By Matt Snyder
3RD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT — Petitions are in and, so far, six Republicans appear to be revving up to take on U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper in the fall. There is also a single Democratic challenger.
So far, all filings are considered unofficial by the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Challenging Mrs. Dahlkemper, Erie, D-3rd District, in the primary will be Mel M. Marin, also Erie. Marin made news in Mercer County last fall for filing a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city of Sharon for allegedly refusing to sell him condemned properties for $10 each because he is Serbian.
Marin’s campaign Web site blames corrupt judges and bankers for home foreclosures, claims health care professionals push the elderly into hospice care so they will die faster, and suggests that gays use parades and clowns to seduce young people.
Mrs. Dahlkemper’s campaign manager, Tina Mengine, said all candidates are taken seriously, but she would not say whether Mrs. Dahlkemper would debate Marin.
Meanwhile, the six Republican candidates have been trying to distinguish themselves on issues of background, ability to take on Mrs. Dahlkemper, and the purity of their Republican credentials.
Those candidates jousted Tuesday on whether the number of signatures they turned in signified their popularity in the district. Candidate Mike Kelly, 61, Butler, who owns a car dealership, gathered more than 2,500 signatures.
“We were just overwhelmed with the amount of support we got,” said campaign manager Jon Hopcraft, who cited lots of signers from Erie, Mercer and Butler counties.
Hopcraft said they hooked into the Republican Party political machine by contacting committee members and asking them to help circulate petitions, a basic campaigning move that he said some other candidates did not do.
Most other candidates said they didn’t try for a landslide of signatures, since it takes only 1,000 to get on the ballot. They aimed for 1,000, plus some buffer in case signatures were challenged.
Candidate Clayton Grabb, 47, Butler, a pharmaceutical salesman with Tea Party connections, has suggested Kelly is a favorite among some of the Republican Party bosses and that gave him an edge on signatures.
Grabb said he has butted heads with the party organization over whether members support truly conservative Republican candidates, particularly at the national level.
Other Republican candidates are:
ä Steven M. Fisher, 52, Cochranton, a health-insurance salesman;
ä Ed Franz, 48, a Conneautville hourly worker at General Electric Corp. in Erie;
ä Dr. Martha Moore, 52, a Sandy Lake family practitioner;
ä Paul Huber, 65, a Meadville businessman.
Mercer County Republican Chairman Dr. David O. King has said the party headquarter’s doors are open to all candidates and the party will support whoever wins the primary.
