Marjorie Margolies, a Democratic candidate in the 13th Congressional District, will be the beneficiary of a Thursday night fundraiser with Hillary Clinton.
Margolies, a former congresswoman, is a favorite of Bill and Hillary Clinton because she cast the deciding vote in 1993 for the former president’s economic plan. In addition, her son Marc is married to Chelsea Clinton.
Bill Clinton attended a Margolies fundraiser last month at a Center City hotel.
Thursday’s fundraiser will be held at the home of Lynn Forester de Rothschild, who supported Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential bid. After Clinton lost the nomination to Barack Obama, Forester de Rothschild endorsed Republican John McCain. Of McCain’s running mate, she said, “I love Sarah Palin…I think she’s pretty cool.”
Margolies will miss the fundraiser. Instead, she will attend the Montgomery County Democratic Committee spring reception and the 66-B Democratic ward meeting. Ward leader Mike McAleer has endorsed Margolies.
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Margolies is calling on the super PAC Building a Better Pennsylvania to reveal the source of the money it is spending on behalf of Brendan Boyle.
“National pro-choice groups like NARAL and EMILY’s List have no problem declaring their opposition to Brendan Boyle’s anti-choice record. Yet a super PAC trying to re-write Boyle’s anti-choice record continues to hide in the shadows,” Margolies said.
Leach, too, is unhappy with the PAC. His campaign called the group “shadowy.”
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Boyle sent “An Open Letter to Candidates for Congress in PA13.”
The letter was signed by 29 “pro-choice women of the 13th Congressional District.” The group included former Sheriff Barbara Deeley; Lisa Deeley, an aide to City Councilman Bobby Henon; and ward leader Sharon Losier.
The women write that Boyle is pro-choice, supports Roe v. Wade and opposes efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. They note that Boyle joins Joe Biden, Al Gore and Ted Kennedy as having “evolved” on abortion. They also wrote that President Obama “evolved” on same-sex marriage and now supports it.
Margolies rejected the letter.
“Your theory of evolution, Brendan, is a fraud,” she said.
In a 2008 article in the Times, Boyle was described as pro-life.
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NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY’s List are targeting Brendan Boyle on abortion, targeting pro-choice women in mailings that label Boyle as “two-faced.” The mailings erroneously refer to Boyle, who is a state representative, as a state senator.
“Brendan Boyle has no place in a race with true champions for women’s rights,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
“The women and families of this district deserve to send a representative to Washington who will be a champion for them,” said Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List.
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Boyle said abortion and the super PAC supporting him have become issues because he is rising in the polls. He has repeated that he is the only non-millionaire in the race.
“I am deeply concerned that more than 50 percent of Congress now belongs to the wealthiest 1 percent of America,” he said. “This is no longer a representative body, and America is drifting to an oligarchy where the gap between the rich and everyone else continues to grow and millionaires don’t pay their fair share. I will fight to change that.”
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Margolies defended herself against accusations by Boyle and Daylin Leach that she is spending campaign money in the primary that can only be used in the general election.
“At no time did Marjorie 2014 access general election funds for expenditures in this primary. Any assertion to the contrary is without merit,” said Jennifer May, the campaign’s treasurer.
Leach, though, wrote a letter to the Federal Election Commission contending that Margolies has less cash-on-hand than what it’s raised for the general election.
“The Margolies campaign simply will not have the funds available to refund to its general election contributors should it lose the primary,” he wrote.
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AFSCME District Council 47 has endorsed Dr. Val Arkoosh in the 13th District Democratic primary.
“AFSCME DC 47 has endorsed Val Arkoosh for Congress in the 13th District because we know, from her work getting health-care reform passed in Washington and her long career serving women and working families in Philadelphia’s hospitals, that she is the candidate who is best able to address the needs of working people,” said Vanessa Fields, union vice president.
“I’m looking forward to working with them in Congress to broaden economic prosperity for working families,” Arkoosh said of DC 47 members.
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Meanwhile, Arkoosh won 57 percent of the vote at a caucus meeting of the Upper Dublin Democrats.
Also, she picked up the unanimous support of the Springfield Township Democratic Committee.
“I’ve spent a career solving problems for and advocating on behalf of my patients and their families from all corners of Philadelphia, and I’m running to bring that same spirit to Congress,” she said.
Arkoosh was also endorsed by Steven Kline Abington Ward 1 commissioner and vice president of the Board of Commissioners.
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Arkoosh released a new TV ad that is set in an operating room, with the candidate dressed in scrubs and a white coat.
“I’m Val Arkoosh. I approve this message because in here, we work together to solve problems. And it’s time Congress does the same.”
An obstetric anesthesiologist, Arkoosh has spent the last 28 years helping Philadelphia-area women during childbirth.
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Jared Solomon, who is challenging state Rep. Mark Cohen (D-202nd dist.) in the primary, is running two television ads.
One ad focuses on Solomon’s community involvement.
The other, produced by Neil Oxman of the Campaign Group, chronicles Cohen’s “per-diem” spending. In contrast, Solomon has pledged to forgo per-diem expenses.
The two ads are running on both network and cable television.
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Democrat Mike Driscoll, one of three candidates in the 173rd Legislative District Democratic primary, was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and City Councilmen Bobby Henon and Jim Kenney.
Driscoll, Dennis Kilderry and Paul DeFinis are running in the primary to replace Democratic Rep. Mike McGeehan. Mike Tomlinson is unopposed on the Republican side.
“I have known and respected Mike for many years as an astute businessman, a community activist and a true champion of Northeast Philadelphia’s working-class families,” Kenney said.
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U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, a Democratic candidate for governor, is criticizing one of her primary opponents, businessman Tom Wolf, for refusing to release the gender pay equity audit from The Wolf Organization.
“Tom Wolf may think it’s ridiculous to ask legitimate questions about whether his company pays women and men equally. But women and men across Pennsylvania deserve to know whether Tom Wolf is practicing what he preaches in his television ads,” Schwartz said.
“Tom Wolf has centered his campaign on his business record, and these are legitimate questions about whether there is a wage gap for women at The Wolf Organization. We know for a fact there are no women on his board and only two in management.”
Former Pennsylvania Treasurer and Auditor General Barbara Hafer held a conference call with reporters, and challenged Wolf to prove that there is no wage gap at The Wolf Organization.
“Tom Wolf’s television ads paint a very pretty picture about Tom Wolf and his business. But like any fairy tale, the problem with the nice story is — — it’s just not the full truth,” Hafer said. “Tom Wolf says that pay equity is important to him but he has yet to release any of the details of his internal audit on the wage gap at The Wolf Organization. I am calling on Tom Wolf to release the full audit and report to show that he practices what he preaches on television.” ••
