It’s a welcome end to a long week of bad press for Senator Pat Toomey. He was lambasted for “actively working against” Pennsylvanians, given a grim reelection outlook by a conservative outlet following last week’s Democratic sweep of statewide judicial posts, and slammed in a national editorial for blocking his own judicial nominee – a yearlong delay that “undermine[s] the justice system, and the biggest victims are ordinary Americans.”
“Don’t take our word for it – even Pennsylvania media agrees that Senator Toomey has spent his term in the Senate ‘actively working against’ Pennsylvanians’ interests and the more scrutiny that record receives, the harder his reelection will be,” said Lauren Passalacqua DSCC National Press Secretary.
Here are the highlights:
“Unlike the region’s congressmen and the state’s other senator, Bob Casey, Toomey has tried to kill the Ex-Im Bank, which provides financing that helps GE and some smaller companies in the region sell products abroad. Because GE has designated international locomotive production as Erie’s primary niche, that means Toomey has been actively working against Erie’s interests.”
“The federal government’s Export-Import Bank is supposed to help export American products abroad. But the political fight over it has scrambled maps much closer to home. Just ask U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, whose opposition to the bank has put him at odds… with many business interests he ordinarily champions.
“[Support for reauthorization is] a popular position in Erie — and not just at GE.
“‘I’m a fiscal conservative myself, but companies like ours rely on this international business,” said Dave Tullio, president of Custom Engineering, a 155-employee Erie fabrication firm that numbers GE among its top clients. “Of all the things to choose as the standard bearer of reduced government, this doesn’t make sense to me.’”
“That does not mean that Judge Restrepo, whom Mr. Toomey called “a very well-qualified candidate” who would “make a superb addition” to the appeals court, will actually get through the confirmation roadblock led by Senate Republicans. Mr. Toomey, despite his professed support, is responsible for a big part of it, refusing for six months to sign off on the nomination by exploiting a pointless tradition that allows home-state senators to block a nomination with no explanation needed.
“With each day that passes without a vote on Judge Restrepo and other nominees, Republicans undermine the justice system, and the biggest victims are ordinary Americans who cannot count on fully functioning courts.”
“Not only is Toomey holding up his own nominees, but he’s also got more outstanding blue slips than any other senator. Some of Toomey’s constituents have noticed he’s been holding out.
“Senator, speed up the process for judicial nominee Horan,” reads a Nov. 5 letter to the editorin the Butler Eagle, a local Pennsylvania newspaper.
“Toomey’s delays come at a time when Senate Republicans are deliberately slow-walking judicial confirmations. Their strategy is to hold out until after 2016, when a Republican may be in the White House, and then start filling out federal courts with GOP-picked judges. The problem is that court vacancies are going unfilled in the meantime, and the judicial system is getting so backlogged that cases are being delayed for years and judges are burning out.”
“Barely a week after Pennsylvania Democrats swept all three slots on the State Supreme Court that were on the statewide ballot, speculation throughout the Keystone State is mounting that this might spell danger for Republican Sen. Pat Toomey as he seeks re-election in 2016.
“‘This outcome spells terrible trouble for Toomey,’ Ann Womble, former GOP chairman of Lancaster County, told me soon after final results showed Democrats handily winning control of the state’s seven-judge highest court.
