Schwank exit a blow for Berks Democrats

Judy Schwank is arguably the most popular political figure in Berks County. She's won election twice to the Berks County Board of Commissioners with increasing margins and looked like a shoo-in to win a third term this November.

The current chairwoman of the commissioners' board, Schwank shocked the Berks County political community Wednesday by announcing she is dropping out of the race to take a job as president and CEO of 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, a liberal advocacy group in Philadelphia.

Schwank's departure is a death blow to the Berks County Democratic Party.

Not only do they lose their top vote-getter, one who attracted support from both Democrats and Republicans, but without Schwank on the November ballot, expect the Democrats to lose majority control of the commissioners' board.

It was already going to be tough for Democrats to keep control of the three-member board. Schwank and fellow Democratic Commissioner Tom Gajewski pushed through an unpopular 34-percent property tax increase a couple of years ago and this would have been their turn to face angry Berks County voters. County spending has grown tremendously under Democratic control of the commissioners' board.

I suspect the prospect of losing majority control of the board weighed heavily in Schwank's decision to drop out. Money might also have been a consideration. Although the Berks County commissioners are the highest paid in Pennsylvania, I'm sure Schwank will be upgrading her pay scale as president and CEO of 10,000 Friends, which has an annual budget of $2 million.

Republicans Mark Scott and Christian Leinbach are popping the champagne corks on opposite sides of Berks County today. Scott and Leinbach were expected to finish right behind Schwank in the November election, giving Republicans control of the commissioners' board.

With Schwank out of the picture, Scott and Leinbach are favorites to bring GOP control back to the board. Even sad-sack Democratic Commissioner Tom Gajewski is happy because he figured to be the odd-man out in the four-way race for three open seats.

Schwank's departure opens the door for Gajewski, who is disliked by pretty much everyone involved with Berks County government. Gajewski still has the advantage of incumbency and name recognition, but without Schwank's coattails, Gajewski will struggle to win the third seat on the board in November.

Many Democrats were ready to jump ship and support Leinbach just to get rid of Gajewski. Democrats now have the unpleasant task of having Gajewski lead their ticket in November.

And who will most likely be appointed to take Schwank's spot on the ballott? Look for one of the candidates who fell short in the primary. Kevin S. Barnhardt finished third in the May Democratic primary (behind Schwank and Gajewski) with 8,214 votes. David J. Batdorf collected 6,904 votes. That's way behind the 14,608 votes Schwank received in the primary.

Schwank didn't plan to run as a team with Gajewski and I doubt either Barnhardt or Batdorf will want to be closely associated with Gajewski, who has burned too many bridges over the past four years.

Schwank was elected to the Berks County Board of Commissioners in 1999 and re-elected in 2003. Prior to that, she served more than 18 years with the Penn State Cooperative Extension service, where she made a lot of friends in the Berks County agricultural community.