Embattled Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Ken Davis made it official. In a letter to county GOP leaders dated March 7, 2008, Davis said he will not seek a third term. You can exhale now.Not since Lyndon Johnson announced in 1968 that he will not seek or accept his party's nomination for a second term as president has such a clueless political figure admitted what everyone around him already knows. His future in politics is over.
If Davis had run for another term, he would have ended up with 3 votes. His own, Turncoat Jim Matthews and their puppet master, National GOP Committeeman Bob Asher.
In his letter, Davis says he has decided to "leave the arena." It's more like being thrown out the door by an angry mob that has watched the steady decline of GOP fortunes under Davis.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, "Death March Continues for Montco GOP," the Democrats have made enormous gains in voter registration in the past four years.
And as I mentioned in another post, "Bob Kerns Backed by Montco Republican Row Officers," under Davis' leadership, the Republican Party lost five county row office elections in November 2007. The Montco GOP also failed to provide support for Congressional, gubernatorial and presidential candidates under Davis.
Davis and Asher are also among the few Republicans who have stood by Jim Matthews as he snubbed 85,000 voters and installed Democrat Joe Hoeffel as vice chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.
Davis' tenure as party chairman has been marked by dissension from Day 1 despite his promise to help unify the party. He never lifted a finger to bring factions together. Instead, Davis fractured the party even further to the point where unity is nearly impossible as long as Davis-Asher-Matthews supporters have any say in party matters.
"We simply cannot understand how the once-proud and stoic Grand Old Party in one of the most affluent counties in the state has deteriorated to this point," The Times-Herald in Norristown wrote in a recent editorial. See another blog post, "Newspaper: Montco GOP its own worst enemy."
Instead, Davis blames his downfall on bloggers, calling them "self-important know-nothings." If you want to see what the problem is with the Montco GOP, take a look in the mirror, Ken.
Toward the end of the 2-page, self-serving letter, Davis admits "stumbles and errors" were made over the past four years. That is the understatement of the century. Stumbles and errors? Davis destroyed one of the most dominant political organizations in the country. The Montgomery County Republican Committee will never be the same after the damage Davis has done.
Good riddance, Ken Davis. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
6 comments:
An insightful person put the following comment on Stan Huskey's blog (see the quoted material below, posted on Stan's Blog on 2/21/08). I bet that's Ken Davis' next slimy move:
"The Oracle said...
Hey Stan,
There is no doubt that Davis sees the writing on the wall. Do yourself a favor and make this prediction in the paper. It will come true.
Davis will step down and the chairmanship will be taken by another Asher puppet. This way, they will pit Bob Kerns against an incumbent Chair with no track record for anyone to bash.
HOPEFULLY, our committee people will see past this and give Bob Kerns a chance!!!
February 21, 2008 6:33 AM"
I hope Bob Kerns wins in May.
He has proven his dedication to the GOP thru his loyalty and hard work on behalf of Republican candidates at all levels for so many years.
Bob Kerns has the leadership experience and positive attitude that our party needs. And he respects diversity and inclusiveness, as stated in his letter and as proven by the way he conducts himself in his personal and professional life.
Can some explain to me how this promotes party building and unity by Bob Kerns? It seems to me to be more of the same tactics that have been employed in the past. If this is how Kerns and company are going to continue to do business, he’s clearly not the right person! The letter can be found on http://www.thereporteronline.com under LETTERS
As a young person who is interested in the political process, it can be difficult to figure out who to talk with to get involved. Recently a friend told me about the position of committeeman and it sounded interesting and exciting. After learning that the incumbent would not be running, I decided to run for this position myself, and last week I was proud to submit my petition to run for public office for the first time as a Republican Committeeman.
To my surprise, I was greeted at my door last weekend with a legal summons challenging the validity of my petitions. My committeewoman was taking me to court in an attempt to have my name removed from the ballot.
Naturally I was shocked that someone would attempt to disenfranchise me in such a way when all I want to do is help elect good candidates and serve my community.
Fortunately, I was able to secure the help of an attorney and the challenge was dismissed because it was ultimately acknowledged that I didn’t do anything wrong and my petition was perfectly valid after all.
But what was truly shocking was to learn that Bob Kerns, one of the partners in the law firm that brought forth the challenge, is a candidate once again for chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Committee running under the idea that he will unite the party.
I find it hypocritical that someone who talks about unity would bring forth a lawsuit against someone who just wants to get more involved.
I later learned that committee people have a vote in electing the county chairman and I wondered, could this be their motivation for challenging me? Neither of them has ever reached out to me and perhaps they were wary of how I might cast my vote.
Apparently, they felt that bullying and intimidation would be a better course of action in order to get their way. But I am a strong-willed individual and I have not been deterred even after this unfortunate incident.
The Republican Party needs new faces and we can no longer afford these types of actions. With the right people involved, we can be sure that these shenanigans will not happen again.
MICHAEL GULOTTA
Upper Pottsgrove
PLEASE NOTE:
The above anonymous comment (that is supposedly from Michael Gulotta) was already posted on GrassrootsPA under the name "Bill Shaw's Conscience".
That post was not well-received on GrassrootsPa (1) due to the deceptive nature of the pseudonym used and (2) because the comment appeared to lack veracity or at least substantiation of the claims.
Naturally, Bill Shaw was the most offended that the anonymous person used his name as part of the pseudonym, and Bill Shaw said so in his reply.
Here’s the link to the GrassrootsPa blog article where that “Bill Shaw’s Conscience” comment was posted:
http://grassrootspa.com/?p=827
I find it absurd that ninety five percent of the people that post comments do so in the anonimity of cyberspace and those that do have a formal sir name are in fact unsubstatiated. If my sign in name is posted as George Bush, guess what fellas, it might not be George Bush. Bloggers revel in the world of postings and the nameless world that the internet creates. Do any of you think these sites would exist if it was not easy to make an anonymous comment. The Journal Register news papers regularly have a section called'Sound Off' that allows people to call a phone number and leave an anonymous message. Mr. Phyrillas can confrim or deny, but I believe it's one of the most popular / pathetic sections of the papers that have it. It appears that as is most times the case the knife only cuts one way. The ninety plus percent of people that want to assasinate (figuritively) indivduals character, professional lives, political views, etc. annonymously seem to get very bothered if their views are then challenged. It's a dog pile on whom they don't like, it's fun, and then like babies, if there views are questioned or heavens forbid, wittingly disected, the whole process becomes dangerous. Have you taken a minute and actually read some of the complete beatings that people take on these sites. I remember when I was kid, I had many cut elbows and ripped jeans rolling around the neighborhood for things ten times less offensive. I guess that the times changing and people growing up (physically anyway)have led to this type of fighting. This mindset carries through to Montgomery County Republican Politics. The court house is filled with many who want to benefit when the 'poliitcs' is in their favor,but seem to get a little confused as to consequneces when they take certain positions and things don't go their way. It's a medium that many don't agreee with, but it must be acknowledged. If it's a means to get information to the people to let them decide for themselves, then I guess there's a benefit.
Frankly, I think that the non-endorsement of committee positions is on of the best features of Berks County. The endorsement of open committee positions just serves to cement the old power structure in place. Remember: for Davis to have been chairman, the committee had elect him and re-elect him. What non-endorsement lacks in stability it makes up for in openness. Glad I moved from Montco.
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