GOP tries to tie Boockvar to Mumia
Republicans injected one of the region's most emotionally charged murder cases into a tight Bucks County-based Congressional race late Wednesday night, attempting to tie Democratic challenger Kathryn Boockvar to convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal because of legal work Boockvar's husband performed in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
GOP tries to tie Boockvar to Mumia
Republicans injected one of the region’s most emotionally charged murder cases into a tight Bucks County-based Congressional race late Wednesday night, attempting to tie Democratic challenger Kathryn Boockvar to convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal because of legal work Boockvar's husband performed in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
The Republican attack, which includes a Web site post Wednesday and automated phone calls to voters set to begin Thursday, accuses Boockvar’s "husband-and-wife law firm" of representing "one of the leading activists" for Abu-Jamal. It also highlights her husband’s work as a lawyer "for a witness to the murder who accused the cops of pressuring her," according to a script of the call, which provides little context. (
“Call Kathy Boockvar … and tell her that’s too radical for Bucks County,” says the call, sponsored by the National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP's House campaign arm. (UPDATED: The full script is below).
Boockvar campaign manager Jon Blair responded with this statement:
“Congressman Fitzpatrick and his partners in Washington can make all the baseless accusations they want, but it won’t distract the intelligent voters of Bucks and Montgomery counties from the Congressman’s actual record, including voting to protect companies that outsource our jobs, flip-flopping on Social Security, voting twice to turn Medicare into a cripplingly expensive voucher system, and trying redefine rape,” he said. “These concrete facts, not wild charges, prove that Congressman Fitzpatrick is the wrong fit for the people of the Eighth District.”
The Republican accusations hinge on work by Jordan Yeager, Boockvar’s husband. The work cited by the GOP occurred more than a decade after Abu-Jamal’s 1982 conviction, though while protesters still contested his guilt. The GOP does not mention any work Boockvar did herself.
Instead Republicans point to work Yeager did while he and Boockvar were partners in their own firm. In 2000 Yeager represented Abu-Jamal’s literary agent, who was arrested and charged with petty crimes while protesting his Abu-Jamal's conviction. The agent, Frances Goldin, was 75 at the time and was one of 95 people arrested in the demonstration. The prominent agent, an Abu-Jamal supporter, later paid a fine and was sentenced to one year’s probation.
Yeager, while at a separate Philadelphia firm, worked in 1996 as an attorney for Veronica Jones, a woman who initially gave testimony against Abu-Jamal but later recanted, saying she had been pressured by police when she provided the first version of her story. Yeager told reporters in 1996 police were also trying to intimidate her with arrests on old charges after she changed her story.
The calls make no mention of the time frame of Yeager’s work. Republican Web ads include a grainy photo of Abu-Jamal alongside an image of Boockvar, who was in her teens at the time of Abu-Jamal's conviction.
The attack, pulling in one of the most notorious names in the region, illustrates the intensity of the most hotly contested Congressional race in the Philadelphia-area and the pressure the GOP faces in trying to hold the closely divided district.
“Kathy Boockvar’s troubling past and long history of radical activism is a clear window into her beliefs and priorities,” said a statement from Paul Lindsay, communications director for the NRCC. “If Boockvar is willing to defend Mumia’s values, she’s not the right person to defend the values of Bucks County families.”
Fitzpatrick, in an interview Wednesday night, shortly before the NRCC site posted the new accusations, said he was unaware of the planned attack and could not comment on it.
“I’m not familiar with the call you’re talking about and I haven’t seen the Web site,” Fitzpatrick said. “This race is about jobs and the economy and which candidate is better equipped based upon experience and approach to get people back to work.”
Pressed on whether he would then denounce a personal attack, Fitzpatrick said he needed more information to comment on it.
The NRCC posted information about Yeager’s legal work on its Web site, “Radical Kathy,” which paints Boockvar as a left-wing extremist. Through various forms of media, Republicans hope to reach 200,000 to 300,000 voters on Friday.
The eighth district regularly flips between Republican and Democratic control and political analysts and operatives from both parties say it represents Democrats’ best chance to pick up a seat in this area. The district is a moderate one, so both candidates have attempted to claim the middle ground while portraying their opponent as an extremist.
On Wednesday Democrats released a recording of Fitzpatrick at a tea party fund raiser saying, “we need to support people who have a history and know what it is like to sign the front of a paycheck, not the back of a paycheck” and compared that statement to Mitt Romney’s ill-received remarks recorded at a fund raiser of his own. Fitzpatrick told the Allentown Morning-Call that he meant to say “not just the back of the paycheck.”
