Morning Call: PA Dem Chair/Lobbyist Questioned About Support for Clinton

[JPZenger]

The one thing the article does not mention is that Rooney is now a registered lobbyist, working for some large corporations within Pennsylvania.

http://blogs.mcall.com/penn_ave/2008/04/tj-rooney-jumps.html

Excerpts from the Allentown Morning Call:

"Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney is no stranger to aggressive campaign tactics -- it's practically his job. But his jabs are usually aimed at Republicans, not fellow Democrats, as has been the case during the presidential primary. Rooney has been one of Hillary Clinton's most aggressive surrogates in Pennsylvania, taking to television airwaves and conference calls with reporters to play up the New York senator and knock down Barack Obama.

Rooney's involvement in the Clinton campaign calls into question whether the former state representative from Bethlehem has crossed a line established in some other primary states. In New Hampshire, for instance, it's unconstitutional for a party leader to endorse in the primary. ''To have the Democratic party chair say negative things is a little bit striking to me,'' said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. ''It would be the equivalent of Howard Dean right now jumping into the mix and not only endorsing one of them but knocking down the tactics of the opponent. It really is a strange situation.''

''I like to be in the fray and there is no reason that I can't be,'' Rooney said in an interview. ''I don't for a second think that my endorsement means a whole heck of a lot to anybody. I enjoy expressing my opinion and working hard on behalf of a candidate I believe in.''

Twice the Clinton campaign has put Rooney on conference calls with reporters to tackle Obama. In late March, he accused the Obama campaign of trying to disenfranchise voters because some supporters, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont in particular, were calling for Clinton to withdraw from the race. Last Wednesday, he hammered Obama for running an ad in Pennsylvania in which the senator said he doesn't take money from oil companies.

Dick Harpootlian, a former chairman of South Carolina's Democratic Party and an Obama supporter, said Rooney's involvement in the race is inappropriate. Harpootlian said he never endorsed before the South Carolina primary when he led the party because he ''felt the candidates ought to get the feeling that the party mechanism is neutral.'' ''It is important that the party chair stay out of it,'' Harpootlian said. ''It is not fair. And I think the people of Pennsylvania are going to ask: Why is the party apparatus out for one candidate?''