Corporate Politicians
by Holden Watch
Among the most repellent features of national politics is the unreasonable control the two major parties have over the process of government. For example, rather than advancing congressional candidates who are primarily and firmly committed to representing the people in their districts and states, party brokers seek out and support candidates who are 1) faithful to and 2) controllable by the party. The result is a two-tier system of loyalties that often elbows out the people's interests in favor of a party's.
That is especially true in the bitterly partisan world of Washington today where the battle lines are sharply drawn, the combatants keep score meticulously, and the parties exert careful control over their affiliated politicians.
Those rare politicians who can be counted on to simply do the right thing can be kicked to the curb when a party finds the right thing to be contrary to its own immediate interests.
It is in that environment and among those circumstances locally that we announce the suspension of the Holden Watch series on this web site.
It has undoubtedly been apparent to readers that we wish to replace Tim Holden in the United States Congress, but we see no advantage to the district by replacing him with another conventional politician who, except for the letter behind his name, has all the unappealing political characteristics of our current, nominal representative.
Republican Party leaders in the state organization and in certain local committees are brokering the nomination of state senator David Argall of Schuylkill County to run against Tim Holden. Argall has been in the state legislature for 25 years, but has yet to complete a full year in his current office. We are uncertain about the leaning of the Dauphin County GOP, but Argall was endorsed by the Schuylkill County chairman, Bob Ames, before committee interviews of other candidates, and, Mike Long, a long-time Harrisburg-based political operative and Argall campaign consultant, reputedly holds proxies for nearly two-thirds of the Lebanon County endorsement committee.
It appears that Republican autocrats have stacked the deck for a subservient candidate who voted for both the Harrisburg legislative pay and pension grabs. In fact, Argall was on the conference committee that drafted the final version of the infamous middle-of-the-night legislative pay raise, and he has never returned his swag from that act of piracy. The party machine considers Argall attractive because they think he can split the Schuylkill County vote and overcome his negatives in the rest of the district.
He can't.
Argall won't win. His nomination will render pointless our efforts to tell the truth about Tim Holden
We have no interest in getting involved in a conventional slugfest between corporate politicians beholden to their respective parties, one of whom we think undeserving of the office he holds and the other undeserving of the office he seeks.
We will continue to keep an eye on Tim Holden, but we will not publish to assist the campaign of David Argall, whose political instincts and loyalties are as suspect as Holden's.