Blue Pennsylvania: Brian Fitzpatrick and Dave Sommers (with his Turtles) - So Happy Together

By now many of you have seen the television ads that begin “I'm Brian Fitzpatrick, and I approve this message,” followed by 30 seconds of trashing his Democratic opponent, Bob Harvie, with phrases such as “Bob Harvie calls himself a king,” “Bob Harvie has his FBI files but refuses to release them,” and “Bob Harvie to independent voters: ‘join a political party or lose your right to vote.’”

All of these ads include citations from the Levittown edition of Patch, a news outlet operating in many communities across the United States.  The author of each of these Patch articles is Dave Sommers.  Sommers, according to Politico, has been enmeshed with the Fitzpatrick family going back to 2010, by receiving various payments and reimbursements from Fitzpatrick and his late brother Mike.   Dave Sommers was also a guest at Brian Fitzpatrick’s wedding in June.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with Fitzpatrick using such citations from people he is friendly with, but it does call into question where Sommers has received his information.  None of the Sommer articles cited by Politico have citations of their own. 

How, therefore, can we gauge just how trustworthy Dave Sommers is?  One answer might be found in a case where a grand jury indicted Sommers in 2018 for “the sale, export, and false-labeling of packages containing protected diamondback terrapins (turtles).” According to then U.S. Attorney William McSwain, “Sommers represented himself as a legitimate reptile breeder, when he was in fact endangering the lives of these animals and breaking the law.”  In 2019 Sommers was sentenced to prison for six months, followed by three years’ of supervised release, and a  $250,000 fine for trafficking in the protected turtles.  He made over half a million dollars over six years from selling diamondback terrapins online.

One of the morals from Aesop’s Fables is that "A man is known by the company he keeps".  Hopefully, voters in PA-1 will keep that moral in mind when they make their way to the polls this November.

You can help those voters by getting the word out about Fitzpatrick and other Republican members of the Pennsylvania delegation while supporting their Democratic opponents.  Click on the Democratic opponent below to donate.

U.S. Congress

Candidate (Democrat)	District	Count(y/ies)	Incumbent (Republican)
Bob Harvie	PA-1	Bucks, Montgomery	Brian Fitzpatrick
Bob Brooks	PA-7	Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe	Ryan McKenzie
Paige Cognetti	PA-8	Wayne, Pike, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe	Bob Bresnahan
Janelle Stelson	PA-10	Dauphin, Cumberland, York	Scott Perry

While you are at it, please consider making a contribution to these Democratic candidates below for state senate.

PA Senate

Candidate (Democrat)	District	Count(y/ies)	Incumbent (Republican)
Eileen Harnett Albillar	SD-6	Bucks	Frank Farry
Mark Pinsley	SD-16	Bucks/Lehigh	Jarrett Coleman
Chris Thomas	SD-24	Berks/Montgomery	Tracy Pennycuick

You can also help us out by volunteering.  This coming Tuesday, October 13, Blue Pennsylvania will be hosting Tuesday postcard writing at the Highpoint Allen Lane Train Station from 1 - 3 pm, where we will be writing postcards for mark Pinsley, candidate for SD-16 in Allentown.  As I have stressed in previous emails, we have a Democratic majority in the state house, and we are only two seats away from having a majority (with Austin Davis as the deciding vote) in the senate.  That means we are only two senate seats away from cleaner air and water, good public schools and transportation, sensible gun laws, and affordable health and housing.

You can also canvass for Mark tomorrow in Bucks County by signing up here.

Also, our friends at Turn PA Blue are hosting a phone bank for James Malone, who won a special election last year in a district that voted +15 Republican for president in 2024.  We need to hold on to this seat.  Every Sunday from now until election day, from 1 - 3 pm, you will have an opportunity to help sustain this seat for a Democrat.  Details on how to register are here.  

Thanks,

Coleman