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By lesliecarbone Posted in 2008 | PA-10 | Pennsylvania — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Pennsylvania's 10th District sat safe in Republican hands since the 1960s--that is, until after the 2006 election, when Rep. Don Sherwood was deservedly bounced from the seat after his involvement in a bizarre episode of adultery, abuse, and cover-up came to light.

The Sherwood saga began in 2004, when one Cynthia Ore locked herself inside the bathroom of his Washington, D.C., apartment, and called 911 to report an assault. When police arrived, she accused the married Congressman of choking her; he countered that he had merely been giving the young woman a massage. No charges were filed, as "Both parties have left out significant information or are not willing to discuss in detail what actually happened," according to the police report.

The report went unnoticed until 2005, when Veronica Hannevig, who had run against Mr. Sherwood on the Constitution Party ticket in 2004, distributed a copy to several newspapers and television stations. Mr. Sherwood initially claimed that Ms. Ore was merely a "casual acquaintance". He later admitted to a five-year adulterous affair with her, but denied abusing her.

Ms. Ore later filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against Mr. Sherwood, accusing him of repeatedly assaulting her during their relationship. On November 8, 2005, the two announced that they had reached a settlement, but did not reveal its details.

Read on . . .

In the May 15, 2006, Republican primary, Mr. Sherwood won only 56 percent of the vote against a challenger who spent less than $5,000 on her campaign. Exacerbating his shameful support of pro-abortion liberal Arlen Specter, then-Sen. Rick Santorum had also endorsed Mr. Sherwood.

In November, the Associated Press reported a story that Mr. Sherwood had agreed to pay Ms. Ore about $500,000 in hush money--in other words, she would forfeit some of the pay-off if she talked publicly about the case. AP also reported that Ms. Ore would not receive the full amount until after the election, giving her "a powerful incentive for her to keep quiet until after Election Day".

A few days after the AP story, Mr. Sherwood lost to Democrat Chris Carney, who was supported by Democrats like Barack Obama and Jack Murtha.

Don Sherwood doesn't deserve to represent the 10th District. But neither does Chris Carney, another power-grabber on a quest to tighten the greedy grasp of government.

While the country's eyes are glued to Pennsylvania because of the sniping between DemocratIC presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, 10th District Republicans have a reason to go to the polls as well. Vying to take on Mr. Carney in November are candidates Chris Hackett and Dan Meuser. Both tout their conservative credentials on social issues, but Mr. Hackett is the better candidate on economic policy than Mr. Meuser, who shuns real reform for Democrat-lite mollycoddling. While Mr. Hackett favors allowing citizens to control their own private Social Security accounts, Mr. Meuser opposes personal accounts. While Mr. Hackett calls for fundamental reform of our nation's byzantine tax system, Mr. Meuser advocates more of the piecemeal tax cuts that have helped make it the incomprehensible monument to absurdity that it is. And while RINO apologist Rick Santorum supports Mr. Meuser, the Club for Growth has endorsed Mr. Hackett.

Tenth-District Pennsylvanians, please stand for economic freedom and personal responsibility. Please vote for Chris Hackett.