Democrats have a brewing scandal in swing district MAGA craves

Bob Brooks, a Democrat running for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th district, is a firefighter and owner of a lawn care/snow-removal business. Endorsed by top Democrats including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and his own state’s leader, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Brooks is a frontrunner to oppose the crucial swing district’s incumbent, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie — a MAGA Republican who has voted with President Donald Trump on almost every issue.

Yet documents obtained by AlterNet reveal Brooks could have baggage that would help Mackenzie and MAGA cling to the district: He is accused of transferring his assets to conceal a six-figure amount owed to a creditor — and, in the process, of allegedly violating a key Pennsylvania anti-fraud statute, the Uniform Voidable Transfers Act.

Filed with the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas on Feb. 17th, plaintiff Carol Wiley accused Brooks and his ex-spouse, referred to in the filing as “Second Wife,” of borrowing money in 2008 and then using unethical means to not fully pay the resulting debt. Specifically, it alleged that “judgment on the Underlying Debt was entered on January 10, 2022 in the amount $130,386.36” and that in the following March Brooks sold his property in Whitehead to his second wife for $10 even though “the value of the Whitehead property at the time of transfer was $413,200.00, based upon the then prevailing Common Level Ratio.”

"The wording of Quitclaim regarding the identity of 'Jennifer' was a subterfuge which obscured the identity of the female grantor," the document claimed, adding that "the camouflage gave the possible, and false impression that the female grantor was First Wife” and that “the Transfer Tax Affidavit eliminated uncertainty by declaring that the Quitclaim was a transfer between spouses, (Robert and Second Wife) and therefore, exempt from the Real estate Transfer Tax.”

Concluding, the litigation alleged “that the transfer of the Whitehead Property” was accomplished by Brooks and his second wife “to hinder and delay the plaintiff in her efforts to recover on the Underlying Debt.”

In response to these accusations, Jennifer Konstenbader (formerly Jennifer Brooks) claimed that “the attacks being made against my ex-husband are egregious and taken completely out of context by my mother, with whom I have not had any communication in over six years. In 2004, my mother gave us land to build a home. Over the following 12 years, she never once approached us to request payment for that land.”

Konstenbader added, “To use this situation now as a way to demean my ex-husband is unjust, and I cannot in good conscience remain silent. Bob has been a devoted father to our two boys, and it pains me to see the truth twisted in a way that harms a good man.”

When AlterNet asked the Brooks campaign why Brooks did not pay the debt in the four years since the debt judgment was rendered, a spokesperson replied that “Bob has always followed the advice of his attorney and continues to do so. It is clear that Bob's political opponents are desperately attempting to use a personal matter to distract from his real record.”

The spokesperson added, “Bob spent 20 years as a Bethlehem firefighter running into fires, he has advocated for better health care and higher wages for his union brothers and sisters as the president of the Pennsylvania firefighters union, and he has earned the backing of leaders ranging from Governor Josh Shapiro to Senator Bernie Sanders to Pete Buttigieg because they know he will go down to Washington and take on Donald Trump and a broken political system. Bob will win this primary and he will defeat Ryan Mackenzie in November."

Mackenzie has only represented Pennsylvania’s 7th district since 2025; for six years before that, the district was represented by a Democrat, Susan Wild, who had been preceded for more than a decade by Republican Charlie Dent. Despite being thus widely regarded as a swing district that elects moderates rather than extremists from both parties, Mackenzie has voted with Trump over 95 percent of the time. This is consistent with the overall trend of Pennsylvania Republicans becoming less moderate in the MAGA era.

Describing the district to this journalist (a longtime native) for Salon Magazine in 2021, former Democratic State Representative Rich Grucela recalled that “several Republican friends of mine, I might debate on the House and then afterwards in the evening, have dinner with them and talk about our families,” but as Donald Trump radicalized Republicans during President Barack Obama’s administration, he scared off moderate Republicans with the threat of primary challenges.

In addition to Brooks, the Democratic nomination is sought by former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, former member of the Pennsylvania Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs Carol Obando-Derstine and former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell. Yet it was Brooks who won the coveted endorsements of two influential former Democratic presidential candidates, Senator Sanders and Secretary Buttigieg (the latter of whom may run again), and the state’s Democratic governor Josh Shapiro.

The offices of Governor Shapiro, Senator Sanders, Secretary Buttigieg and Wiley’s attorney did not offer comment despite multiple requests.

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