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Why should we believe anything U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty says, when she’s not even upfront about an irrelevant personal accomplishment?
McGinty, a Democrat, is running to unseat Pat Toomey, a Republican, in November’s general election. This very important race could tip control of the Senate from Republican to Democratic.
Former state Gov. Ed Rendell served as McGinty’s primary election campaign manager, a reason right there to be wary. And that was even before the smooth-talking Rendell suggested, according to The Washington Post, that because “there are probably more ugly women in America than attractive women,” they likely will not vote for Donald Trump. In other words, there’ll be a lot more votes for Hillary Clinton from the nation’s overabundance of ugly gals.
If Trump, no stranger to foot-in-mouth remarks, made that comment, we wouldn’t hear the end of it.Rendell has since apologized. When he saw his words in print, he was aghast, saying: “Did I say that? It was just dumb, and stupid, and insensitive, and if I offended anyone, I apologize.”
IF he offended anyone? For starters, how about more than half the female population you apparently consider bowwows?
As for his protégé, McGinty has been saying on the campaign trail that she is the first in a family of 10 siblings to go to college. As if that adds to her readiness to represent us in Washington.
As it turns out, her folksy college tale is a tall one. Buzzfeed learned that Katie’s brother John went to college before her. Drats, that Buzzfeed!
In an effort at damage control that would make spinmeisters Bill and Hillary Clinton proud, McGinty said her brother received credits from a community college before getting a bachelor’s degree from La Salle University. But she, on the other hand, went to a four-year college right out of high school. Sorry, Luzerne County Community College graduates. Katie probably didn’t mean to insult you.
But in addition to his first degree, brother John also received a master’s degree from Temple University before sister Katie entered St. Joseph’s University. It sure sounds like she’s the runner-up in this contest.
Hounded by the media to explain, Katie told The Philadelphia Inquirer last week that, “Our family story here is one that we’re proud of, and that is that as the ninth of 10 kids in our family, I was the first who right out of high school was able to go to a four-year college. It was a big moment in our family’s life.”
What about brother John’s big moment? His doesn’t count because he started out at a community college?
“It just brings home to me that every kid needs to have a shot at affordable education, and it’s an essential piece of who I am,” McGinty also said. Apparently so is stretching the truth.
So what, if anything, should we make of this?
Well, we can conclude that McGinty is no different from any other politician in that she will twist the truth if it helps her get elected. Frankly, who cares when she went to college. There are other issues at hand.
Analyzing a pro-Toomey ad questioning her ethics, The Associated Press explained that when the state Senate was considering McGinty for a second term as Pennsylvania’s environmental protection secretary, her agency approved more than $2.7 million in grants for a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization that employed her husband. The state Ethics Commission ruled a continuation of such a grant-making arrangement would be a violation of ethics laws. The Rendell administration challenged that ruling to the state Supreme Court, but it was rejected. So what does that mean, that Rendell had no problem with this obvious conflict of interest?
The administration argued that her husband’s employer received many grants before she took office and was denied a few while she was the DEP secretary. She was never sanctioned or reprimanded, The Associated Press reported.
Now McGinty and Rendell are working together again. There is no denying that Rendell is a consummate politician with a bit of a checkered past.
Years ago, the state police investigated him and his administration into whether they had rigged the outcome of the casino-licensing process to benefit Louis DeNaples, who allegedly had organized crime connections, according to “The Quiet Don,” the best-selling book about Russell Bufalino. No charges were filed. Prosecutors had argued the state Supreme Court thwarted the investigation, according to Matt Birkbeck’s book. The Supreme Court? Nooo.
Rendell also was linked to a corruption investigation of public pension funds, according to redstate.com.
So, maybe we should be wondering why a former wheeler-dealer state governor is so invested in the U.S. Senate race. And what might be in it for him if Katie McGinty wins?