Weppner's Carnival Sideshow

Via Facebook.com

 

Kathy Weppner (R-Clownshoes) is busy getting her campaign in order. She’s had a rough go of it so far, what with her diligent work scrubbing all evidence of her words, deeds, and thoughts from every corner of the internet because practically every bit of it is so delightfully cringeworthy. 

Campaigns have to designate someone to be a treasurer. It’s an important task, marrying the complexities of federal campaign finance regulation, filing requirements, transparency, and math. Mrs. Weppner has appointed a David Lipinoga to be her campaign treasurer. 

Lipinoga is an Amherst Republican Committee member who has developed a game for mobile phones. It’s a blatant and unapologetic rip-off of the wildly fun and popular “Angry Birds” game, but instead of birds you launch “patriots” at shaky structures that also feature images of people whom Lipinoga believes to be enemies of the “patriots”.  He calls them “pinheads”. The game doesn’t appear to be available on the Apple App Store, but it is available for Android devices at a cost of 99 cents. The game description indicates that it was…

…developed with the use of physics, animation, adventure and political parity. The game’s functionality utilizes the touch screen-base technology of the tablet world. Players use a Revolutionary War cannon to launch patriotic characters or the “Angry Patriots” at socialist politicians, actors, musicians, other mainstream pinheads as well as a variety of “jack asses” stationed throughout the board. As players advance through the game, new patriots appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player.

20% of the proceeds go directly to MCLEF. MCLEF raises funds to help offset the college tuition costs for children who have lost a parent defending our county or in the line of duty.

20% of the proceeds go to charity. Net or gross? Net or gross proceeds or profit? So many questions. How much has been donated since the game appeared in 2012? Lipinoga lists himself as the “President” of the app, but the app itself is evidently offered by the Lipshall corporation, which is owned by Lipinoga and Keith Marshall of North Tonawanda

The game is a direct rip-off of Angry Birds, complete with caricatures of supposed “socialists” that look like something a 12 year-old did for free using Microsoft Paint and a broken mouse.

Via Facebook.com

 

The American way isn’t to take something great, copy it wholesale, and make it awful. 

Lipinoga’s corporate partner, Keith Marshall was a debt collector sued in 2009 by then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for unfair debt collection practices. Marshall ran a debt collection scam with two other Buffalo men that was so abusive that it racked up 850 consumer complaints with the Better Business Bureau, as well as state and federal consumer protection authorities. They stand accused of threatening debtors with imprisonment and physical harm if they didn’t make payment arrangements. When rebuffed, Marshall’s employees would hurl vicious verbal abuse and make obscene sexual comments at people who, in some cases, owed as little as a few hundred dollars. One of Marshall’s operations is featured at “RipoffReport.com“. 

Cuomo’s office uncovered that Marshall’s collectors would demand payment for debts that didn’t exist, and they would sometimes inflate the amounts owed. They would pretend to be law enforcement to frighten and humiliate people. One collector threatened to rape a purported debtor’s daughter, using her name Collectors routinely called consumers “drunks,” “scumbags,” “deadbeats,” and, in one instance, “a low-life piece of trash.”

Marshall appears to still be active in the debt collection industry. In the comment thread here, someone with that name practically begs the Association of Credit and Collections Professionals (ACA) to intervene in a class action suit: 

A few weeks ago, Weppner played word games with the Buffalo News’ Jerry Zremski over whether she was a birther – one of the people who believe that President Obama was born in Kenya. Weppner’s campaign treasurer, David Lipinoga, holds similar doubts.  Here, Lipinoga speaks to someone from Mother Jones and wonders why it is that Barry Hussein Soetoro of 1600 Kenya Avenue has a “Social Security Number from Connecticut with an 1895 date of birth”. 

 
He wonders why that isn’t being investigated – these are, in some circles, considered to be reasonable questions.
 
