Citizens' Voice talks to Madeira, challengers about 'Milder' campaign

May 15--The lessons of 2008, as a pair of millionaires bullied their way through a costly and vitriolic primary, have resonated with the new crop of Republicans running for the party's nomination in the 10th Congressional District.

Gone are the blistering personal attacks that played out at debates, candidate forums and in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of television commercials, replaced by a renewed focus on the issues and defeating incumbent Democrat Chris Carney in the fall.

This year's candidates -- retired chiropractor and business consultant David Madeira, former U.S. Attorney Tom Marino and Snyder County Commissioner Malcolm L. Derk -- are all virtually identical in their conservative stances and their belief that the primary is an audition for a general election race already gaining national attention.

The tamer approach is also a product of the candidates' substantially more modest means. Through the end of last month, Marino's campaign raised $148,254, Madeira raised $45,854 and Derk raised $23,377, according to campaign finance reports.

In 2008, the two millionaires, OneSource Staffing President Chris Hackett and Pride Mobility President Dan Meuser, spent a combined $1.2 million on television advertising alone, flooding local stations from mid-January to the April 22 primary with increasingly negative commercials.

"What drives a highly negative campaign is when you have deep pockets from whatever source," Madeira said. "Primary elections are auditions. I'm saying to the Republican voters and so are the other candidates, 'Let me be the champion, let me be the guy that takes on the opposition.'"

Hackett emerged from the bloody 2008 primary, but the negativity, including claims Hackett's firm had been deficient in paying taxes and that he hired an illegal immigrant, spilled over into the general election and fueled a 13-point Carney victory.

"The winner of the Republican primary emerged so battle-scarred that he was severely weakened and diminished in the eyes of the general electorate," Wilkes University political science professor Thomas Baldino said. "The negative ads run during the primary were seen by Democrats and independent voters, leaving the Republican with a damaged image."

Carney's potential opponents have reserved their attacks for him, measuring his vulnerability in national polls showing growing voter frustration with the Democratic leadership and his voting record, which includes support for the Democrat-backed health-care reform bill.

Carney's support of the health-care bill led former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to include his district as one of 20 targeted seats in 2010. The district, a Republican stronghold before incumbent Don Sherwood succumbed to revelations of infidelity and abuse in 2006, has also been targeted by the Republican National Campaign Committee in its "Code Red" campaign.

Carney's campaign manager, Max Cummings, described the Republican rhetoric as "the same-old partisan attack," and highlighted a ranking in the non-partisan National Journal that listed Carney as among the most conservative Democrats in Congress and the most fiscally conservative Democrat in Pennsylvania.

"He is never afraid to cross the aisle to join Republicans. That's why John McCain and other leading Republicans approached him late last year about switching parties. He puts his district above political party," Cummings said. "The people of Northeastern Pennsylvania are above the shrill partisan rhetoric driven by Sarah Palin and the tea party. And Congressman Carney is not intimidated."

Carney's potential opponents said they would have opposed the 2,409-page health care reform bill and shared varying plans on reversing or repealing the legislation, which mandates businesses pay for mandated employee health coverage and bars insurance companies from refusing coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

Madeira, 43, of Lehman Township, said he supports replacing health care reform with a plan that would give individuals an incentive to own and manage their own health care coverage. He said he also supports reverting to the 2007 federal budget for each of the next four years, which he said could generate $165 billion toward the $12.7 trillion national debt.

Derk, 28, of Freeburg, said he would support legislation to repeal the health-care bill or reduce funding for certain provisions of the measure to limit its impact.

Marino, 57, of Lycoming Township, said he would favor a health-care package that allowed small companies to "band together" to purchase health insurance coverage and individuals to purchase insurance across state lines while barring providers from refusing coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

Marino said he would also seek limitations on frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals, which he said drive up the cost of medical coverage.

Like Carney, the Republican candidates said they would have opposed government bailouts for the banking industry after the economic downturn in September 2008.

Derk, a small-government, fiscal conservative, has already voted against a corporate bailout, rejecting a plan for the Snyder County government to secure a loan for Boscov's when the retailer, facing bankruptcy, asked for help from counties throughout eastern and central Pennsylvania.

"Is it fair to give a $5 million edge to one business?" Derk said. "It's not the government's role to choose winners and losers in the private market place."

Marino, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 2002 to 2007, could win with voters unfamiliar with Madeira and Derk, Baldino said. His ties to Louis DeNaples, the developer of the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County, could work both ways.

"It's difficult to say how this can help Marino, except among those voters who know Mr. DeNaples and support his philanthropic work," Baldino said. "Most voters know Mr. DeNaples as a businessman and for his effort to establish a slots casino in the Poconos and the investigation that followed. How voters will view Marino's employment with DeNaples remains to be seen."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has already seized on Marino's ties to DeNaples, labeling him "Casino Marino" and his character "shady."

While he was U.S. Attorney, Marino wrote to state gaming regulators recommending they approve a casino license for DeNaples despite his 1978 conviction for cheating the federal government of more than $500,000.

Marino later worked for DeNaples' non-casino interests, earning $250,000 in 2009. He said his close friendship with DeNaples would never influence his decisions as a congressman.

"I think people can raise that question and I have no problem with it because I answered it day one," Marino said. "This is not an issue about Mr. DeNaples, this is an issue about me and how I'm best prepared to serve as a congressman. Nobody will get any special treatment."

Andrew Staub, staff writer, contributed to this report.

msisak@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2061