someone like Rep. Santoni has to pay people to attend his campaign events (free beer anyone?), it's strictly cash bar at the Alsace Manor Fire Company.

Livingood, who broke the bank by spending several hundred dollars from his campaign account to advertise the event, passed around a basket asking for donations from the people in the room. Every dollar counts when you're not handed thousands of dollars by party leaders to win re-election or get the benefit of taxpayer-paid mailings and TV spots from Harrisburg.

Reed won't even ask for money. He said he won't accept a penny from voters. His entire campaign budget, meager as it is, comes from his own pocket.

Livingood and Reed are counting on the anti-incumbent anger in the state and going door-to-door to personally reach voters.

Diamond said he will spend a lot of time over the next four weeks running around the state stumping for PACleanSweep candidates, fulfilling his promise to help them get through the primary. The official Diamond for Governor Tour will start after the primary election.

Tony Phyrillas
http://tonyphyrillas.blogspot.com (Columnist)

Biography - Tony Phyrillas

Tony Phyrillas is a leading conservative political columnist and blogger based in Pennsylvania. He is a veteran journalist with 25 years experience as a reporter, editor and columnist for several newspapers. Phyrillas received recognition for column writing in 2010 from the Associated Press Managing Editors, in 2007 from Suburban Newspapers of America and in 2006 from the Society of Professional Journalists, Keystone Chapter. A graduate of Penn State University, Phyrillas is the city editor and political columnist for The Mercury, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa. In addition to The Mercury website (www.pottsmerc.com), his columns are featured on more than a dozen political websites and blogs. Phyrillas is a frequent guest (and occasional host) on talk radio and has been a panelist on the "Journalists Roundtable" public affairs TV program on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN). Phyrillas was named one of the '10 Leading Greek-American Bloggers in the World' in 2007 by Odyssey: The World of Greece magazine. BlogNetNews.com ranked Phyrillas the Most Influential Political Blogger in Pennsylvania for three consecutive years (2007-2010). You can follow Phyrillas on Twitter @TonyPhyrillas