The following letter appears in the off-line edition of the Bucks County Courier Times today (emphasis mine):Renounce the Fat Cats

On June 29, a Guest Opinion writer posted a vitriolic attack against Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick and his proposed Online Predator Act for the absolutely astonishing reason that Fitzpatrick seeks its passage as a means of hampering Democratic fundraising.

Protect a young child from predators? Not if it would risk even one hit to the liberal Web site DailyKos.com.

The Assertion that this is the Republican's real motive ignores the fact that conservative sites such as Townhall.com would be equally impacted. Luckily, there are people like Fitzpatrick who place the welfare of children above short-term party interests.

I have not met either candidate, but I am certain that Democrat Patrick Murphy is a fine individual with good intentions and I applaud his military service. It is, however, unfortunate that he is completely beholden to a party where segments of its activist base place the interests of ultra-liberal fat cats like Chris Bowers, Markos Moulitsas and George Soros above the safety of children.

Murphy has an excellent opportunity to show his independence and integrity by renouncing this crowd and their agenda as quickly and loudly as possible. If not, the voters can show their integrity by returning Fitzpatrick to Congress.

Andy Skodinski
Middletown Hahahahaha.. Yeah, I'm a real fat cat. Here is my response. To the editors:

My name is Chris Bowers. I am 32 years old and I live in Philadelphia. On Sunday, July 9th, you published a letter from Andy Skodinski that claimed I was a "fat cat" who Patrick Murphy needed to "renounce." This writer clearly knows very little about me. In 2005, I made around $38K, which was the first year that I made more than $30K. I have personally contributed a grand total of $50 to Patrick Murphy's campaign for Congress.

Through my website, MyDD.com, along with three friends of mine (including Markos Moulistas, whom the letter writer also indicated Murphy needed to "renounce") I have helped raise money for Patrick Murphy, a progressive, fighting Democrat for whom I hold the highest respect. Patrick's campaign has captured the imagination of many local grassroots activists. As one of those activists who have been inspired by Patrick, I have decided to raise money for his campaign of my own accord. Overall, we have raised $9,500 for Patrick, from 480 donors. With our average donation coming in at just under $20, I fail to see how we qualify as "fat cats." This is about as grassroots as fundraising can get.

By contrast, Michael Fitzpatrick has raised nearly one million dollars from PACs alone. A quick look at open secrets.org reveals that most of these PACs are from large corporations and far-right ideological organizations, including money from indicted former Republican House leader Tom DeLay. Many of these PACs, including Tom DeLay's, have given $10,000 or more to Fitzpatrick's campaign: more money than we have raised combined. While Patrick Murphy raises money from small donors, Michael Fitzpatrick is the candidate that is bought and paid for by fat cats, extremist ideologues, and corrupt politicians in Washington D.C.

As a final note, it needs to be said that Michael Fitzpatrick's attempt to supposedly protect children from online predators is terrible public policy. His bill will not protect a single child from danger, but it will restrict grassroots organizing online (the netroots). As with Ginny Schrader in 2004, grassroots activists online have been inspired by the candidate challenging Michael Fitzpatrick, and now we are working as hard as we can to elect Patrick Murphy. Since one of the biggest dangers to Michael Fitzpatrick's re-election chances come from the netroots, he is trying to pass a law to restrict the grassroots activity of his political opponents. That is politics at its worst, and quite frankly is un-American.

Sincerely,
Chris Bowers
Philadelphia
chris@mydd.com The best way I can think of for you to respond would be to help Patrick Murphy reach 500 donors and $10,000 over at the netroots page. Right now, he only has 20 donors and $500 to go.