Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Sestak attacks ads; Specter marks his party switch

WASHINGTON – Sen. Arlen Specter's attack TV ads are themselves a character issue, showing a politician willing to say anything to hang on to power, his Democratic primary opponent argued in a Wednesday speech that outlined his case against the incumbent.

Rep. Joe Sestak, left, accused Sen. Arlen Specter, right, of "tired, old Washington politics." On the Senate floor, Specter called for a change.
Rep. Joe Sestak, left, accused Sen. Arlen Specter, right, of "tired, old Washington politics." On the Senate floor, Specter called for a change.Read more

WASHINGTON – Sen. Arlen Specter's attack TV ads are themselves a character issue, showing a politician willing to say anything to hang on to power, his Democratic primary opponent argued in a Wednesday speech that outlined his case against the incumbent.

"Arlen Specter can say whatever he wants about me, but the honor I take in having worn the cloth of this nation cannot be undone by a 30-second attack ad," Rep. Joe Sestak said, his voice husky with emotion, referring to his 31 years in the Navy.

The retired admiral's remarks came with a little less than three weeks left in what has become a bitter campaign and on the first anniversary of the day that Specter left the Republican Party to become a Democrat.

Specter marked the occasion with a speech on the Senate floor pleading for a return to bipartisanship in Congress, as Republicans blocked debate on a Democratic proposal for tighter regulations on financial institutions. They relented later Wednesday, allowing debate.

"Senators must be willing to cross the aisle and work with their colleagues even at the peril of disfavor in their political party," Specter said. "The problems of the country today are too severe . . . for members of this body to be unwilling to risk their seats for the public good."

It was Specter's key vote for President Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill that made the prospect of surviving a Republican primary challenge from former Rep. Pat Toomey "bleak," in his own words. The longest-serving senator in Pennsylvania history, Specter, 80, is seeking a sixth term - with the support of the White House and most of the party apparatus.

Sestak, in an appearance at a Washington law firm, said Specter should be held accountable for supporting the policies of former President George W. Bush, such as the 2001 tax cuts that benefited wealthy Americans, the Iraq war, and Wall Street deregulation.

"If Sen. Specter has changed his views and learned from those mistakes, then he ought to say so," said Sestak, 58 and in his second term in the House. "If he has a plan to repair our country here at home and restore our standing in the world, we have yet to hear it." Specter "has little to offer but tired, old Washington politics of negativity that help no one, except perhaps himself."

Since changing parties, Specter has voted with the Democratic leadership 95 percent of the time - 98 percent so far this year, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Sestak's speech was an attempt to reset his campaign in the same way, though on a smaller scale, that President Obama did before the 2008 Pennsylvania primary with a speech on race at the National Constitution Center.

Obama was on the defensive after controversial remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Sestak lost control of the campaign narrative over the last week as Specter pounded him with TV ads highlighting Sestak's 2005 removal from a top Pentagon post for, as the Navy Times reported then, "a poor command climate."

The commercial undercuts what is perhaps Sestak's most formidable credential, his Navy career. Sestak complained of being "swiftboated," and rallied veterans to denounce the Specter ad. He has yet to hit back, continuing to run the 60-second biographical spot.

The 2004 Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on presidential candidate John Kerry added up to an allegation of treason, a far more serious affair than repeating news reports about the way in which Sestak lost a single job near the end of what, by all accounts, had been a stellar career.

When Adm. Mike Mullen, now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took over as chief of naval operations, he relieved Sestak of his position as deputy chief for planning, reportedly citing low morale among Sestak's subordinates because of his demanding management style.

Sestak has denied the account, though he did not ask the Navy Times to correct or retract its story. Several Pentagon sources have confirmed, to the Inquirer and other media outlets, that Sestak was dismissed from the job, which carried a three-star rank. He retired several months later as a two-star rear admiral.

Sestak said Mullen had wanted his own team and disagreed with Sestak's push for a leaner Navy.

Meanwhile Wednesday, Specter's campaign began airing an ad criticizing Sestak for paying most of his campaign workers less than the minimum wage, as reported in campaign finance records.

"He has a history of doing what he's doing, distracting from his record, and we're not going to let him," Sestak told a small group of reporters afterward. He referred to a 1992 attack in which Lynn Yeakel was accused of belonging to a church with anti-Israel views, and to 2004 accusations that Joe Hoeffel was soft on crime.

Sestak was upbeat about the campaign, saying, "I promised it was going to go down to the last week, and it is."