The new GOP line of attack takes the campaign fight to a new level.
The main thrust of the Republican message focuses on Yeager’s work for Goldin, a publicist for Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing police offer Daniel Faulkner but who became an international cause célèbre for many who believe he was wrongly accused.
Goldin, a prominent literary agent, was one of 95 protesters arrested in 1999 during a demonstration outside the Liberty Bell. Yeager later defended her against the charges she faced. He and Boockvar were partners in their own law firm at the time. Public records show that Goldin was charged with petty offenses related to the protest and, along with her one-year probation, charged a $25 assessment and $250 fine.
Other Abu-Jamal-related charges on the Web site relate to comments by people in the same organization as Boockvar and Yeager, but not anything they did themselves. One accusation cites an Abu-Jamal forum held last year by a lawyers' group Yeager once worked for, but he was not a member of the group when it hosted the event, according to the Boockvar campaign.
Another point mentions a "colleague" of Boockvar's who wrote a commentary on Abu-Jamal in 2007, criticizing the police. The author was a contractor at a non-profit, the Advancement Project, where Boockvar worked, her campaign said.
Boockvar's opponent in a 2011 race for Commonwealth Court cited that same commentary. Boockvar said then that the writing by a co-worker had “nothing to do with Kathryn Boockvar,” according to the Patriot News.
UPDATED - here is the script for the robo-calls being launched by the NRCC:
Hello, I’m calling from the National Republican Congressional Committee at 320 First Street
Southeast in Washington, DC 20003, 202-479-7000, with a recorded message about congressional candidate and legal activist Kathy Boockvar and convicted Philadelphia cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.
The husband-and-wife law firm of Boockvar and Yeager has represented one of the leading activists for Mumia Abu-Jamal – and Boockvar’s husband was a lawyer for a witness to the murder who accused the cops of pressuring her.
Boockvar's husband himself accused the Philadelphia police of intimidating witnesses to the murder.
Boockvar’s colleague at a legal activist group accused the Philadelphia police union of having the state’s Supreme Court in its pocket when it comes to Abu-Jamal.
Last year, a group tied to Boockvar’s husband, held an event at the Constitution Center honoring Mumia Abu-Jamal. The cop killer called into the event from prison.
Call Kathy Boockvar at (215) 839-9383 and tell her that’s too radical for Bucks County.
justablogger... I am very much a firefighter and I do not support anyone in this race. These McCarthyist tactics are appalling. These are guilt by association, by association, by association tactics. None of us should accept them.— fire fighter- This reeks of desperation. Either the NRCC is seeing bad internal numbers for this race or they are afraid that the Romney campaign is going to start dragging down R's in vulnerable areas similar to 2006 and 2008.— Ed G
- Hannibal, your reading skills are deficient. Nowhere in the article does it say she defended Mumia. You are the poster child for the type of person the Repubs are trying to attract. Congratulations! You've been hooked.— philharmonic55
- The "literary agent" represented by Boockvar's husband was found guilty. Her husband's representation of the woman is not a crime as all persons deserve representation when accused of a crime. The question to be researched is why was Boockvar's husband chosen to represent this cloient? Generally, people who demonstrate in left-wing causes are represented by left-wing lawyers and before making a judgement, do some research on Boockvar and her husband positions on issues. In someof the posts, there are women who are accusing Fitzpatrick of being anti-womaen because his attacks target Boockvar. Well, the last time I looked, Boockvar was his opponent and she is most definitely a woman. I challenge any of the writers to cite l instance where Fitzpatrick or his campaign made any demeaning or insulting comments about women other than the fact he is a pro-lifer ( a position hed by many women). Please stop spouting this ugly nonsense and stick to the facts.— Drumgoole
- Just what we need in congress...another margolis - miszinski.........— STEPHEN1988
- Murrayman, you are obviously so clueless that your post proved me correct. Instead of looking for facts, you called me a buffoon and a conservative even though I am an independent who favors health insurance for all and think that Ryan's voucher ideas for medicare would destroy medicare. In addition, i am pro-choice and pro-union, hardly conservative positions. Once again, let me tell you what is known according to the article. Boockvar's husband did indeed represent Mumia's literary agen and she was found guilty, fined, and sentenced to probation. Whether you like it or not, she was obviously doing something that caused her to get aarrested and found guilty (maybe she took a plea bargain, I don't know but that is pleading guilty). What your letter showed is that you are so into your ideology that you automatically dismiss any attacks on your candidates. You are not interested in reasons why Yeager was chosen to represent the agent. It might have been that he enjoyed handling quasi political cases and was not a Mumia supporter or it may be that he was well-known for his efforts on behalf of Mumia. You don't know the answer to that question and yet you dismiss the charges as some conservative plot. What hatred. I know that the Mumia cause made some people feel righteous about demonstrating for a man who had been found guilty of killing a 26 year old police office. Somehow, these demonstrators enjoyed the excitement and good feelings about demonstrating for someone convicted of such a crime for whatever reason. This does not include those demonstrators who simply opposed the death penalty as that is a legitimate position to take and has nothing to do0 with symnpathy for Mumia.— Drumgoole
