Indictment knocking on Chaka Fattah's door?

[Keystone Phil]

Congressman Fattah's former Chief of Staff has pled guilty to federal campaign finance fraud for theft of federal grants and charitable funds to repay (illegal) campaign debts from Fattah's 2007 Mayoral campaign. The scheme to use those funds was orchestrated by "Elected Official A" and others, according to the DoJ. The former Chief of Staff was a staffer on 2007 campaign at the time.

http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news&id=272891141

The DoJ report also noted that the former Chief of Staff used campaign funds to pay off "Elected Official A's" son's college debt to the tune of $22,663!

I think "Elected Official A" is getting indicted soon. By the way, Fattah does have a Republican opponent this Fall but it goes without saying that PA 2 is one of the safest Dem seats in the nation. This race will certainly be a lot more interesting now though (as if Fattah's son's defrauding of the IRS and Philadelphia School District wasn't enough). I can imagine the Dems are already planning for a write in candidate in the district and Armond James must be putting a call in to Joseph Cao...

[Keystone Phil]

Phil, the democrat can't withdraw and be replaced by someone else? The PA laws forbid that?

I believe we have passed the deadline. And Fattah (and his son) are so stuck in their own universe that he's the type to refuse to leave. His son went on talk radio shows a few weeks ago and literally laughed off his very serious legal issues.

[Keystone Phil]

Cao's seat was way more Republican than Fattah's. Cao managed to get elected with the help of white liberals and Fattah doesn't even have enough of them for the Republicans to stand a chance. The Dems could probably win with a write-in candidate.

Yeah, I'm not disputing that but I really don't think Cao's seat was "way more Republican."

[Keystone Phil]

Cao's seat was way more Republican than Fattah's. Cao managed to get elected with the help of white liberals and Fattah doesn't even have enough of them for the Republicans to stand a chance. The Dems could probably win with a write-in candidate.

Yeah, I'm not disputing that but I really don't think Cao's seat was "way more Republican."

Cao's seat was D+25 and Fattah's is D+38. Both are far from competitive normally but during a scandal that 13 points is still considerable. It's the difference between having 35% of the vote normally and having 28%.

I thought Cao's was at least D+30. Interesting.