MLRC, how many do you have lined up?

Next year is an important year for electing school board directors. There are five seats (the majority) opening up in the next MLSD school board election. The only Republican (Al Frioni) on the school board was appointed, not elected. The Republicans, however, did vote for Elaine Cappucci, a Democrat whose ticket included two Republicans.

Mt. Lebanon Democrats have five, solid candidates lined up for next year's Primary. Already. Mt. Lebanon Republicans, how many do you have lined up? Do you have any? You might want to start thinking about that. No rush.

Meanwhile,
Predictions getting better for Lamb as House Democrats poised to make gains in PA

Burning Bridges

This is what Foster School looked like for the Primary 2018.

The infamous Republican bulletin board has nothing on it. You may remember, if you have been a Lebo Citizens reader since 2011, Jim Cannon and I were not permitted to hang any signage on that board during the May Primary in 2011. How embarrassing...for Republicans. 

Last night, there was a fundraiser for Keith Rothfus and Guy Reschenthaler. How do I know this? 

Matt Kluck sent this email to a bunch of Republicans and me.

Sent: Sat, May 19, 2018 4:02 pm
Subject: Republican Committee of Mt. Lebanon-Spring into Summer Party

Dear Committee and Associates of the RCML,

It is getting close to the biggest fundraiser that the RCML will hold this
year and we need to have your support at the event. Keith Rothfus and Guy
Reschenthaler will be in attendance so we will have some great guests who
will be running for a couple of important seats that we must do everything
in our power to prevail! 

Please extend this information to your friends, neighbor, family and I
encourage you to attend. It is at a great venue and will be an outstanding
party.

Please see all the information below or give me a call with any questions
you have regarding any issue.

Warm regards,
Matt Kluck
RCML Chair


Spring Into Summer Party
June 3 @ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm $100.00
Please join the Republican Committee of Mt. Lebanon for our Spring Into
Summer party!
St. Clair Country Club, Crossroads Room
2300 Old Washington Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15241
Sunday, June 3, 2018, 6-9 p.m.
Heavy hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, beverages.
Elected officials invited.

Please RSVP by May 26, 2018 with the following information to:
Republican Committee of Mt. Lebanon
PO Box 14525
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
Please make checks payable to RCML
$100 per person
Name(s) ____________________________________
Email Address ________________________________
How many people will be attending_________
I am unable to attend; here is my contribution_______

I just had to reply, sent on May 20, 2018 replying to all.

Matt,

How I wish I would have gotten some communication from you back in October when you were inviting folks to the MLRC meeting. I was working so hard on my blog, lebocitizens.blogspot.com to sway voters away from Democratic candidates vying for seats on the commission, and never even got a hello on the night of the General Election to attend the very dismal after party. My eyes were opened.

I have been a Republican since 1972. I am a super voter.  I have been active in the community since 2010. I was abandoned by my party in 2011, when you all were supporting the guy with the For Sale sign in his yard and had told the press that he was moving far away from Mt. Lebanon. I supported you when you were on the Commission, Matt. I supported you when you ran for school board. In fact, I supported all but one of you on this list who ran for office, and that one was because of the ticket she ran on.

The photo below is from the May 2018 Primary at Foster School. It shows the very board I was not permitted to use in 2011 by your predecessor. It has nothing on it. That is pathetic.

If you had been reading my blog, which is the longest active blog in Mt. Lebanon, bringing the TRUTH to the community, you would know that I am now an official card carrying Democrat. That still gives me chills when I write that, since I have been a Republican for 46 years. But as one very active Democrat said to me, "I guess pigs can fly." We both laughed.

This email serves as my Dear John letter to the MLRC. Please remove me from your email list.

Elaine Gillen

Oops! I see that I was supposed to extend this information to my family, friends, and neighbors. I guess I forgot. 

Thanks for doing your homework, MLRC

From Facebook:

Mt. Lebanon Magazine shared Local Government Academy'sphoto.

Third from the left, Mt. Lebanon's newly elected commissioner, Craig Grella, is pictured at the opening session of the Local Government Academy's course for newly elected officials. This course is a great way for officials to review the basics of local government, ask questions, meet some of their peers and be ready to hit the ground running when they are sworn in in January. Thanks for doing your homework, Mr. Grella!

But we still don't know about Mr. Grella's arrest, do we? And what about that conflict of interest? From March 29, 2017 Is this odd or what? UPDATED 2X We can thank the MLRC for that one. They would rather photograph an excellent candidate in front of a fire engine, than inform the public about these irregularities. Just keep blaming the Democrats, MLRC. What a crew!

The constable was called because of me

The night before every election, Foster School drags two large bulletin boards out of storage.  Facing the entrance, the "Republican Board" is placed on the left hand side and the "Democrat Board" is set up on the right side of the entrance. When I arrived at 6:45 AM at Foster School, signs had already been posted on the Republican board. Since I spent no money on signs or posters, I recycled a 11"x17" poster from my campaign in 2011. Steve McLean's signs and door hangers took up most of the space. Fortunately, my small sign with "Write In" handwritten in the upper left hand corner could squeeze in the remaining space. Steve was really nice about it when he warned me that the committee may take down my sign, but personally, didn't have a problem with my sign being posted. [Queue the Imperial March music, Darth Vader's Theme.] Then Tommy Dunn, head of the Mt. Lebanon Republican Committee showed up and said that my sign is not to be posted on the board.

