Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
For the second time<\/a> in less than two weeks, a candidate in the Lehigh Valley\u2019s highly competitive race for Congress has called on their opponent to take down a television ad they consider false and defamatory.<\/p>\n And for the second time, the other one has refused.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie<\/a> (R., Lehigh), in a letter sent by his lawyer Tuesday, said a new ad from Democratic challenger Bob Brooks<\/a> that claims he opposed a bill to strengthen mental health coverage for first responders when he was a state lawmaker is \u201cdefamatory and provably false.\u201d<\/p>\n The candidates have traded attacks for weeks in what\u2019s become one of the most expensive and volatile of Pennsylvania\u2019s four nationally watched U.S. House races<\/a> this fall. Earlier this month, Brooks called on<\/a> Mackenzie to pull down an ad that called him a \u201ccriminal\u201d and then canceled their only scheduled debate when the Republican declined to pull the ad.<\/p>\n The latest ad from Brooks \u2014 a firefighter union leader who a recent poll showed was leading Mackenzie by 5 percentage points \u2014 involves a 2024 state law<\/a> that made it easier for firefighters, police officers, and other first responders to get workers\u2019 compensation coverage for post-traumatic stress injury. It passed after several years of failed attempts, and Brooks was among those leading the lobbying effort because of his union role.<\/p>\n The ad<\/a> features State Rep. Jennifer O\u2019Mara, a Delaware County<\/a> Democrat who sponsored a version of the bill after speaking publicly about her father<\/a>, a former Philadelphia firefighter who died by suicide while struggling with post-traumatic stress.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a bill to get our first responders real mental health coverage,\u201d O\u2019Mara said in the ad. \u201cRyan Mackenzie fought us the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n The message echoed a frequent criticism from Brooks. He has repeatedly claimed Mackenzie was \u201cone of the biggest opponents\u201d during his lobbying efforts, but has also not provided further clarification. On at least one occasion, he said Mackenzie specifically voted against the legislation \u2014 a claim that notably doesn\u2019t appear in the ad.<\/p>\n Mackenzie\u2019s lawyer and campaign team wrote that the ad displays a \u201creckless disregard for the truth\u201d because the Republican voted for the bill and believed it to be a \u201ccrucial issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[H]e voted in favor of this legislation every time it came before him, on three separate recorded votes, and never once voted against it,\u201d wrote Mackenzie\u2019s lawyer, Britain R. Henry, of Goldstein Law Partners.<\/p>\n The Republican\u2019s campaign manager, Andres Weller, said in an additional statement that Brooks\u2019 \u201ccasual willingness to lie to voters is once again on full display in the closing days of this campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooks\u2019 campaign responded quickly to reject the letter and elevate Brooks\u2019 supporters who were involved with the legislative effort in Harrisburg who believed Mackenzie to be a roadblock.<\/p>\n Jeremy Warmkessel, the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 302 in Allentown, said he met with Mackenzie around 2019 or 2020 when the bill was in a Republican-controlled committee he belonged to. The measure was the union\u2019s top legislative priority, and Mackenzie did not help to bring up the bill for a vote, Warmkessel said.<\/p>\n State Rep. Tarik Khan, a Philadelphia Democrat, also criticized Mackenzie for not working as vice chair of the committee to force a vote.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re in a position of leadership, you have that responsibility,\u201d Khan said.<\/p>\n Mackenzie\u2019s letter specifically combated that argument \u2014 noting that another Republican lawmaker was the committee chair at the time and it was not Mackenzie\u2019s decision to schedule legislation for a vote. It also points to the lawmaker\u2019s former statements in which he promotes strengthening healthcare for first responders.<\/p>\n The letter said it was placing Brooks\u2019 campaign \u201con notice\u201d and that further publication of the ad would \u201cconstitute actual malice,\u201d a requirement for defamation claims. Such letters are not uncommon<\/a> in heated campaigns and are often ignored, though some are followed by lawsuits. <\/p>\n In July, Democrat Bob Harvie<\/a> \u2014 who is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick<\/a> in the Bucks County-based 1st Congressional District \u2014 sent a cease-and-desist<\/a> and later filed a defamation suit<\/a> against a political action committee making claims that he said were false. The ads continued.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ad will not be coming down,\u201d Brooks spokesperson Benny Stanislawski said Tuesday. \u201cRyan Mackenzie stonewalled efforts to pass PTSI benefits for firefighters and first responders while he was serving in Harrisburg, and only changed his tune once he decided he wanted to run for Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min For the second time in less than two weeks, a candidate in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,128802],"class_list":["post-315791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-ryan-mackenzie-bob-brooks-cease-and-desist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}