Posted on 07/23/2005 10:10:14 PM PDT by 26lemoncharlie
Hands out business card, tells family 'our government is against this war' When the family of Staff Sgt. Joseph Goodrich gathered in Pittsburgh for the fallen Marine's funeral, they expected a large crowd – after all, they've lived in the area for generations and Joseph had been a police officer before becoming a leatherneck – but they didn't expect to see Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor show up, hand out her business card and tell them "our government" opposes the war.
Goodrich, 32, and fellow western Pennsylvanian, Lance Cpl. Ryan J. Kovacicek, 22 – both second-generation Marines – were killed in Iraq two weeks ago during a mortar attack, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Goodrich's funeral was held last Tuesday. According to Sgt. Goodrich's sister-in-law, the church was full of those "who wanted to tell his family how Joe had impacted their lives." Then, she says, "one uninvited guest made an appearance, Catherine Baker Knoll."
Knoll, the first woman to achieve Pennsylvania's No. 2 position, was elected in 2002 as the running mate of current governor and fellow Democrat, Ed Rendell.
Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll
According to the fallen Marine's sister-in-law, Lt. Gov. Knoll sat down next to one of the Goodrich family members. During the distribution of communion, she leaned over and asked, "Who are you?" and gave the surprised family member her business card.
The Goodrich family is furious, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
While the church was packed with Marines and law enforcement officers in dress uniform, Rhonda Goodrich is certain the politician wasn't an invited guest.
"Knoll felt this was an appropriate time to campaign and impose her will on us. I am amazed and disgusted Knoll finds a Marine funeral a prime place to campaign."
Most upsetting, says Goodrich, was Knoll's message to the family.
"'I want you to know our government is against this war'" Goodrich quotes the lieutenant governor.
"Our family deserves an apology," Rhonda Goodrich says. "Here you have a soldier who was killed – dying for his country – in a church full of grieving family members and she shows up uninvited. It made a mockery of Joey's death." The family plans to ask Gov. Ed Rendell Knoll's statement reflects his administration's position on the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rendell will probably not be happy to hear of Knoll's latest malaprop.
Last November, reports swirled of Rendell's desire to drop Knoll from the 2006 ticket, if only he could find a way to do it gracefully.
Knoll, although active in politics for nearly 35 years, had developed a reputation as an "isolated and eccentric figure" who burns through staff, requires extensive coaching to perform her duties as president of the state Senate and often angers top senators in her own party. In spite of the hiring of a high-priced speech coach to help her break the habit, Knoll has introduced Gov. Ed Rendell at public functions as 1940s gangster movie actor Edward G. Robinson, the Morning Call reports.
Tar and feathers are to good for this creature.
Absolute scum of the Earth.
I thought my Massachusetts Senators were the lowest form of political life on the planet, sadly I was mistaken.
the national socialist workers party?
Sounds familiar doesn't it!
This has been posted twice before. Remember to search before posting. Why not use the following thread, which has 200+ replies:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1448942/posts
Contact the Lieutenant Governor
Main Capitol Office
200 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120-0002
(717) 787-3300 (phone)
(717) 783-0150 (fax)
Not surprisingly, her mailbox is full. She must be getting an earful.
This wench and any like her would be lucky to leave in an ambulance if they would ever try something like that for a family member of mine.
I did search by title, it DID NOT come up. I always search first. Thanks for letting me know though!
This beotch should have been beaten to death... and would have been had I been present.
Knoll is literally mentally incompetent. The last paragraph of the article hints at what is common knowledge in Harrisburg: she is senile and incapable of performing the duties of her job (not that she was ever very competent). She can't even manage the PA Senate correctly, which isn't rocket science, even for politicians. Fast Eddie (who nobody will ever accuse of not being politically smart) never wanted anything to do with her and clearly feels she might be the noose around his neck in the next election.
I had a friend who worked for her and he said she lost it, plain and simple. Even dimmies in their right minds don't usually do things as politically stupid as this. Not that it will make any difference -- PA legislators gave themselves a massive pay raise that will increase along with federal salaries forever and then adjourned for the summer 10 minutes later and they'll get away with it. It's nice to see something the Republican legislature and Democrat governor can get together on -- pay raises for themselves. We need grass roots republicans to kick out the entrenched Harrisburg tyrants, but I'm not hopeful. This state is such a disaster.
Liberalism IS a mental disorder...and she is in the final, terminal stage.
The post police are bores. Please don't talk about bandwidth. That bores me too.
Please apologize to the poster.
The poster was very polite about it, actually, and I meant no disrespect. If you restart the same topic later, you miss out on the informative comments of the 200+ earlier posters, many of whom had researched and provided links for calling, writing or emailing your protests of this dunderhead's funeral-crashing to her office, the Governor's office, newspapers, etc. So that's why having all the comments in one place is a good thing.
This is the third post I've seen on this subject - they did all have different titles - probably came from different PA newspapers so different headlines.
Duplicate posts aren't so bad as long as they contain contact info so that FReepers can express their "feelings" to the lt. gov. - yours does.
I am going to give Drudge a call during his 9:30-10:00 segment. Much of PA can pick up that portion of the broadcast.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/868885/posts?page=18#18
You seem to be taking this terribly, terribly personally. I repeat, no offense intended. That said, the other thread now has 300+ replies and is clearly the meatier discussion. Signing off.
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