Mike Long

10/24/1994 Daily News -- "We believe it's a certainty we'll increase our
majority," says Republican strategist Mike Long. "The only question is how big the majority will be."

5/8/1995 Daily News -- A senior aide to Gov. Ridge and two top Senate
Republican staffers are off the hook in a Philadelphia political-dirty-tricks probe. Thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a political case in another state, Ridge aide Maria Keating Titelman, Senate GOP counsel Stephen MacNett and Senate GOP staff chief Mike Long face no threat of election-code violations. All three were linked to a phony brochure and political action committee in the 1993 2nd Senatorial District race between Republican Bruce Marks and Democrat Bill Stinson.

6/23/1996 Post Gazette -- Eight members of Ridge's cabinet headlined a

Senate Republican Campaign Committee fund-raiser last week that brought in $ 200,000. Monday's ''Caucus with the Senate Majority'' was the most successful fund-raiser the Senate Republicans ever had, said Mike Long, staff administrator for Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer.

9/26/2000 Daily News -- Mike Long, who runs the Senate Republican
Campaign Committee, said "issues that a woman candidate could get traction on, abortion, guns, education, are issues Sen. Tilghman votes her way."

11/3/2000 Inquirer -- The Salvatore campaign is firing back ferociously, calling

Stack a sleazy campaigner and raising questions about two traffic citations Stack received this year that listed an address in Willow Grove. Salvatore's supporters say the senator pursues good legislation regardless of his financial interests. "Mike Stack has run a vicious, negative campaign that goes beyond the pale, even by modern standards," said Mike Long, a senior aide to Senate Republicans in Harrisburg.

11/4/2000 Inquirer -- "I have been involved in campaigns for over 20 years,
and it is the most unbelievable, most hypocritical thing I've ever seen," Mike Long, Republican state Senate majority staff administrator, said yesterday.

3/12/2001 Inquirer -- "The Senate Republican campaign is giving what support

we can, but from Erickson's perspective, the campaign is being run by local people," said Mike Long, an aide to the state Senate Republican leadership.

5/17/2001 Capitolwire -- Senate GOP leaders stress campaigns are run locally
and the party in Harrisburg just offers guidance, but Long now oversees just about every aspect of almost every campaign for the Senate, from communications and

direct mailing to fund raising and polling. When up for re-election, some GOP senators will still hire campaign managers, but those managers report to Long for direction and advice.

10/18/2001 Post Gazette -- "This is about retribution because he didn't get

the Senate district he wanted," charged Long, who is the Senate Republican's primary campaign strategist. "The man is totally without honor. He is not truthful. He has no integrity."

1/3/2002 Post Gazette -- "It truly is a consensus map," said Mike Long, chief
campaign strategist for Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona.

4/23/2002 Post Gazette -- "It proves politics makes strange bedfellows,"

chuckled Mike Long, campaign strategist for Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona. "We appreciate his support. He put the best interests of the voters first."

11/2/2002 Morning Call -- "Where it can impact is what the turnout is going
to be," said Mike Long, chairman of the Republican Senate Campaign Committee.

11/7/2002 Morning Call -- That was all wishful thinking on the part of
Democrats, said Republican Campaign Committee Chairman Mike Long.

2/14/2003 Post Gazette -- Mike Long, an adviser to the Pippy campaign,

contends that those exceptions make it clear that his candidacy can go forward"It doesn't seem to be a problem," said Long, who is on leave from his post as a senior aide to the Senate Republican caucus in Harrisburg.

3/6/2003 Post Gazette -- Long, a Pippy campaign spokesman, said he

expected Pippy to prevail in court.

3/7/2003 Post Gazette -- Mike Long, a Pippy campaign spokesman, said that if
Pippy wins Tuesday's election, he was "confident" that he could be sworn in and placed on a leave of absence until his Reserve duty ended.

5/24/2003 Morning Call -- Republicans in Harrisburg said they had nothing to

do with the calls. "We know nothing about it," said Mike Long, campaign strategist for the Senate GOP and aide to Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer, RAltoona.

11/2/2004 Associated Press -- GOP strategist Mike Long said "the trend is
good," while Kukovich spokeswoman Tess Candori called the race "neck and neck."

