GOP candidate's ads traced to felon turtle trafficker who went to his wedding: report

Attack ads supporting Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) trace back to a convicted felon who trafficked protected turtles and attended the congressman's wedding.

The ads quote headlines from Patch articles written by Dave Sommers, a retired local reporter from Levittown, Pennsylvania, Politico reported Wednesday.

Fitzpatrick, a five-term incumbent, faces his toughest reelection fight in years against Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, a Democrat, in Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District, the report said.

"Bob Harvie calls himself a king," reads one Sommers headline quoted in a June television ad, according to Politico.

"Bob Harvie has his FBI files but refuses to release them," reads another, quoted in a September digital ad, the report said.

Those ads and six others cite Patch, a local news site that now runs largely as an unedited volunteer operation, Politico reported. Posting requires only an account, and an email linked to Sommers appears tied to one.

Sommers has posted eight Patch articles since late February, all attacking Harvie as "divisive," "arrogant," and a "hack." The articles echo the Fitzpatrick campaign's messaging, including an Aug. 27 post accusing Harvie of wanting "more data centers in Bucks County."

Campaigns have drawn scrutiny before for citing self-published work, but rarely from writers with "such direct ties to the candidate," Politico wrote.

Sommers once worked for the Bucks County Courier Times and the Trentonian, according to Politico. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge under the Lacey Act, a federal law against wildlife trafficking, the Justice Department announced.

Prosecutors said he poached thousands of protected diamondback terrapins and their eggs from New Jersey marshes between 2011 and 2017 and sold them.

In August 2019, he was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of home detention and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution, according to a department release.

Sommers' ties to Fitzpatrick date back more than a decade, according to Politico, and include sporadic payments and reimbursements from the congressman's campaign. In 2022, the campaign paid him $500 for "office setup services," Federal Election Commission records show.

That year, Sommers was charged with stealing an election sign backing Alex Entin, a Republican primary challenger to Fitzpatrick, according to LevittownNow.

Sommers and Fitzpatrick have been photographed together at campaign and personal events, including a March 2025 St. Patrick's Day parade shown on Fitzpatrick's Facebook page. Sommers' own page features a stream of posts supporting Fitzpatrick, including a June photo of him in a "Team Fitz" tank top, the report said.

Sommers also attended Fitzpatrick's wedding, according to Politico. The congressman married Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich on June 20 at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, People reported.

"Beautiful Jacqui... thanks for the a fabulous weekend! You guys rock!!" Sommers wrote on Facebook on June 22, beside a photo of himself with the bride.

Sommers did not respond to Politico's repeated requests for comment, and neither did Fitzpatrick's campaign.

Reilly Richardson, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, pointed Politico to a Townhall report claiming Harvie passed off "known Democrat activists" as "concerned voters" in his own ads. Richardson accused Harvie of "lying to voters."

"Now, he's desperately trying to distract from his pathetic, flailing campaign, but Pennsylvanians won't be fooled," Richardson said of Harvie.

Harvie called Fitzpatrick "a complete and total fraud" in a statement to Politico and said the congressman is growing "desperate."

"Brian Fitzpatrick is worse than the rest of the Washington swamp because he pretends to be different, but the receipts show he is corrupt to the core," Harvie said.

Harvie has repeatedly denied the attacks on his record, including claims that he was the target of an FBI investigation, Politico reported.

In July, he sent Fitzpatrick a cease-and-desist letter, a formal demand to stop, and in August he sued Defending America PAC, a pro-Fitzpatrick political action committee, arguing their claims about him were false and damaging, according to Politico.

"There is not a single House Republican incumbent who has run a more deceitful campaign than Brian Fitzpatrick. And it's not even close," Colin Seeberger, chief strategy officer at the progressive Center for American Progress Action Fund, wrote on X.