| (H/T to Kos, who made this a front-page story on Daily Kos yesterday.)
With the New York State Senate coup fresh on our minds, it is hard to forget the name "Steve Pigeon." Pigeon, of course, is one of the big players in the coup and why the Democrats sit here today without the majority.
Now, it seems that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (not ours here in New York, but the national one) is teaming up with Pigeon to raise money for former Republican Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race.
Here is the invite:
When I was writing about different Senate races last year, I built up sources who would give me the inside scoop on those races. A few of the sources I had hailed from Western New York and discussed Pigeon's role in the 61st Senate District race when Pigeon backed Joe Mesi. Those sources told me a little bit about Pigeon's history. It wasn't pretty.
Pigeon was once the chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party. The party suffered under Pigeon's leadership. One story I was told was that he threw every appointed member off the Executive Committee because they would not support his primary challenger for county clerk. Pigeon, as chair, also lost control of the Erie County Legislature on two different occasions. Now, the Legislature is firmly in Democratic hands. But under Pigeon, that was not the case.
Then there is the present. Pigeon has aligned himself with several Republicans. Sen. George Maziarz is one of the main members of that group and has had ties with Pigeon for some time now. Pigeon is a close friend of Pedro Espada's, which made the recent coup an easy sell for Pigeon. All he had to do was turn to a close friend who wanted power and tell him that it could be done.
Pigeon isn't a defender of the Democratic Party and he sure hasn't helped advance our party. When our party was failing to win, Pigeon was one of the reasons why. It is those tactics that we saw last week that are the main reason why Pigeon's approach isn't a successful one. As a Democrat, he is the worst thing for us. The evidence of that was his helping the Senate Republicans take back the New York State Senate.
Now, the DSCC wants his help raising money for Republican-turned Democrat Arlen Specter.
There is plenty wrong with that. I find it discouraging that the DSCC's chairman, Sen. Bob Menendez, is willing to team up with Pigeon (among others) to raise money on behalf of Specter. If Pigeon is supposed to be a poster boy for the Democratic Party, then our party must be headed in the wrong direction.
Steve Pigeon isn't a Democrat. He might be one on paper, but he doesn't act like it. He has done more to destroy our party than to help it. And now, the Senate Democrats want his help in raising money. The same guy that just helped the Republicans take back the New York State Senate (before it turned into gridlock at 31 to 31) and the same guy who has helped throw this state into chaos when important legislation was on the table. That's not a Democrat. That's not someone I would want to align myself with.
I would hope Sen. Menendez and the DSCC feels the same way. |
