Outsiders spent more than any candidate for Bill Shuster’s seat in Congress

Dr. John Joyce, left, candidate for Congress for the 13th Congressional district, meets with Rep. Joe Wilson R-South Carolina, on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at Franklin Volunteer Fire Company’s activity room. Rep. Wilson has joined the campaign trail with Dr. Joyce. The two were joined by Dr. Joye’s wife, Alice Joyce. (Photo: Markell DeLoatch, Public Opinion)

(Undated) — Voters in Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District will never know who was behind at least $230,000 spent in the GOP primary.

Conservative Leadership Alliance Inc., a “dark money” group, is not required to disclose its donors. Its separate political action committee also has not disclosed its donors. Both CLA and CLA PAC ads blasted state Sen. John Eichelberger and Art Halvorson, presumably to the benefit of the eventual winner, Dr. John Joyce.

Other PACs supported state Rep. Steve Bloom by running independent ads supporting him and attacking Joyce. Bloom finished third.

PACs and outside political groups spent nearly a million dollars to influence the selection of a candidate to succeed U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Everett, in Congress.

“We should know who is interested in our elected officials and how much money they are getting from outside,” said Alison Dagnes, Shippensburg University political scientist. “If a candidate benefits from $230,000 in an ad drop, we should know where they are getting their support. It could be that they are golfing buddies. That’s fine. We should know.

“Amidst all the insanity with Russia, this is about foreign influence,” Dagnes added. “What we don’t want is for a foreign, hostile government to get involved. We deserve to know who donates the money.”

The mystery spending is confounding in a race with eight avowed conservative Republicans.

“There was not a person in there who’s a moderate,” Dagnes said.  “You do have groups backing different horses, but they’re all the same horse.”

The winner of the 13th District seat is almost a foregone conclusion. Any GOP nominee is an odds-on favorite to win in the fall because the 13th is one of the most solidly Republican districts in Pennsylvania.

“Somewhere in Harrisburg or Washington or Trump Tower, they predetermined who they wanted to replace Shuster, and money wasn’t going to be an object,” said Hugh Jones, retired chairman of the Shippensburg University political science department. “It seemed to be clear that Dr. Joyce was supported by Shuster. Joyce facilitated himself with Trump. With Trump, anything can go. There’s no such thing as ‘dark money.’ They think they can do anything.”

Republicans are having a civil war, according to Dagnes. The party is split between traditional conservatives and Trump conservatives.

 “It’s a little topsy-turvy,” Dagnes said. “The bottom line is this: It used to be that under (former House Speaker) John Boehner, the tea party would give him a real hard time. He’d say let’s make a deal with the Democrats, and the hard-line conservatives would say ‘no.’ Now what we have is a very unpredictable and rudderless president who isn’t rooted to an ideology and who is demanding things.”

Joyce, a Blair County dermatologist, won the Republican nomination race with 22 percent of the vote. His committee spent nearly $900,000 — $860,000 of it in loans from Joyce.

The other seven GOP candidates together raised less than $600,000.

Outside spending amounted to more than $900,000 —  more than a third of spending in the race.

Election spending data in this story came from the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Responsive Politics — a non-partisan, non-profit group that researched FEC records.

It takes money to win

The total backing for Joyce – campaign contributions and outside support — was $1.2 million.

“Money certainly plays a factor, but this race was won on the ground,” said Adam Breneman, Joyce’s campaign manager. “Our team knocked on over 10,000 doors, and Dr. Joyce himself visited each county in the district at least five times. One thing was clear, the reason John Joyce won the Republican nomination is because no other candidate worked as hard as he did, and no other candidate did a better job of relaying a positive message of commonsense conservatism to the voters.”

Money had a “profound impact” on the outcome of the election, according to Eichelberger, who finished second.

“Unfortunately, the one who has the most money wins the election,” sixth-place finisher Travis Schooley said. “What we get in the end is the best government money can buy.”

Schooley previously ran for Congress and relied almost exclusively on a ground campaign.

“I’ve been to 30,000 doors,” Schooley said. “It proves that knocking on doors doesn’t win elections. It’s sad, but that’s the reality.”

Candidates with the most exposure get the most attention in the polls and give the impression they can win, he said. Acquaintances told Schooley after the election that they supported him, but voted instead for someone whom the polls indicated had a better chance of winning.

Last-minute ad buys fouled the water for the three front-running Republican candidates, all of whom hoped to emerge as conservatives’ great hope in Washington, D.C. The ads targeted either Eichelberger, Halvorson or Joyce.

“When the American public learns about people from these hyperbolic, nasty ads, we’re not learning about the people who are running for office,” said Dagnes, the SU political scientist. “Most of them are pretty great guys, but you’re not going to learn about that from an ad. We need to turn down the volume.”

The ads glossed over complicated issues and gave candidates no time to respond, according to Eichelberger.

Candidates can run a positive campaign message while super PACs and other groups can handle the dirty work, Dagnes said.

“Fear and anger motivate people more than anything,” she said.

“We had the attack ads in the last five or six days of the campaign,” Eichelberger said. “I don’t think Halvorson had the base I did. I think my base generally held. I’ve been around awhile and I had a solid base. Halvorson’s was softer.”

Eichelberger said the attacks pulled undecided voters away from him. Halvorson faded to fifth on election day.

Halvorson also was hit by a second barrage of attack ads. He claims that the Joyce campaign colluded with the Defending Main Street super PAC on the attack ads.

“He could say anything he wanted about any other candidate, Photoshop it, and spread it like fire, and the people had no shot at knowing the truth,” Halvorson said.

By federal election rules, super PACs cannot coordinate with a candidate’s campaign.

Joyce campaign manager Breneman called Halvorson’s accusation “absurd.” Joyce’s campaign “had no knowledge of any outside groups until they first sent out a mailer or first hit the airwaves,” he said.

Ben Hornberger, the last-place finisher, said he was proud that 1,185 people trusted him with their votes.

Doug Mastriano raised $35,000 and finished a strong fourth with more than 10,000 votes.

“In my experience, I needed two things,” Mastriano said. “I needed more time and more money.”

He said he needed more time to extend his strong ground game in Franklin and Fulton to Bedford and Blair counties. Barring time, he needed money to get his message out.

“I am really troubled as a citizen that an election can turn on the amount of money and resources that a candidate has,” Mastriano said.

Outside money

It should be no surprise that big money made its way to the fight for an open seat that has been in the Shuster family for two generations. Bill and Bud Shuster rarely faced serious opposition.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, PACs and nonprofit organizations spent more than $799,000 independently to influence Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District Republican primary. Another super PAC not included in their summary spent $127,000. Here’s a breakdown of the $926,000 they spent: