Clever

During my 2006 State House race, I became affiliated with PACleanSweep, a grassroots group seeking to oust every member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly up for re-election that year. The group formed in 2005 after the legislature gave itself, the state's judges and other government officials a pay raise in a surprise late-night/early-morning vote (no prior committee meetings, no public hearings, etc.).

While I recognized there were still some good members of the legislature who did not deserve to be bumped, I thought that PACleanSweep's efforts would likely be good for the state -- churning the electoral pot and creating helpful public debate. I was even a speaker at one of the group's candidate training sessions.

But, like so many grassroots groups, this one soon imploded due to internal power struggles. Old story -- energetic founder recruits group of like-minded folks, they create a board of directors, board members rebel against founder, etc., etc., etc. All before Election Day.

So, after some phone calls and e-mails seeking unity and compromise, I gradually pulled back from PACleanSweep. At the time, I promised myself I would never get involved with another political movement outside of specific candidates' campaigns and the regular Republican committees (which, frankly, are hard enough to maneuver without losing your soul).

But, yesterday, from PACleanSweep.com (the group's Website that is still under the control of its founder), came a clever e-mail that I thought I would post below. It's about the recruitment of former Gov. Tom Ridge to help block the current effort to oust all (but one) of the judges up this year in retention votes.

Kudos to the designer.

I don't know if I am convinced that all of the PA judges up for retention should be voted out. But, if some of them were, it would certainly continue the message being sent to Pennsylvania's political class that the electorate is concerned and awake.