11/4/2004 Capitolwire -- The Senate Republicans' ... stunning defeat of

long-time incumbent Sen. Allen Kukovich (D-Westmoreland) has Capitol wags

speculating that Mike Long -- staff administrator to Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer (R-Blair) and the man who engineered that GOP victory among many others over the last decade -- could become the next chairman of the Republican State Committee when current Chairman Alan Novak steps down.

11/8/2004 Inquirer -- Mike Long, who took a leave from his job as a top aide to
Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer (R., Blair) to serve as a campaign strategist for Regola, said the outcome showed Kukovich "did not mesh" with his constituents on any issue.

1/20/2005 Tribune Review -- "We think (Diven) would be an extremely

formidable candidate on the Republican ticket, and would win the seat, but it's really obviously his decision," said Mike Long, spokesman for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

4/3/2005 Patriot News -- One of my favorite rules in politics comes from

Senate GOP political guru Mike Long: "If you take the folks who are mildly for your candidate, and give me a smaller number that are passionate for my candidate or issue, I will beat you every time. Because passionate people show up, they work and they vote. Folks who don't have a compelling reason to vote, often don't."

4/19/2005 Capitolwire -- And because of the tax issue, she was unable to win
over Republican voters, and Pat was, said Senate Republican political strategist Mike Long.

5/1/2005 Morning Call -- State Senate Republicans use words such as

"genius" to describe their campaign guru Michael Long"I just don't understand why someone would think that way. It seems impossible to me," says Long, the brains behind the Senate GOP's campaign wing, and the man who some in Harrisburg have taken to referring to as a homegrown version of White House political czar Karl Rove. "I think what's in the interest of Pennsylvania is to have Republicans in control at all levels." Few people outside the clubby world of political campaigns know who Long is, much less know his name Almost every Republican Senate campaign since the mid-1980s bears his imprint in some way, and many in Harrisburg credit him for the GOP's current vise grip on the chamber. In the Lehigh Valley, Long recently had a major effect on local politics. Long helped craft the devastatingly effective tax advertisements that GOP Rep. Pat Browne of Allentown used against Democrat Jennifer Mann during last month's bruising fight for the 16th state Senate District. By day, Long is the Blair County Republican's right-hand man, responsible for hiring and firing GOP Senate employees. The campaign stuff -- and there's plenty of it -- is for the weekends and days off. Jubelirer, he says, insists on it. In high season, that means Long will often work from early-bird hours to past midnight. Besides scoring big with Browne last month, Long helped GOP campaign whiz Suzanne O'Berry mastermind the defeat of Sen.

Allen Kukovich, a respected Democrat from Westmoreland County. Regola operatives, with advice from Long, capitalized on the GOP shift, crafting a mailer that played up Kukovich's ties to Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell. Long says he sees his own role as a strategic one, dispensing advice and guidance. In a separate interview, Jubelirer short-circuited Long's attempts at humility, saying, "There is a no more effective political operative in Pennsylvania. Mike has been an absolutely indispensable captain of this team."

5/2/2005 Capitolwire -- Also, for such a local-issues-and-personality race, the

stakes are unusually high. Republicans hold a 30-18 edge in the state Senate. And even after their much-praised wins in Westmoreland County last November and the Lehigh Valley this fall, GOP strategists say they never come this close in a 70 percent Democratic registration district, according to Mike Long, the Senate GOP's top political guru and architect of its enormously successful campaign structure.

5/17/2005 Capitolwire -- Fontana is the favorite in most polls, but Diven, a

popular state lawmaker and inveterate idea man, is the only kind of Republican who could win this seat, said Senate GOP political guru Mike Long.

5/18/2005 Patriot News -- Eshleman's defeat was the worst in county history
for an incumbent, said former county Republican Party Chairman Mike Long.

8/15/2005 Capitolwire -- But Jubelirers chief political aide Mike Long says this
effort will be a short-lived embarrassment to all participants.

8/16/2005 Capitolwire -- Jubelirers top political aide, Mike Long, said the ads
and a radio commercial which mocked Jubelirer by saying, Bob Jubelirer, raising our taxes and his salary since 1975, were factually inaccurate and will backfire on this group. The voters in the senators district know what he has done for them and appreciate it.

