The endorsement that wasn't

An ad in today's Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, bought by the campaign of state Rep. Bryan Barbin, D-Johnstown, gives the impression that Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown, was endorsed by the PA Pro-Life Federation -- but that's not the case.

The organization backs candidates endorsed by the National Right to Life Council, which has not endorsed in that race (it gave its backing to Republican Tim Burns in the May special election for the seat of the late Rep. John P. Murtha).

The Burns campaign took serious umbrage with the ad, claiming it's part of a series of lies on the part of the Critz campaign -- including its continued assertion, contrary to the Burns' own statements, that Burns wants to privatize Social Security -- but the paper is taking the blame for this one. In a brief phone interview, Tribune-Democrat publisher Robin Quillon said it was an "inadvertent error" and the paper will run a correction tomorrow.

The Barbin campaign also said it was a misprint by the Trib-Dem, and Critz campaign spokesman Mike Mikus said he hadn't heard anything about the ad until someone showed it to him today. "I didn’t know what to think about it even," he said. "It was just weird."