Tribune Review acknowledges Buchanan flip flop on bailout.

May 8, 2010

By Mike Wereschagin
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, May 8, 2010

 

 

Republican congressional candidate Keith Rothfus has been raising money, knocking on doors and trying to talk to voters for about five months longer than rival Mary Beth Buchanan.

But eight years as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania gave Buchanan, 46, of Fox Chapel one big advantage, said GOP voter Al Vicinie.

He has heard of her.

"Mary Beth Buchanan obviously has name recognition," said Vicinie, 50, of Economy.

The suburban 4th Congressional District, which the GOP held until 2006, is a prime target for Republicans in a year when party leaders predict they'll take back the House.

"It is (a seat) that's very vulnerable if we see a wave election," said Isaac Wood, a congressional race analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

Party strategists list Buchanan among the marquee candidates they've attracted around the country.

But Rothfus, 48, of Edgeworth won't go away. He raised twice as much money as Buchanan last month -- $30,400 to her $14,400 -- and got support from Melissa Hart, the last Republican to hold the seat. And he attracted at least one unlikely compliment.

"He has been outworking her," said Rep. Jason Altmire, the McCandless Democrat they're trying to replace. Altmire is unopposed in the May 18 primary.

Rothfus' insurgent candidacy "fits in with this national narrative that there's this kind of anti-establishment feeling," Wood said. "Republicans in D.C. are biting their fingernails, wondering if this is going to turn out the way they wanted it to. Even when they recruit a candidate who they think is a great candidate, it's not really a guarantee of primary success."

Buchanan brings a long and, at times, controversial resume to the race. During her eight years as U.S. attorney, which ended in November, she claims credit for tripling the number of prosecutions, managing a $1.6 billion budget as head of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, and "standing up to terrorists, child pornographers and illegal aliens."

"I showed tremendous courage ... in upholding the Constitution," Buchanan said.

Her record includes the failed case against former Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht, a decision not to prosecute former Mayor Tom Murphy for a controversial labor contract, the imprisonment of celebrity marijuana proponent Tommy Chong for selling bongs, and the prosecution of a woman on child pornography charges based on fictional stories she wrote.

Those cases make Buchanan an easy target for Democratic activists and were used as recently as Wednesday to raise money for the party. If Buchanan wins the primary, Democrats will be able to use the cases to take the focus off Altmire, Rothfus said.

"With my campaign, we get to focus on the issues," Rothfus said. "I won't have to scramble and explain what happened over the last eight years. ... I don't know how she wins it when she has to be on the defensive every day and Cyril Wecht keeps showing up at her campaign events."

Buchanan said Rothfus is running a negative campaign against her because "he has nothing to show the voters based on his own record."

Both candidates bring compelling personal stories to the race. Buchanan, whose mother died nine days after Buchanan was born, gave birth to her own daughter at 17. She worked her way through college and law school as a single mother, and rose to the upper echelon of prosecutors.

"I know what it's like to live within a budget, and I know what it's like not to be able to spend money you don't have," Buchanan said.

Rothfus, also an attorney, worked in President George W. Bush's Office of Faith Based Initiatives, helping the Federal Emergency Management Agency develop guidelines for dealing with faith-based aid agencies. A father of six, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer a month before his youngest daughter was born. A new treatment from a doctor in New York saved him, he said.

Rothfus wants to repeal the health care bill because, he said, greater government involvement in the industry means "you lose the art of medicine. You lose the innovation."

Both candidates campaign on creating jobs and cutting government spending. They criticize the economic stimulus bill as wasteful. Until recently, they differed on the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Buchanan supported TARP, but said this week she opposes it. TARP, passed in 2008, was meant to save large financial institutions from collapsing and bringing down the rest of the economy. Banks paid the money back.

"I don't think we should be using taxpayers' money to support individual industries," Buchanan said.

Rothfus said he decided to run against Altmire after he voted for the $787 billion stimulus plan.

"The folks did not vote for this" in 2008, Rothfus said. "They did not vote for bigger government. They voted for good government."