8/18/2005 Capitolwire -- Jubelirer political aide Mike Long said Jubelirer knew
and respected Scranton and respected Meakems business and political success, and we believe they did not know what Mr. Lilik and the Young Conservatives were doing.

8/19/2005 Capitolwire -- But while agreeing to a meeting, Lilik also published

on his personal website, GrassrootsPA.com, an open letter saying Mike Long, top political aide to Sen. Bob Jubelirer, R-Blair, had sought to bully and threaten the group into ending its campaign.

8/22/2005 Capitolwire -- In 2003, Jubelirer, Senate Majority Leader David J.

Chip Brightbill, R-Lebanon and top political aide Mike Long told donors and allies

that Kukovich, who had relatively easily beaten back conservative challengers in the past, was vulnerable. Few believed and most mocked the effort.

11/6/2005 Post Gazette -- The legislators don't understand that yet. Mike
Long, the GOP Senate strategist, made that clear after the repeal vote:"The biggest winners were the taxpayers. The biggest losers were single-issue candidates who wanted to run against the incumbents based solely on this issue.''

11/7/2005 Capitolwire -- So we knew there were people who would have to

get on board once we asked for co-sponsors, Earll said. She also worked hard with key Senate aides, like Mike Long, Jubelirer's fanatically-loyal political alter ego and his key partner in building the Senate GOP caucus into a 30-20 dominance.

11/20/2005 Post Gazette -- "The one thing I'm sure of is that it's very hard to
predict what the political climate is going to be six months from now," said Mr. Long, who oversees Senate elections for Mr. Jubelirer. Last year, for example, few gave the party much chance of defeating longtime state Sen. Allen Kukovich, DManor, but challenger Bob Regola pulled out a victory.

1/9/2006 Capitolwire -- Mike Long, Jubelirer's top political aide, declined to

comment.

1/10/2006 Capitolwire -- Mike Long is the political strategist for Senate

Republican leaders, and now will help lead the primary campaigns of Senate President Pro Tem Bob Jubelirer, his friend and employer for decades, and Brightbill, his friend, ally and brother-in-law.

1/10/2006 Post Gazette -- Jubelirer political aide Mike Long called that theory
"preposterous."

1/11/2006 Capitolwire -- Coleman is now positioned, as one political insider

joked, to become the anti-Mike Long. Mike will basically be in charge of Chip and Bobs re-elections. Jeff is trying to take one or both of them out. And Mike has made a career out of surprising defeats of incumbents.

2/12/2006 Post Gazette -- "My aide Mike Long and I met with Lynn in
Sewickley that September and talked to him about political issues for about 90 minutes,'' Mr. Jubelirer recounted yesterday, just after the Republican State Committee unanimously and enthusiastically endorsed Mr. Swann for governor. He said he was interested in running for governor in 2006, and I thought, 'This guy could really generate enormous excitement. He's Ed Rendell's worst nightmare'.''

2/21/2006 Capitolwire -- Jubelirers top political adviser, Mike Long said, I

think that what Jan Mills, the committeeperson who wrote and asked John Eichelberger to follow the law wanted, was for John Eichelberger to follow the election code. Those were polls Mr. Eichelberger and Mr. [Bob] Guzzardi said influenced his campaign. They should be on his campaign report.

3/12/2006 Morning Call -- Republican state Senate campaign czar Mike Long
sees southwestern Pennsylvania as a key battleground, where a strong showing by Swann will also help Santorum. "The turnout will be much higher and they'll all be voting for Swann which will obviously help Santorum," said Long, one of the key architects of the GOP majority in the upper chamber.

3/13/2006 Patriot News -- Senate GOP guru Mike Long said he is optimistic
that Brightbill and Jake Corman of Centre County, along with the other three Republican incumbents facing primary opponents, will capture the party's nominations in their respective races and go on to win in the fall.

3/19/2006 Associated Press -- There weren't many people in Regola's corner

when he mounted his campaign in early 2004, according to Senate Republican Campaign Committee leader Mike Long, a top aide to Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer.

