July 22, 2008 - 12:01am
Russell campaign, even temporarily without its candidate, trying to topple legend
By Alex RoartyBill Russell's campaign has spent the summer buying media, packing the schedule with county fairs and raising money -- everything expected of a congressional candidate laying a foundation for fall.
Now it just needs Bill Russell.
The Republican challenger to political giant U.S. Rep. John Murtha (D-Johnstown) has been absent from his own campaign the past 90 days while serving in the U.S. Army. On-duty members of the armed services are forbidden from any politicking, including even brief phone calls between themselves and their campaigns.
It's his campaign, but for the past three months, he's had nothing to do with it -- even as important decisions were made.
Those choices have instead fallen to Peg Luksik, Russell's campaign manager. She's been tasked with raising money, interest and hope in a candidate many volunteers or residents in the 12th Congressional District haven't yet met.
"Thankfully, he and I have had enough time to get to know each other so that I can feel comfortable knowing this is where he's at and this is where he isn't," Luksik told PolitickerPA.com. "We're being very careful not to take positions he hasn't taken."
"We're just setting up the structure so when he comes back August 1, he can hit the ground running."
Russell's campaign has seven county coordinators and 891 volunteers in the sprawling nine-county district, Luksik said, and the campaign has started investigating what TV and radio ads it should buy. It also unveiled its new Web site last week.His absence this summer might seem a mortal wound for a campaign already facing a Herculean task. Murtha, after all, is one the country's most high-profile Democrats and won a 17th term to Congress by 20 percentage points in 2006.
Last week's fundraising totals, however, suggests Russell's campaign is more than token. He raised $669,534 in the second fiscal quarter, compared to Murtha's $113,155. Seventy-percent of Russell's donations derived from contributions less than $50, according to Luksik, suggesting large grassroots support. Murtha still holds a significant advantage in cash on hand, however, with $644,243 to Russell's $269,953.
A survivor of the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon, Russell appears to be channeling anger at Murtha for what he says were the congressman's attacks against U.S. Marines charged with killing innocent civilians in Haditha, Iraq. Murtha's comments, which are highlighted on Russell's Web site, stand in stark contrast to the truth, his campaign says, citing the acquittal of nearly all the marines accused of wrongdoing.
Russell's vociferous support for those marines is part of his overall candidacy, which stresses heavily his years of service in the military. His Web site has a military theme and is decorated in sandy-brown camouflage colors.
Campaign officials suggest Russell's absence this summer because of his military service only galvanizes that theme.
Russ Rhodes, who co-chairs Russell's Fayette County campaign with his wife, Debra, said his absence has been like the absence a military family feels when a husband, wife, mom or dad ships overseas. The campaign must respond accordingly, he said.
"Say I'm away in Iraq or my wife is, you pick up the missing pieces and move forward," Rhodes said. "You make sure the kids still get to school ... maybe it's a little bit harder work, but when you're family, you do what you need to do."
The response on the campaign trail this summer has been positive, Luksik said.
"People start out by saying, 'Where is he?'" she said. "And when you explain where he is, they say, 'Oh, that makes sense.'"
Russell will start campaigning in the flesh the minute he can -- literally. He's scheduled to start at Rhodes' front porch, or at least in his town, at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 1. From there, he has months full of county fairs and front-porch rallies designed to grow grassroots support for his campaign.
He still faces as difficult a task as difficult as almost any Republican congressional candidate outside a city -- Murtha remains nearly an insurmountable challenge even for a candidate with a story like Russell's.
"I am the enternal optimist, but I'm also a realist," Rhodes said. "I know a lot of things are going to have to fall into place the right way, but that doesn't stop us from trying."
But he is confident of one thing.
"I think he has John Murtha's attention."
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What Murtha’s Challenger Doesn’t Want You to Know
What Murtha’s Challenger Doesn’t Want You to Know
More than 85 percent of the money raised by the Russell campaign has come from out of the 12th Congressional District.
Russell violated military law when he appeared on the Michael Savage Nation, a political talk show, on May 14 while on active duty.
In his commencement address at the Naval Academy in April, Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "If you are in the U.S. military, stay out of politics.
And as a result of a complaint filed on June 11, 2008, (Case No. MUR 6024) with the Federal Election Commission, Russell is now disclosing receipts, disbursments and banking activtites not previously disclosed. The Russell campaign committed clear and egregious violations of Federal election laws.
Russell may have gotten his wish when he got enough write-in votes to make the November ballot, but breaking the law will be his worst nightmare.
Given that Russell can’t even manage and properly account for the money he’s raising for his campaign, the 12th Congressional District has zero reason to trust him to provide oversight over the federal budget.
This case illustrates the knowing and willful violations of campaign finance laws. The Russell campaign has brazingly sought to run an off-the-books campaign.
And Who is Larry Stiles?
Published: May 31, 2008 11:33 pm
Murtha opponent, ex-manager trade barbs
BY MIKE FAHER
The Tribune-Democrat
When Larry Stiles and William Russell teamed up last year, they seemed like an ideal duo to launch a political campaign that emphasized national security.
Stiles, a Marine veteran with Vietnam service, had signed on as campaign manager for Russell, a career Army man looking to unseat U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown.
But the relationship has soured.
Since his dismissal from Russell’s organization in January, Stiles has alleged financial irregularities within the campaign and publicly has criticized his former colleague.
