Democrat chair picks sides in PA

by Josh Drobnyk

Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney is no stranger to aggressive campaign tactics — it’s practically his job. But his jabs are usually aimed at Republicans, not fellow Democrats, as has been the case during the presidential primary.

Rooney has been one of Hillary Clinton’s most aggressive surrogates in Pennsylvania, taking to television airwaves and conference calls with reporters to play up the New York senator and knock down Barack Obama.

“The senator hasn’t been up front and open and honest with the people of Pennsylvania with respect to this ad,” Rooney said last week in a conference call to hammer one of Obama’s TV commercials, where the Illinois senator touts not taking money from the oil industry.

Rooney’s involvement in the Clinton campaign calls into question whether the former state representative from Bethlehem has crossed a line established in some other primary states. In New Hampshire, for instance, it’s unconstitutional for a party leader to endorse in the primary.

“To have the Democratic party chair say negative things is a little bit striking to me,” said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. “It would be the equivalent of (Democratic National Committee Chairman) Howard Dean right now jumping into the mix and not only endorsing one of them but knocking down the tactics of the opponent. It really is a strange situation.”

Some see it differently.

“I don’t see any type of conflict there, or any problem,” said Larry Ceisler, a Democratic consultant in Philadelphia who’s not affiliated with either candidate. “For the most part, the entire power structure of the state is for Clinton — so why should T.J. be any different?”

He added of the Dean comparison: “There is a big difference between the DNC and the Democratic State Committee.”

Rooney, who’s led the party since 2003, came out for Clinton in January after Gov. Ed Rendell endorsed Clinton and urged him to do the same. He said he sees no conflict of interest in campaigning on Clinton’s behalf.

“I like to be in the fray and there is no reason that I can’t be,” Rooney said in an interview. “I don’t for a second think that my endorsement means a whole heck of a lot to anybody. I enjoy expressing my opinion and working hard on behalf of a candidate I believe in.”

But Bill Green, a political consultant in Pittsburgh, said the fact that Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is supporting Obama is even more reason for the state’s party chairman to stay neutral. “That is the party chair’s role, to be neutral in these cases,” he said. “You would expect that here.”

Rooney said he harbors no resentment toward Obama and would be “150 percent” behind the Illinois senator should he win the Democratic nomination.

“I haven’t called anybody any names. I’ve tried to keep everything in check,” Rooney said. “Because I respect the man and I realize he’s the frontrunner. I don’t want to do anything to personally alienate Sen. Obama or any of his supporters. But by the same token if and when I am asked to point out what I view to be a legitimate thing or issue, I am happy to do that.”

Twice the Clinton campaign has put Rooney on conference calls with reporters to tackle Obama. In late March, he accused the Obama campaign of trying to disenfranchise voters because some supporters — Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont in particular — were calling for Clinton to withdraw from the race.

Last Wednesday, he hammered Obama for running an ad in Pennsylvania where the senator said he doesn’t take money from oil companies.

“It’s illegal to take money from oil companies,” Rooney said in the call. “What he doesn’t tell you is when he had a chance to stand up to these oil companies that he refers to in the ad, he chose not to join with Sen. Clinton but rather to side with Dick Cheney. ... It seems to me yet another example of where Sen. Obama’s words don’t match his actions.”

Companies cannot directly contribute money to candidates. But they can give through political action committees that they set up. Obama refuses money from those committees, but accepts money from employees of oil companies.

Rooney’s mention of Cheney is a reference to Obama’s support for a 2005 energy bill endorsed by the Bush administration. Obama said he backed the bill because it raised taxes on oil companies and upped investments in alternative energy sources.

Dick Harpootlian, a former chairman of South Carolina’s Democratic Party and an Obama supporter, said Rooney’s involvement in the race is inappropriate. He said he never endorsed before the South Carolina primary when he led the party because he “felt the candidates ought to get the feeling that the party mechanism is neutral.”

“It is important that the party chair stay out of it,” Harpootlian said. “It is not fair. And I think the people of Pennsylvania are going to ask why is the party apparatus out for one candidate?”
In New Hampshire, there’s a provision in the constitution barring party chairs to endorse before the primary.

Kathy Sullivan, who headed the state’s Democratic Committee until last year and is backing Clinton, said she thinks it’s a good idea given the attention geared toward the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

“It is up to each state and in New Hampshire it is just how we do it,” she said.

She said she didn’t think Rooney was burning bridges with the Obama campaign by getting involved in the race.

“People get over it,” she said. “They have to.”