3/30/2006 Capitolwire -- The Senate Republicans political guru, Mike Long,

who is also Brightbills brother-in-law, said Sen. Jubelirer and Sen. Brightbill are both comfortably ahead of their challengers in their surveys. There is nothing to suggest either is in danger.

3/31/2006 Tribune Review -- A top aide to state Senate President Pro

Tempore Robert Jubelirer controls a political action committee largely financed by casino applicant Louis DeNaples, a Scranton-area businessman with links to organized crime. Citizens for a Better Pennsylvania, founded by Jubelirer in 1989, collected $20,000 last year from companies affiliated with DeNaples, a leading contender for a slots casino in the Poconos. Mike Long, the powerful senator's chief of staff, is the committee treasurer. It is highly unusual, political experts say, for a legislative staffer to control a political action committee -- let alone one funded by interests his boss opposes. Jubelirer, an Altoona Republican, is an outspoken opponent of gambling Long said the group used the money to pay for a mailer supporting state Sen. Pat Browne, a candidate in a Lehigh Valley Senate special election last spring.

3/31/2006 Capitolwire -- Making matters more interesting, the PAC's

treasurer is Mike Long, the senator's chief of staff, something political experts told the Trib was highly unusual, particularly since Jubelirer is an outspoken critic of gambling.

4/2/2006 Tribune Review -- Mike Long, Jubelirer's chief of staff, controls

Citizens for a Better Pennsylvania. The PAC received $20,000 last year from companies affiliated with Scranton-area businessman Louis DeNaples, a -- wait, this column suddenly seems to have become redundant.

4/9/2006 Tribune Review -- Mike Long, chief of staff to Senate President Pro
Tempore Robert Jubelirer, controls a political action committee largely financed by Louis DeNaples, a Scranton-area businessman with links to organized crime who also has applied for a slots casino license.

4/13/2006 Capitolwire -- This poll sounds encouraging, particularly when it is

released from the opponents campaign, said Jubelirers top political aide, Mike Long. Obviously we have said our tracking polls have us comfortably ahead. We have been consistently ahead, and we think things have been moving ahead.

5/11/2006 Capitolwire -- Mike Long, an aide to Jubelirers campaign, said that

Jubelirer also discussed drug-fighting legislative initiatives and additional funding for drug and crime efforts in Altoona on Wednesday with Attorney General Tom Corbett.

5/14/2006 Tribune Review -- Long countered that Jubelirer led Eichelberger

3-to-1 in the number of small donations. "We have far more volunteers on the ground, far more small contributors in the district," said Jubelirer's chief of staff.

5/14/2006 Capitolwire -- He has Mike Long as a political strategist and guy

who remembers his record on everything.

5/18/2006 Patriot News -- "This was the first election in my 27-year career
that a single issue changed the dynamics in and of itself," said Mike Long, a strategist for Jubelirer and Brightbill Long said Senate Republican surveys indicated at least 30 percent of voters said they would not vote for someone who supported the pay raise, regardless of anything else they had done.

6/3/2006 Capitolwire -- In the ballroom reception Friday night, a steady

stream of party powers and key figures like state Senate political director Mike Long walked up to Chris Lilik of the Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania.

9/29/2006 Capitolwire -- Jubelirer spokesman David Atkinson said,

Individuals are free to hire whomever they decide to. Most realize that a track record and a reputation are established over more than one cycle. Irrespective of the outcome of the primary, Senator Jubelirer would not trade the team he had. Jen Holman is a terrific campaign manager and Mike Long is a top-notch strategist.

10/15/2006 Associated Press -- At best, the pay raise could be a secondary

factor that contributes to the defeat of incumbents who may have other troubles with the electorate, said Mike Long, leader of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

10/18/2006 Capitolwire -- Normally, you would bet on the Senate GOP

campaign team, led by Mike Long. But Long lost two elections he would normally win: that of his boss, Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer, R-Blair, and his other boss and brother-in-law, Senate Majority Leader David J. Chip Brightbill, RLebanon. Long is still the guy who played the biggest role, aside from Jubelirer, in building the 29-member strong Senate GOP caucus. But so far, it has not been its year.

10/30/2006 Associated Press -- In the Senate, the Republican campaign

committee has amassed nearly $2 million - more than in any of the past three legislative elections. Committee leader Mike Long said Senate GOP candidates will need that money for advertising to counter voter disenchantment with President Bush and the Iraq war.

