52: “Diamond for Governor!”

It is with great delight and much pride that THE CENTRIST announces not only the candidacy of Russ Diamond for Governor, but also our endorsement.

Russ Diamond has become one of our true heroes for the modern times. Russ first appeared to us as the principled leader of the Operation Clean Sweep organization that was formed in opposition to the stealth Pay Raise passed in the legislature last year.

Since that time, Russ has proven himself an able leader, and shown a steadfast and principled determination to right the enormous wrongs that are possessed by the Pennsylvania Ship of State. No one has a better handle on the ins and outs of state government than does Russ, and no one can gain office and do a better job at rooting out the evils that pervade the halls of our capitol building.

Here is Russ’s most welcome announcement, in a segment of a Harrisburg Patriot Online article from this morning:

Anti-incumbency founder announces independent bid for governor
4/13/2006,
9:08 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The founder of a group trying to oust incumbent legislators over their botched attempt to raise their own salaries will run for governor as an independent candidate.

Russ Diamond, who organized PACleanSweep in the weeks following the July 7 pay-raise vote, disclosed his candidacy in an interview with The New York Times and then announced it in a statement Thursday. He will need to collect 67,070 signatures of registered voters by Aug. 1 to challenge Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell in November and Republican challenger Lynn Swann, the former football player and
announcer.

"We've taken on the Legislature. ... Now it's time to focus some energy on the executive branch," Diamond said in a statement. "The governor is the one man who could have stopped the pay raise with one stroke of his pen, but failed to do so."

The pay-raise law, which increased lawmakers' salaries by 16 percent to 54 percent, was repealed in November.

Diamond said his platform calls for a constitutional convention, repealing a 2004 law that legalized slot-machine gambling, and reducing property taxes, among other things.

PACleanSweep has recruited more than 100 candidates to run for the Legislature, including about 40 who are challenging incumbents in the May 16 primary, although some of those candidates are also competing against each other.

This most welcome news is invigorating in the almost too quiet days before the May Primary Election.

We have refused to endorse Ed Rendell as he is the man who gave us the gambling nightmare already in progress. He signed into law at least two pieces of legislation that were passed unconstitutionally.

We have refused to endorse Lynn Swann because he is an empty candidate already in the clutches of the gambling industry.

We have endorse Jim Panyard, but he will not run.

So we are heartily pleased that such a hero as Russ Diamond has decided to run.

He has shown he has integrity, and character, he has demonstrated a knowledge of government and how it works, as well as how it is supposed to work.

Russ will be fighting an uphill battle against two heavy hitters, with their own campaign war chests, and those of their respective political party machines behind them. Russ will need your support, both financial and in the voting booth on election day. Details will follow soon about where to make contributions to the “Russ Diamond for Governor” campaign.

Russ will also need your signature on the petition to run. Republicans and Democrats need 2,000 signatures to run for Governor. As a third party candidate, Russ is required to get the equivalent of 2% of the highest vote getter in the last election, in this case, Bob Casey’s more than 3.3 million votes. Russ needs 67,000 signatures on his petition to run without benefit of party backing. That's 33 and a half times what Fast Eddie and Swannie are required to produce.

Now, perhaps, you get a glimmer of what your two major parties have done to state and local government. That is why we must elect Russ Diamond as the first Independent governor of Pennsylvania history!

Dump Rendell! Vote Diamond!

THE CENTRIST

“Kick the hubris out of Harrisburg!” -- THE CENTRIST

"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs." -- Albert Einstein

Copyright © 2006: “THE CENTRIST”. All Rights Reserved.