Monica Yant Kinney: Dirty, shady, or just good politics?

Bryan Lentz finally came clean about playing dirty. Goody for him, but pity the voters deciding whether honesty about duplicity should earn the Delaware County Democrat a promotion from the state legislature to Congress.

And let us ache, too, for folks in New Jersey's Third Congressional District, still wondering whether Democratic Rep. John Adler propped up a tea party spoiler to siphon votes from his GOP rival, behemoth former Eagle Jon Runyan.

Part of me thinks I'd respect Adler for manning up to using his brains against Runyan's brawn. Instead, the Harvard-educated lawmaker offers crafty contortions like, "As far as I know, we had nothing to do with it."

And yet, after watching Lentz's remorseless confession to the Delaware County Times' editorial board (http://philly.com/SeeDelcoVideo), I'm not convinced he's suddenly more worthy to send to Washington than Republican former U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan.

"I did not encourage him to run for office. He made that decision on his own," Lentz said of independent challenger Jim Schneller. "If somebody's already made the decision to run, I didn't think that 'helping' with the process of signature petitions was improper. . . . I did not see it as a mortal sin."

When asked why, Lentz copped to the obvious: He used the far-right candidate to hurt Meehan.

"I didn't think it was a bad thing," Lentz added, chuckling, "for the process or my candidacy."

Using candidate choice to confuse voters and win a competitive edge is nothing new. In a 1946 Massachusetts primary for the U.S. House, Joe Kennedy encouraged one Joseph Russo to run against another Joseph Russo, a Boston councilman. Who ended up winning the race? An ambitious rookie named John F. Kennedy.

A political pro I know jokes that "ballot management is as old as ballots themselves," whether it's recruiting three Irish candidates for a big-city race or inspiring suburban tea partyers to do their civic duty and mock moderate Republicans.

"It's not illegal," this campaign veteran muses, "but it's kind of shady. Often, you only gain a percent here or there. I'm not convinced the payoff is all that great."

But in tight races - the Lentz-Meehan and Adler-Runyan battles are statistical dead heats in polls - an ill-gotten point or two may carry the day.

The New Jersey allegations concern the names of Adler loyalists popping up on the nominating petitions of Peter DeStefano. Republicans asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether Adler or Camden County Democrats had given DeStefano money or manpower that was conveniently left off campaign reports.

When I asked Adler about the accusations, whether he had spoken to the people named on rival petitions or had any thoughts on Lentz's revelation, the normally convivial representative dubbed my probing "unfair."

Mostly, Adler reiterated lawyerly lines like, "My people deny knowledge of it." But when I looked back at my notes, I puzzled over an off-message non sequitur: "I can't undo what other people do."

So what say the recipients of all this cynical electoral generosity?

DeStefano lost his home to foreclosure and boasts of being an Everyman disgusted with Adler and Runyan equally: "As far as I'm concerned, they are both full of crap."

But when I dropped by DeStefano's Mount Holly frame shop to chat, he dodged questions about his petitions and changed the subject. "This," DeStefano groused, "is what happens when an average guy decides to run for office."

Meanwhile, Schneller, a former marketing director from Wayne, told me that his fond memories of "going bananas" to collect signatures last summer had been spoiled by news that his eager volunteers had been strategically placed Democratic plants.

"To knowingly manipulate another campaign is un-American."

Un-American, and unnecessary. Outsider candidates like Schneller are disgusted enough to get on the ballot all by themselves.