Via Facebook.comBack in early March, I wrote, that Weppner is a “walking, talking anti-Obama chain email, and anyone reporting on her should be sure to have Snopes queued up on their mobile browsers. Seriously – there will be no point covering her campaign if you’re not able immediately to vet her pronouncements and cross-examine her on the inevitable fabrications and fantasies she’ll discuss.” Cue Snopes.com, which reveals that the people who think Obama’s Social Security number was stolen from an elderly French immigrant aren’t good with numbers.  The Social Security Death Index reveals that the Connecticut Frenchman’s SSN was 045-26-8722, while Obama’s is  042-68-4425. Because Obama was born in Hawaii, he was assigned his own SSN at birth. 
 
To learn more about the game that Lipinoga developed, here are some images of characters and gameplay (all via Facebook.com). 
 

The images speak for themselves. 

We’re well aware of Weppner’s penchant for birtherism and her aversion to human sexuality. But you are also known by the company you keep. 

Kathy Weppner and her campaign team can associate with whomever they want. They can associate with unfair debt collectors and birthers, they can spread half-baked propaganda about “socialism” and equate people with Karl Marx. No one says they can’t. But when you run for federal office, you should take the clown shoes off – not make them bigger and brighter. If you want to be an elected representative of the people in Washington, you can’t base your campaign on lies, and misrepresentations that are easily debunked by a common website. You shouldn’t run away from the hatreds and insecurities that you worked so hard to cultivate and profit from for a decade, either. Doing so will make you look opportunistic and false. 

I contacted Lipinoga via Facebook to find out how much the app has donated to MCLEF. I have not yet received a response. 

The Kathy Weppner campaign for Congress is a carnival sideshow. 

13 comments

  • White people.

  • Talk about carnival! By the look of the comments, there are racist clowns here.

  • Dumb ripoff “angry patriots” game app: 99 cents

    Clownshoes on Ebay: $49

    Imagery of Kathy Weppner standing on an elevator with someone dressed as a “huge penis”: PRICELESS!

  • Lipinoga’s stuff reminds me of the imbecilic scrawlings found in the margins of high school notebooks. How or why it is of any significance to anyone is a mystery.

  • I hope he gets sued for this piss poor ripoff

  • What is this a liberal rag? Just looked at artvoice. Last time!

  • Mr. Bedenko,

    In September of 2006, I was struck and crushed between 2 cars, one parked and
    another driven by a repeat drunk driver at 35MPH. This crime occurred in front
    of my wife, who was 4 months pregnant, while I was unloading a computer from
    the back of my parked SUV. I suffered debilitating injuries, chronic pain,
    severe PTSD and was in a wheelchair at mysons christening. By the grace of God,
    I did not lose my legs or life. This crime caused extreme hardship for my family.

    Unfortunately, the effects of this transgression had left me with my guard down. I allowed someone to invest and take advantage of my financial situation without doing the due diligence.

    Although, you may disagree with the political satire of the game and it’s quality, as well as some of my political views, please, do not group me into the same category as this individual you referenced. Once, I found out about this AG filing, I contacted Mr. Schneiderman’s office for a copy of the complaint and was told the charges were dropped because there was insufficient evidence and no connection between the other defendants who were independent proprietors. Even with this news, I felt as though it was time to part ways and closed Lipshall, Inc. Total game sales before closing the business were less than $200 and the company was at a loss. Even though no profit was made to donate, my wife and I have sent $200 to MCLEF because the charity is important.

    Also, as for the “collector”, you referenced who verbally threatened and disrespected that lady, who I am in no way connected to, even if you want play Kevin Bacon’s 7degrees of separation, I feel he/she should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law (and thrown in jail). That is absolutely disturbing and just plain horrible. No one deserves to be lied to and spoken to that way.

    I believe that all people are created equal and should be treated as equal. You would be surprised to find out that some of beliefs are similar.

    Thank you for your audience.

    Regards,

    David P. Lipinoga

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