Tip of the Spear

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About the Author

Russ Diamond was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania and raised with four siblings in rural Lebanon County. After graduating from Northern Lebanon High School and Lebanon County Vo-Tech in 1981, he entered the work force in a manufacturing facility. Seven years later, he chose to pursue a career as a professional musician.

His experiences as a musician led him to open a recording studio in the Lebanon area in late 1992. The business subsequently gained regional acclaim and has since been transformed into the nationally known CD and DVD manufacturing and duplication service known as Raintree.

In 2004 Russ ran for both Congress (17th district) and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (101st district), waging a unique and innovative dual campaign which made both headlines and history for minor party efforts in Pennsylvania.

Russ founded PACleanSweep in July 2005 in response to the infamous midnight pay raise enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The organization fielded more than 100 candidates for legislative seats during the 2006 election cycle and helped turn over 24 percent of the General Assembly. Along the way, the group was also instrumental in the first-ever ouster of a sitting state Supreme Court justice at a retention election.

Russ Diamond

PACleanSweep was awarded the “Golden Dot” for the Best PAC or Non-Partisan Internet Campaign of 2005 by George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet.

In January 2006, Russ was named one of three “Citizens of the Year” by the Philadelphia Inquirer - along with activists Gene Stilp and Tim Potts - for their collective efforts in helping to force the pay raise repeal in November 2005. In July 2006, the three were recognized - along with fellow activist Eric Epstein - with the “Public Service Achievement Award” from Pennsylvania Common Cause. The four horseman of Pennsylvania’s political apocalypse were recognized once again in November 2006, receiving the “Communicator of the Year” award from the Harrisburg chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Russ turned himself into an object lesson of Pennsylvania’s ridiculous election laws by attempting to obtain ballot access as an Independent candidate for Governor in 2006. Despite collecting 19 times more signatures than required for Democratic and Republican candidates for the same office, state law determined it was not a sufficient quantity.

Russ resides in Annville, Pennsylvania in a home his great-grandparents built. When he is not rousing rabble, he enjoys attending Philadelphia Eagles games, playing guitar, spending time behind the controls of a Piper Cherokee and tooling about in a 1955 Chevy 210 wagon.