"If you drove up to Harrisburg for this press conference . . . you should ask him for gas money back to Philadelphia for this nonsense," Lentz, a Swarthmore Democrat, said as Meehan, red-faced, walked away. "He has no evidence rendering me unfit for higher office. So he can walk away, and he can run away."
Expect the acrimony to continue: The two will face off in one of the most competitive congressional races in the nation this year after Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak left the Seventh Congressional District seat to run for U.S. Senate.
Meehan, 54, of Drexel Hill, aimed to tie Lentz directly to Bonusgate, a corruption scandal that involved House staffers working on campaigns at taxpayer expense. Many have been investigated, and more charges may come. But Lentz have never been charged or even questioned about Bonusgate since the probe began in 2007.
Meehan, whose campaign has so far displayed the cautious tone one might expect from a former federal prosecutor, attacked Lentz with uncharacteristic flair Wednesday.
"This is a crime scene," Meehan said. "From inside this capitol, a massive and illegal political operation was conducted on state time with taxpayer money."
His campaign said it had new information connecting Lentz to Bonusgate, but Meehan's main assertion involved a House staffer who was connected to Bonusgate in 2007 and has never been prosecuted.
The staffer, Ann Collis, who works as part of the communications team in Harrisburg, worked on Lentz's House campaign for about a month in 2006. She was later paid a $9,565 bonus funded by taxpayers for campaign work.
After the press conference, Meehan campaign staff said they had found more than 20 state workers who helped out with Lentz's 2006 race and were later linked to Bonusgate.
