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“The Lehigh Valley is fortunate to have a champion for them in Susan Wild. In Congress, Wild has fought to cap prescription drug costs, provide support for veterans struggling with opioid addiction and to fix supply chain issues. Her opponent Lisa Scheller is the opposite. Scheller will always put herself and her interests first, using her positions in government and at her business to enrich herself at the expense of Lehigh Valley – even aligning with the Communist Chinese government to do so.” – DCCC Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney
To: Interested Parties
From: James Singer, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: May 19, 2022
Subject: The Case Against Lisa Scheller
Congresswoman Susan Wild, in the mold of her GOP predecessor, former Rep. Charlie Dent, has been a bipartisan champion for the Lehigh Valley. She has fought to lower costs on Lehigh Valley families, from prescription drug costs – a long time cause for her – to middle class tax cuts for families, to being a leader on addressing supply chain issues to ease inflation. Her leadership in Congress this cycle has led to lower health care costs for families. The administration has followed her calls to close the “family glitch” in the Affordable Care Act, which will lower insurance costs for 5 million Americans. Wild voted to lower monthly premiums on average 40% and helped pass a bill to cap the cost of insulin.
Lisa Scheller is back again after losing in 2020 – and her toxic brand hasn’t changed. Scheller has shown she can’t be trusted with her record of putting her self interest ahead of the Lehigh Valley. As CEO of her company Silberline Manufacturing, Scheller has laid off Pennsylvania workers and outsourced their jobs to China, even teaming up with the Chinese Communist Party to build a factory in China. Scheller’s company was among the first in line to take millions in government aid early in the pandemic and then she opposed COVID aid for others. Scheller’s lies about her ties to China were a contentious issue in her GOP primary. In her brief time as a county commissioner, she gave herself a tax cut while raising taxes on nearly half of Lehigh County families. She even lied about taking her salary to zero during the pandemic, instead raking in at least $1.4 million in salary and business income in 2020. The Lehigh Valley can’t trust Lisa Scheller to work for them.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
HEADLINE: Allentown Morning Call: “Tax Cuts For Commissioners; Eight Members Of Lehigh County Board, Which Insisted On Reassessment, Will Save $366-$3,442.” [Allentown Morning Call, 3/1/12]
2006-2018: 262 Total Silberline Employees, Including 148 From Pennsylvania, Became Eligible For Federal Trade Adjustment Assistance After Their Jobs Were Shipped Overseas [Department of Labor, Data on TAA Petitions, accessed 1/23/20; Public Citizen, Trade Adjustment Assistance Database, accessed 7/16/21]
HEADLINE : Silberline CEO Leads Delegation to China [PCI Mag, 2/1/08]
Michael Lowe, Silberline’s Asia-Pacific Managing Director, Said Silberline “Helped The Government Build Roads In China.” “That’s not the only way Silberline gives back, though. Its commitment to a better world runs deep, impacting the communities around the globe in which it’s present; namely North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia–Pacific. ‘We value being a part of the community,’ Michael says. ‘Every year, we find ways to give back. For example, in Singapore, our team helps out at the food bank. And we helped the government build roads in China. Every year, there are a lot of programs we take part in to help anchor ourselves in the community, doing something to benefit it.’” [Web Archive, CEO Magazine, Archived 12/27/21]
Scheller’s GOP Opponent, Kevin Dellicker, Launched A Website Dedicated To Scheller’s Ties To China. [Web Archive, Ask Lisa Scheller Website, Archived 3/15/22]
When Asked Whether She Would Vote For A Federal Heartbeat Bill Banning Abortion After “Detectable Fetal Heartbeat” Unless The Life Of The Mother Was At Stake, Scheller Said: “Yes, I’m Open To It.” HOST: “Would you vote for a federal heartbeat protect act that would make it a crime for a physician to perform an abortion when there is a detectable fetal heartbeat unless the life of the mother is at stake?” SCHELLER: “Yes, I’m open to it.” [Northampton County GOP Debate, Remarks by Lisa Scheller, 4/1/22] (VIDEO) 44:20
Scheller: “I Would Never Vote For A Bill That Would Codify Roe v. Wade.” SCHELLER: “I am pro-life. I support pro-life policies, and I would never vote for a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade. I want to build a culture of life and to do that we need to begin by defunding Planned Parenthood completely, not just the abortion piece, and every organization that provides abortions.” [Northampton County GOP Debate, Remarks by Lisa Scheller, 4/1/22] (VIDEO) 46:00
Scheller Said She Supported “Defunding Planned Parenthood Completely – Not Just The Abortion Piece – And Every Organization That Provides Abortions.” SCHELLER: “I am pro-life. I support pro-life policies, and I would never vote for a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade. I want to build a culture of life and to do that we need to begin by defunding Planned Parenthood completely, not just the abortion piece, and every organization that provides abortions.” [Northampton County GOP Debate, Remarks by Lisa Scheller, 4/1/22] (VIDEO) 46:00
Lisa Scheller can’t be trusted to stand up for Lehigh Valley. Scheller will always put herself and her interests first, using her positions in government and at her business to enrich herself at the expense of the Lehigh Valley
SCHELLER WOULD BAN ABORTION BEFORE MOST WOMEN KNOW THEY ARE PREGNANT, EVEN IN CASES OF RAPE AND INCEST
Lisa Scheller is a threat to reproductive rights and abortion access. She has openly supported “criminalizing abortion when there is a detectable fetal heartbeat” – even in cases of rape and incest – and said she would never vote for a bill to codify Roe v. Wade.
