Category: Good Government On The March, Politics || By

Jay Jabbour's campaign literature isn't attractive. Worse yet, in several of his recent direct-mail pieces, he's made the same blunder.

He's made his opponent's name larger than his own. He's even using a picture of state Rep. Bill Kortz's signs. At first glance, the flier pictured above looks like one of Kortz's mailings.

I'm surprised that Jabbour would make such a rookie mistake.

As many times as he's run for various offices (about every two years for the past three decades) you'd think he'd have the hang of it by now.

. . .

The Mon Valley has long been known for spiteful, nasty, petty political campaigns, so the scorn that Jabbour is heaping on Kortz is hardly unusual.

The only surprising thing is the amount of his own money that Jabbour is dumping into this race. His most recent finance report filed with the state indicates that he has more than $21,000 in his war chest, but $20,000 consists of a contribution Jabbour made to his own campaign on April 5.

Jabbour's an accountant, and I suppose tax season was good to him. But if I was 75 years old, and had $20,000 to burn, I'd be golfing, or traveling, not running for the state legislature for the eighth time.

. . .

I haven't seen any of Jabbour's TV commercials, but I have seen all of his newspaper ads and mailings, and they've ranged from inane to insulting.

Take the mailing above, which attacks Kortz for firing the office staff of his predecessor, Ken Ruffing.

Well, duh. Kortz defeated Ruffing in the 2006 Democratic primary, another nasty race. Why would Kortz retain people who were loyal to his political opponent?

Another mailing lambastes Kortz for allegedly not supporting West Mifflin in its fight to collect amusement tax from Kennywood Park. (Kortz says he thinks Kennywood should be paying the tax, and that Jabbour's mailing is misleading.)

As everyone knows by now, Kennywood is suing West Mifflin, because the borough was collecting the tax only from the amusement park and not from any of the other entities subject to amusement taxes in Pennsylvania.

I'm no lawyer, but it sure seems to me that West Mifflin's actions violate the equal protection clauses of the state and federal constitution. And if West Mifflin loses the lawsuit --- which it very well might --- the borough's taxpayers will bear the burden. Jabbour's position on the Kennywood tax is not only legally questionable; it's financially questionable.

Yet I can understand why Jay Jabbour is defending West Mifflin's tax collection policies. One of the people who set those policies is the vice president of West Mifflin Borough Council: Jay Jabbour's wife, Arlene.

. . .

Needless to say, these are pretty thin arguments on which to build a campaign.

Now, I don't know Kortz. I've only met him once, briefly. And I haven't liked everything he's done. (The Post-Gazette, while endorsing Kortz for re-election, noted that he's a reformer who needs to deliver more reform. That sums up my feelings nicely.)

Nor are his hands spotless in the current campaign. Kortz's ads make a point of using Jay Jabbour's real first name, "Caleem."

Kortz is either implying that Jabbour isn't quite "American," or that Jabbour is hiding from something. Neither one is true.

I also didn't like Kortz's unsuccessful attempt to get Jabbour's name taken off the ballot. Let the voters decide, Mr. Kortz. (Notice that I refrained from making a "courts"/"Kortz" pun.)

On the other hand, it's worth noting that Jabbour also used the courts to get his longtime political rival, former state representative and county councilman Richard Olasz Sr., removed from the ballot in 2001.

And I can understand why Kortz would pick up Jabbour's mud and fling it back at him. I would, too, in his position.

I'm also mostly satisfied with Kortz's performance after two years. I see no reason to toss him aside in favor of Jabbour, whose biggest claim to fame --- besides 16 years on West Mifflin borough council --- is being a perennial pain in the rear-end to Dick Olasz.

"We can't ask the voters to do what they have refused to do seven times before," the Post-Gazette says, adding that "Mr. Jabbour's attacks against Mr. Kortz in this race lack credibility."

True, dat.

. . .

Perhaps the funniest part of Jabbour's campaign is his slogan: "He's a keeper!"

Yep, he's such a dedicated public servant that he quit his county council seat to run unsuccessfully for state representative, then ran for county council again a year later.

So if Jabbour is a "keeper," then maybe we should keep him in the Mon Valley, and send Kortz back to Harrisburg.

By the way, in several ads, Jabbour calls Kortz "a promise breaker."

Considering the accusation comes from a guy who couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to be on county council or in the state legislature, the irony is pretty thick.