Russell’s staff is firing back, saying Stiles repeatedly has misrepresented himself. One of Stiles’ personally issued news releases contained a fake company name and quoted a person who does not exist.
“It’s just a campaign of harassment,” said Peg Luksik, who now serves as Russell’s campaign manager.
Contacted for comment for this story, Russell said he was on military duty and referred questions to Luksik.
She said Stiles – who had filled his election post on a volunteer basis – was dismissed when Russell became aware that the man he had chosen to operate his U.S. House campaign had significant “credibility issues.”
Stiles’ military records include a period when he was absent without leave from the Marines.
Those records also show that Stiles was imprisoned in a military jail.
“He didn’t represent his military record appropriately,” Luksik said.
Stiles said he could not comment publicly on those issues. But he argues that he withheld no information from the candidate.
“Russell knew everything there was to know about my military record,” Stiles said.
Stiles contends he unexpectedly was asked to leave the campaign to make way for Luksik. He also alleges that Russell made a disparaging comment about Stiles being a diabetic.
Stiles issued a news release regarding that comment in late February, calling for an “immediate apology” from Russell.
That release purportedly was from “Michaels Foresman, a Chicago-based public relations firm.”
And it included a quote from John Foresman, who was identified as that company’s chief operating officer.
The company could not be located, and Stiles admitted that he, in fact, is John Foresman. A toll-free phone contact listed on the release is Stiles’ number.
Stiles claims he created the Foresman alias in an attempt to discover who was spreading rumors about him on the Internet. But he could not explain why he sent a false news release to media outlets, including The Tribune-Democrat.
Variations on the “Foresman” moniker appear elsewhere in connection with Stiles.
Forsman is his middle name, and Stiles says he also operates a Johnstown-based company called Michaels, Foresman & Lawrence. An online database for the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Corporation Bureau has no record of that firm, but Stiles said that is because the business is not formally incorporated.
“That’s a valid company,” he said.
In a continuing effort to expose what he says are financial inconsistencies in the Russell campaign, Stiles has sent a complaint to the Federal Election Commission.
It could not be confirmed whether that complaint has been filed or whether the commission will investigate Russell.
“Based upon (Russell’s) conduct as a candidate, it needs to be brought out what he’s been doing,” Stiles said.
Luksik said she has received no notification of a federal complaint. But she also dismissed any notion of monetary or governmental-reporting issues within the campaign.
“I haven’t seen anything that would leave me to believe that,” she said.
Nonetheless, Stiles said he believes it is important for him to pursue the matter.
And he insists that he has no personal vendetta against Russell.
“My differences with him are not of public consequence,” he said.
Luksik said she does not expect Stiles’ complaints to have any impact on the Russell campaign.
“Larry is his own worst enemy,” she said. “His statements are so provably untrue.”
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What Murthas Challenger Doesnt Want You Know
RussellFan dont be a coward. Show your name. I am not the one who is running for Congress. The FEC complaint speaks for it self. The Russell camp continues their campaign of denial and deception.
The response from Russell’s campaign manager, Peg Luksik, to the filing of the complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) shows that the Russell people were actually worried that their own schemes were going to be publicly exposed, and so they were striking preemptively, trying to "shoot the messenger" as a way of avoiding dealing with the substance of the charges.
The truth has come out, and Russell and Luksik have egg all over their faces, and the voters of the District can see in Russell's FEC disclosures that I was right, that the Russell campaign had a lot to hide.
Larry, Get a life!
Larry, seriously, get a life. It's over man. You are only embarassing yourself at this point. Don't go away mad, just go away...
Another coward. You are only
Another coward. You are only embarrassing yourself. Shame on you for condoning the conduct of someone who violates federal election laws. If the GOP intends to survive they need to cast off throw away candidates like Russell. Who is mad? Russell has made more amendments to his FEC disclosures reports since Stiles' FEC complaint than there are amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
A lively debate going on
A lively debate going on here. But I dont see that either RussellFan or AnotherRussellFan has offered much to contribute to it. Now I am neither for Russell or Murtha. But I cant see what the point was or why someone would move here just to run for office. Doesnt this guy Russell have another life. Instead of AnotherRussellFan telling Larry to leave, why doesnt Russell go back to where he came from.
Same Old Song and Dance
Doty: I think you are Larry, your post wreaks of the same that was posted above. You have a rep for inventing aliases, so this is with your M.O. Candidates make amendments to FEC filings all the time. If it was such a big deal, don't you think the Murtha campaign would be all over it?
NativeJohnstowner: You got me. In my defense though, I really didn't intend to contribute so much as make a flippant comment. I mean when is Larry Stiles going to get over being terminated from the campaign? It's not like he's a random Good Samaritan trying to save us from the evils of Bill Russell. He simply a terminated employee who seems to have a continual axe to grind.
As far as Bill moving to Johnstown, I can certainly understand. After John Murtha called our Marines (our acquited Marines) "cold blooded killers", I am sure there were a lot of service folks and patriotic Americans who wanted to move to Johnstown to run against this guy.
But I have to stand up for "Russell Fan" however. He posted an article that ran in The Tribune-Democrat. When you read it, it clearly does demonstrate that the original poster (Larry Stiles) is not an innocent bystander in this tale...
Not Stiles Another Russell Fan
Looks like Russell fans are stuck on Russell talking points. Hyperbole just makes Russell fans appear foolish.
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