- Drumgoole, you state that Boockvar's husband did work on the Mumia case and he did not. That would make you wrong and guilty of the very thing you are accusing Murrayman of.— Ed G
- Mumia is locked up in jail until the day he dies as he agreed to forgo all death penalty appeals and serve a life sentence with no chance of parole. He is no longer an issue and is best left ignored to wallow in a 4 wall cell.— Aces high
- @Seed,
You are willfully misrepresenting what I said. Either that or you can't read. Either way, you are still wrong. Most women, when they get married, choose to showcase their new union (and make things a lot easier for themselves in a practical sense) by changing their names. Even women who have strong liberal or feminist views do this, because it simply makes sense (try flying with a bunch of kids you don't share a last name with) and shows familial unity. - Fitzpatrick never speaks up against lies made on his behalf by his surrogates, not even when one of them made sexually a explicit comment on the phony face book page making it appear as if Boockvar made it herself. It was disgusting. He knows they are being said. His usual comment: "I did not see it". "I did not see it in print."
Well, he too is a liar. Tell me mr fitzpatrick, when you were siding with redefining rape, were you thinking of any of your daughters?
— ethelmay - Drumgoole you can be anything you want -- but you're the perfect Conservative. YOu're right, though -- I don't care why they chose to represent the literary agent. There is no conceivable way to link this activity directly to MAJ -- even going so far as to place their linkenesses together. "It might have been that he enjoyed handling quasi political cases and was not a Mumia supporter or it may be that he was well-known for his efforts on behalf of Mumia. You don't know the answer to that question and yet you dismiss the charges as some conservative plot." Maybe, maybe not, but to link them together through representation of a PR person is despicable put not surprising.— Murrayman
- Too let you know how bad Kathy is and how slanted and liberal the Inquirer is - they don't give you the whole story. I just happened to get the message on my phone and they leave out a big part. That is the web address given during the phone call www.radicalkathy.com. Go there and you can see all of her far left wing ties and works. All footnoted and proven. Now you may agree with her politics but if you do you're probably in agreement with about 4% of the population. Why would the Inquirer leave out something that proves what is being alleged? That should bother everybody whether your left, right or center.— irishtck
- Just a little context here. Frances Goldin's best-selling client is novelist Barbara Kingsolver, whose stories appeal because of poetic, rather sentimental, descriptions of the natural environment. One of Goldin's partners, however, represents Margaret Wise Brown, author of those infamous Marxists rants "Goodnight Moon" and "The Runaway Bunny".— philapat
- Boockvar is so out of step with Bucks County. The only township she'll win is the socialist Republic of Doylestown Borough. She'll get trounced everywhere else. This is not a case of guilt by association. She and her husband had their own law firm. They represented a bunch of flaming liberal activists because that's their perspective on the world. They agreed with those views. She helped Acorn. She wants to help felons vote. She wants kids taken from safe homes and sent back to their drug addicted Moms. Those are not the values of voters in Bucks County. Sure, there are a few crazy liberals who will say those are all commendable, but the rest of us wouldn't want to hang out with that person, let alone have them as our Congressman or woman. The connection to Abu Jamal puts it all in perspective. He has a right to counsel and so do his supporters. But when you chose to represent them, you are taking sides, and she's so clearly on the wrong side. She is so far to the left that she should be disqualified from representing Bucks County in DC. Maybe she should move to San Francisco. She might have a better chance of winning out there.— Frankie75
Jonathan Tamari is the Inquirer’s correspondent in Washington, where he follows the Philadelphia area’s interests and representatives. Tamari comes to D.C. after two years as a beat writer reporting on the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL (where, a political source once told him, there are at least rules against hitting below the knees). He previously wrote about politics and government from Trenton, reporting on the characters and color of New Jersey state government.Jersey born and bred, Tamari now lives in the capital city, where he is looking for stories, places to run, soccer bars and good meals.
Reach him at jtamari@phillynews.com.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @JonathanTamari.
