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Giving 'em the business in the Senate race

Published by Tim McNulty on .

With Joe Sestak doing a small business tour today (and Pat Toomey addressing the economy and cap-and-trade legislation tomorrow on Neville Island; Sestak will be at a women-owned business in Blawnox tomorrow) the Senate campaigns are clashing over one of the central planks of the Republican's campaign -- his experience as a small businessman.

Sestak claims Toomey got into the restaurant business while working on Wall Street (which is true), while Toomey claims he worked in the business for seven years after leaving the financial sector (which is also true). And of course there is also an Arlen Specter connection, which we'll get into later.

First, let's go to the bio: Toomey worked his way through Harvard, the Morning Call's Jeff Miller wrote back in 2004, then worked on Wall Street from 1984 through 1991, at Chemical Bank (1984-86), Morgan Grenfell Co. (1986-90) and Springfield Limited (1990-91). In 1990 his two younger brothers opened a restaurant business in the Allentown area, which would drive Toomey to leave New York in late 1991/early 1992 and ultimately take over management of the restaurant concerns, before getting out out of its operations when joining Congress in 1999. (He did not sell his last shares until 2001.)

Wrote Miller:

His brothers, Steven and Michael, had managed several restaurants and nightclubs and pitched the idea of starting a business together. Although it meant giving up a promising future in the financial world, Toomey and his bothers thought they might be able to launch something big.

They chose the Lehigh Valley for its demographics and shortage of entertainment options for 30- and 40-year-olds. Toomey was still in New York when Rockin' Robins opened but soon joined his brothers in Allentown.

The dance club was a hit and spawned Boca Joe's Beach Club and Rookies, a sports bar. Another Rookies opened in Lancaster.

Toomey contributed his financial expertise but also immersed himself in decisions about menu options and decor. Despite their experience, Steven and Michael chose to give their big brother final say within the family corporation.

Which brings us to a statement Sestak spokesman Jonathon Dworkin released today, which begins: "Congressman Toomey was never a small businessman. While still working on Wall Street, he invested in a restaurant chain, left it to others to do the work, and then cashed out his shares."

The Toomey camp responded with the following, blasting Sestak's lack of private-sector experience (without noting Sestak's government job was as a Navy admiral):

From late 1991 through 1998, Pat Toomey was a small business owner, starting and running a chain of restaurants in the Lehigh Valley and Lancaster County with his brothers.  These restaurants were Pat’s sole form of employment until he was elected to Congress in late 1998.  Like most small business owners in Pennsylvania, Pat was involved in every aspect of running the business.  Early on, as the restaurants were getting off the ground, Pat swung the hammers for weeks, hanging decorations on the walls and getting the restaurants ready to open.  He personally interviewed many of the people hired and occasionally filled in when a restaurant was short staffed, whether it meant sweeping floors or unloading the trucks.
“Only a Washington politician like Congressman Joe Sestak thinks that voting for billions in new taxes, government-run health care, Wall Street bailouts, and record-breaking deficit spending isn’t liberal,” Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik said.  “Only a Washington politician like Congressman Joe Sestak who has never spent a day in the private sector in his life would fail to acknowledge and appreciate the difficulties and challenges faced by small business owners.  Pat Toomey ran a small business for seven consecutive years, and he understands that Congressman Sestak’s big-government policies will cost Pennsylvania’s small businesses jobs.”
Here's the twist -- Toomey distanced himself from the day-to-day operations of the restaurant business when he was getting attacked for a series of incidents at the restaurants, including a fatal car crash in 1993 by a Rockin' Robins patron. The attacks were levied by the (drum roll please) Specter campaign, which was doing all it could to beat back Toomey's challenge in the 2004 GOP primary.
Wrote the Morning-Call's Miller back then:
Toomey was still pursuing his financial career in New York City in 1991 when he and his brothers opened Rockin' Robins. Toomey, who later moved to Allentown, was the president of Toomey Inc. Steve and Michael Toomey were directors who handled day-to-day operations.
Here's Justin Quinn in the Lancaster Intelligencer-Journal in November 2004:
Toomey said he was Rookies' majority shareholder but had little to do with its day-to-day operations.

"It was a two-restaurant 'chain,' if you could call it that," he said. "We had one in Allentown and one in Lancaster."

So how to call this one? We'll leave it to Ron Cherry:

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