With every Republican running for governor in Pennsylvania seeking to limit abortion access, Scheller’s extreme position threatens every single woman and family in Pennsylvania.
SELF-SERVING, OUTSOURCING SCHELLER
Throughout her career as an elected official, candidate, and outsourcing CEO, Lisa Scheller has always shown who she will put first – Lisa Scheller.
When she served on the Lehigh County Commission, at the behest of her campaign donors and in her own self interest, Scheller schemed to secure herself an 11% tax cut ($3,411.58) while increasing her property value (by nearly $300,000) through a countywide reassessment that resulted in a tax hike on nearly half of Lehigh County property owners.
Scheller has spent her career outsourcing Pennsylvania and U.S. jobs, including to China and Mexico. During Scheller’s time as President and CEO, Silberline’s domestic workforce has been cut in half, from 360 American workers in 1998 to just 142 in 2021. These facts come despite Scheller’s dishonest claims that she had never “exported a single U.S. job” and feigning support for “bring[ing] jobs back here to the United States from other countries, including from China.”
Scheller has attacked Pennsylvanianas who utilized government assistance during the pandemic and argued the government was “inflicting pain” on citizens who took support – yet Scheller’s company took $5.1 million in federal assistance during the pandemic. At the same time Silberline took this aid, Scheller made between $1.1 million and $6 million from her company’s work in China.
SCHELLER’S COMMUNIST CHINA TIES
It’s not just that Scheller has outsourced Pennsylvania jobs to China and lied about it – she is running as being tough on China as her company partners with the communist Chinese government to build roads and a manufacturing plant in Shandong.
Scheller, who has opposed billions in infrastructure investments here at home, is partnering with the CCP to build roads in China as they build Silberline’s new Chinese manufacturing plant, set to open next year. Scheller’s company is even partnered with a Chinese state-run steelmaker.
Scheller knows her chummy ties to China are a huge vulnerability – so she’s tried to lie about her record. Scheller recently claimed that she supported Trump’s tariffs against China, “even though they were a detriment to my [Scheller’s] business.” This is not true. Scheller personally testified against the tariffs and defended China as an indispensable production source to her company.
SCHELLER IS A MAGA REPUBLICAN
Lisa Scheller is a longtime GOP donor who is aligning her policies and campaign with the worst of Washington’s far-right. In Washington, she would be a rubber stamp for their dangerous agenda: repealing the Affordable Care Act, overturning Roe v. Wade, cutting taxes for the wealthy like herself and raising them on middle class families, and sunsetting Social Security and Medicare.
PATH TO VICTORY
Congresswoman Wild was re-elected in 2020 with 51.9% of the vote, and redistricting has left PA-07 largely intact — 90.6% of registered voters lived in the old version of the district. President Biden would have won the new PA-07 with 50.3% of the major-party vote in 2020, a 1.8-point improvement over Hillary Clinton’s vote share. Other Democrats have demonstrated the high ceiling in this district, as Governor Wolf and Senator Casey won 58.1% and 55.1% of the major-party vote in 2018, respectively. Crucially, PA-07 retains its Democratic bases of Allentown and Bethlehem, and has a sizable Hispanic/Latino population (13.9% of voting-age citizens).
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