As John Morganelli's website states, he's been a prosecutor in Pennsylvania for over 25 years. Longer than anyone else. He also claims to be a "principled prosecutor." That claim requires one to consider what principles he's talking about. Since he has always run as a Democrat and is doing so once again as he jumps into a crowded field to fill retiring Republican Charlie Dent's seat, most Pennsylvania Democrats would probably assume he is referring to principles that they value.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
Morganelli and The Tea Party
As the video above shows, Morganelli enjoys speaking to local Tea Party groups about immigration issues. According to his own statements, he has done this several times and receives standing ovations for his rabid anti-immigrant principles. This video was taken at the Lehigh Valley Tea Party meeting which has also had other virulently anti-immigrant and outright racist speakers such as Pamela Gellar who is known for her hatred and absurd rhetoric against all Muslims.
Morganelli refers to undocumented immigrants as being "criminals, gang members and drug dealers." He advocates sending the National Guard to the border and stated that, "President Obama and his DREAM ACT has encouraged (undocumented) kids to come here." Morganelli does not support the Dreamers and would have them deported to countries they know nothing about.
Additionally, he claims that:
"The Democratic party, that I've been a member of since I could vote, has become the de facto party for illegal immigration," and that Democrats assume "these illegals will vote Democrat and that's a short sighted view."
He further encourages those in the crowd to join the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) to lobby Congress to deport immigrants, and he admits to donating to these groups personally. These anti-immigrant groups have been researched in depth and found to be covers for racist organizers and white supremacists by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They argue that their goal is to protect Americans, but those "Americans" only means straight, Christian, non-immigrants to them.
At the end of the meeting, Morganelli goes all the way into right-wing nut job hysteria and blames the "liberal news media" for immigrant sympathies and says, "They are changing the character of America," which is code speak for the dangers of America becoming less white and less Christian.
Money
Morganelli became one of Pennsylvania's most experienced prosecutors by taking multiple donations from these hate groups and their supporters. One of the original anti-immigrant PACs was the US Immigration PAC which was funded by known anti-immigrant billionaire May S. Cordelia and the Scaife/Mellon banking families of Pittsburgh. This family even contributed to the white supremacist group, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC).
The US Immigration PAC (C00349969, aka Michigan Immigration PAC) even paid for advertising in the Citizen Informer, a newsletter produced by the CofCC which writes about crimes committed against whites by people of color. In fact, the CofCC was responsible for influencing Dylann Roof to murder 9 innocent parishioners in 2012 at the Mother Emmanuel Church. The principled Morganelli even accepted a direct donation of $5,000 from Cordelia herself.
Phillip L. White (CofCC board member) and Elizabeth K. Van Staaveren (founder of Oregonians for Immigration Reform) also contributed to the US Immigration PAC and the US Immigration Reform PAC (C00253906) that followed. These PACS then turned around and gave that money to those politicians that have made their careers by pushing for anti-immigrant, xenophobic, racist policies. Those politicians included Kris Kobach (R-KS), Steve King (R-IA), Tom Tancredo (R-CO), etc.
Morganelli took $2,500 from these hate groups as a Democrat.
Trump Lover
Morganelli has never denied his anti-immigrant opinions. He's bragged about them on Fox News shows like the O'Reilly Factor and the Lou Dobbs Show. This is his modus operandi, ride the Democratic ticket yet espouse Republican views. The only difference this time is that he's running on a bigger stage, and I'm writing about it.
You won't find any mention of his anti-immigrant views or desire to deport Dreamers on his website. Instead you get topics such as how he's all for women's and minority's rights. Morganelli demonstrates his love of women and people of color by pointing how many women, Hispanics and African Americans he has hired over the years. This leaves voters with actual principles feeling like he's pointing out that he can't possibly be racist because he has "a black friend."
What voters can find out about Morganelli's principles is that he follows not only Donald Trump on Twitter, but he also follows: Manafort, Priebus, Trump Jr., Ivanka, Lewandowski, David Clarke, Kris Kobach, Eric Trump, Kellyanne and Ben Carson. Additional follows include: Bill O'reilly, Jeanine Pirro, Laura Ingraham, Geraldo Rivera, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Fox News, Lou Dobbs, Jesse Watters, Judge Napolitano, Tucker Carlson, Neil Cavuto and of course Sean Hannity.
You will not see any Democrats on Morganelli's Twitter follow. Just like you won't see tweets he erased where he begged trump for a job:
@realDonaldTrump Pa. most senior prosecutor against illegal immigration waiting to hear from transition.Hope to serve. Met Pres at Bedminste
-- John Morganelli (@johnmorganelli) November 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump Thankful for your coming leadership.Waiting to hear from transition.Met you at Bedminister when I played in Member Guest.
-- John Morganelli (@johnmorganelli) November 24, 2016@realDonaldTrump Pres-elect sent personal note to my son. I worked with Barletta and Kobach against illegal immigration. Pa. most senior DA.
-- John Morganelli (@johnmorganelli) November 21, 2016@realDonaldTrump Played M/G at Trump Nat. Met Pres with QB Mark Sanchez. I am Pa.most senior prosecutor waiting to hear from transition.
-- John Morganelli (@johnmorganelli) November 21, 2016
Morganelli is not a Democrat. He has demonstrated that his values and policies align with Trump and fellow Republicans. Should Pennsylvania Democrats vote for him in the primary, they will be electing a wolf in sheep's clothing to represent them.