11/6/2006 Capitolwire -- Chuck's biggest opponent is the political climate,

not Serpico, wrote Mike Long, leader of the Senate GOP campaign team, in an email. In any other year, Chuck would win in a walk.

11/8/2006 Capitolwire -- Our polling was right on, said Senate GOP
campaign strategist Mike Long. Chuck and his team did a great job. Our leadership raised some money that was necessary to supplement Chucks fund-raising. Were disappointed in the House races, the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial results, but it was really a superb night for the Senate Republican Caucus, on a night like this.

11/13/2006 Capitolwire -- Mike Long, their political guru, has an almost

father-son relationship with Jubelirer. And Brightbill is Longs brother-in-law. Despite their emotions, Long and the Republican Senate campaign staff moved on. When the primaries ended, they stopped depicting Eichelberger and Folmer as dangerous loonies and made sure it was known both were supported by the Senate Republicans. It was one of the most notable displays of professionalism I have seen in politics.

11/19/2006 Tribune Review -- Long is credited with devising the campaign

strategy in 2004 that elected state Sen. Robert Regola, a Hempfield Township Republican, over veteran Democrat Allen Kukovich.

12/4/2006 Capitolwire -- Sources said Long was welcome to stay but likely to
leave the Senate, remaining as a campaign consultant to the Senate GOP.

12/8/2006 Capitolwire -- After 26 years as a top state Senate staffer and

more than 23 running GOP state Senate campaigns across Pennsylvania, Senate Republican Caucus staff administrator Mike Long announced he will leave that job Dec. 31 And when it comes to politics, he has no peer in Pennsylvania as far as I am concerned, as a political operative. I have seen a lot of fine operatives work in Pennsylvania, and Mike Long knows how to win. You get him into the red zone and he will always score. Long said: I am proud that on every Election Night since 1984, we have always returned with a majority. No exceptions. That shows what great candidates we had, how well our leadership did, and the kind of staff who worked so hard to help produce that record in 13 successive elections. In addition to overseeing campaigns, personnel and contracts for the Senate GOP, the staff administrator is the only Senate staff position created by statute, Long said with pride. Long was known for waging tough campaigns. To elect Sen. Bob Regola, R-Westmoreland, in 2004, fliers describing incumbent Sen. Allen Kukovich visiting Philadelphia gay bars while campaigning in 2002 with candidate Ed Rendell, when he won the governorship Long and Jubelirer helped Scarnati fund a thirdparty campaign to unseat convicted Sen. Bill Slocum, R-Warren, who ran for reelection Long will continue to be a campaign consultant for the Senate GOP, Scarnati said. Longs role as staff administrator and staff overseer of Senate campaigns will be assumed by Todd Nyquist, Scarnatis chief of staff, and Tim Nyquist, Scarnatis district director Hallowell noted the firm's previous collaborations with Long included 12 successful Pennsylvania State Senate campaigns for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee beginning with Sen. Dick Tilghman's race against Lynn Yeakel back in 2000.

12/9/2006 Capitolwire -- After Jan. 1, that firm will change its name to
Hallowell, Branstetter & Long, when longtime state Senate staff administrator and Senate Republican Campaign Committee overseer Mike Long joins as a partner.

1/16/2007 Patriot News -- The commission, whose members are appointed by

the governor, also has made plans to use the services of Mike Long, the political strategist to former state Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer -- who said he might also represent the commission.

1/16/2007 Capitolwire -- According to a report by The Patriot News of

Harrisburg, the commission, whose members are appointed by the governor, also has made plans to use the services of Mike Long, the political strategist to former state Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer -- who said he might also represent the commission.

2/1/2007 Tribune Review -- Long's base salary was $127,283 last year. Now
a private consultant in Harrisburg, Long was the key strategist for the Senate Republicans' campaign. He did not return a call requesting comment.

2/2/2007 Tribune Review -- Mike Long -- Jubelirer's former chief of staff and a
political strategist for Senate Republicans -- received $41,000 in bonuses over the two years, a $127,283 base salary and $95,960 when he left his state job last year. He said the financial package he received was "standard procedure."