Republican Board 

I was ready for Tommy. Back in 2011, Tommy pulled the same crap on me. See my May18, 2011 post, I'm tired. Jim Cannon and I were not permitted to post our signs on the board because we were not endorsed candidates. As I wrote on May 18, 2011, the boards belong to the school district and are stored on site. I told Tommy that I was a Republican and had every right to be on that board. I was a write in candidate and will have little impact on the election. Tommy had bigger problems, I told him. In Ward 1, Dan McNichol didn't have contact information on his website. No email address. No contact form. Nothing. I tried to contact him and couldn't. I told him that there were residents of Ward 1 who couldn't reach him. Both he and Temp Smith pulled out their phones and pulled up his website. They were quiet. (John Bendel crushed him at the polls.) Then I asked Tommy what the official color was for Republicans. Red. What's the color for Democrats? Blue.

Democrat Board

What color is Steve McLean's sign? Blue. They cringed. I said to Tommy, "You are really threatened by me, aren't you? You need to choose your battles."

By this time, the Judge of Elections stepped in. He had no idea how to call it, so he called the constable. The first call, the constable said that there are no other locations permitted for signs. Tommy was going to "let it go for now." The second call to/from the constable was that if the signs are owned by the Republican Committee, then they had the right to do that, but since an agreement was reached, it's OK. In the future, he suggested a third board for Write-in or Independents. 

Here are my questions. 

1. Where does the third board go?
2. Who pays for the third board, if the parties allegedly bought their own boards?
3. Can the parties prove that they bought the signs?
4. If the Republican board only posted signs for endorsed candidates, where was sign for the only Republican running for school board?
5. Does this violate my civil rights? 

The Mt. Lebanon Republican Committee is nothing but a bunch of good old boys. Their website is an embarrassment. LeboGOP See the empty blocks on the left? Until recently, they listed Sue Rose as a Republican school board director. Ms. Rose, who switched parties and became a Democrat, missed most 2011, her last year in office, due to illness. The list of Republican elected officials has been removed from their website since there are few remaining in office. Do you see anything on the bulletin board for Matt Kluck, the only Republican running for School Board? Neither do I.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who helped me with my write-in campaign. I had to keep reminding them that I would not win, but we were taking a stand. Thank you to the voters who took the time to write in my name. I'm not going away. I am not upset. I am here for the long haul.

The party left me

This morning, I received this letter to the editor from a Mt. Lebanon Republican. Perhaps the anonymous commenter on a previous thread had it right. "The time for a new Republican Committee that reflects the true heart of Mt. Lebanon Republicans has come."  Here is the letter to the editor:

Yesterday I received in the mail the Lebo Republican Committee candidate letter. The first thing I noticed was the ridiculous and pathetic writeup from Tommy Dunn. Here's the clincher--"most candidates of the opposite party sound like a Republican until they are in office, then their true colors come through". Uh, gee Tommy, you mean like Remely and Kubit? Or did you mean like Birks? I'm getting confused since they're all liars and nowhere near real Republicans.

Below that Tommy Dumm, oops, Dunn, includes his helpful tips. Again, he launches a real winner--"When you are in the voting booth, no one is looking over your shoulder, no one knows how you vote. Make your vote count". Aside from being totally patronizing (by virtue of voting it DOES count, Tommy Dumm) he seems to be suggesting that Republicans are afraid to be open with whom they're supporting. Given the candidates endorsed by the MLRC, I can understand why. But if he's aiming to motivate voters, he has failed. Big time.
Then I opened up the flyer. After tamping down my gag reflex, I noticed there are two people I've never heard of running for commission seats. I must be really out of it since I thought there was only one seat up for grabs. I can't blame the MLRC for that...on second thought, yes I can. They still don't get the whole communication thing. (Tommy, I don't know it worked in Alabama or wherever you're from but up here we have a thing called email. And if that's too complicated for you, try mailing out a monthly letter. You might even get people to start showing up at your meetings.)

So once again the MLRC is backing some candidates who will not only not make a difference but likely be a detriment to the party. I think we all know Remely's track record. Nice to see him so committed to a particular goal that he's running for two different offices simultaneously. Now that's dedication and integrity.

Then we have Krista Harris. First off, she's what we could call a carpetbagger. Second, she works as a "political consultant" in a firm that has a record of backing losing campaigns. Of course that fits well with the MLRC so maybe my criticism is redundant. Also, I got one of her mailers. Cute attempt with the whole mom and baby bit. But what are your ideas? Why are you running for County Council? Considering you already have a bad relationship with the county executive on a board dominated by Dems, just what do you think you'll accomplish? I'm suspect of someone unknown in the community. It all smells a lot like a certain pol named Obama.

John Ferguson is a nice guy. But come on. Isn't it time for someone new? Maybe nobody wants the job. Forget my opinion. Go John!

On the back of the flyer is a blurb "I am a Republican because...", and it lists five beliefs. Smack dab in the middle is this gem-" I believe in a limited government that practices fiscal responsibility and works to lower taxes so individuals can keep more of their hard earned money". Oh yeah? How's that working out for the community?

I've had a lot of conversations with neighbors in the last few months, both Ds and Rs. They all agree the R party in Lebo is a sorry shell of what it once was and it is basically dead. After the primary, where I will write in my own candidates, I will be changing my registration to Independent. The local committee is a joke. Notice I said local. The party seems to be doing relatively well outside our borders. Maybe someday I can be persuaded to come back. Remember this quote-"I didn't leave the party. The party left me".

Want to hear a good one?

The Republican Committee is considering School Board Director Dan Remely as the Republican hopeful to run against Dan Miller for Matt Smith's old House seat. I understand Remely will be running for reelection with Dale Ostergaard for School Board. Does the MLRC think that Dan is doing such a bang up job with the high school renovation, to be a viable candidate for higher office? Still not going through the vetting process, guys? When will the MLRC break up the good old boy network? I wish I could be a member of a party I respect.