Four Republican Lower Merion Township Commissioners have endorsed attorney Lance Rogers for the 17th District state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Connie Williams.Jenny Brown (Ward 2), Phil Rosenzweig (Ward 6), Scott Zelov (Ward 10) and Lew Gould (Ward 11), support Rogers in the April 22 Republican primary over challenger Lisa Paolino.
Lower Merion is the largest municipality in the 17th Senate District.
The winner of the GOP contest will take on state Rep. Daylin Leach, a Democrat who is running unopposed for the Senate seat.
Rogers was elected to the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners as an independent. He switched his party registration to Republican in anticipation of running for the 17th District state Senate seat.
The four GOP township commissioners issued the following joint statement:
"We have had the pleasure of serving with Lance on the Board of Commissioners for the past two years. We know Lance to be a principled, dedicated, articulate, and courageous public servant and believe he is the best candidate to represent our Party in the 17th District race. Each of us has been impressed with, and appreciative of, Lance's support and leadership on important Republican issues, such as promoting spending restraint, protecting private property rights, preserving the quality of life in Lower Merion and fighting tax increases. He has been named a 'Budget Hawk' two years in a row by Citizens for Responsible Budgeting.With Williams' retirement, the Republican Party has a very good opportunity to pick up another seat in the state Senate, which Republicans now control by a 29-21 margin.
"In addition to his reliable support and leadership on these issues, Lance has been a strong advocate for first responders as Chair of the Board's Fire Committee and Vice-Chair of the Police Committee. He proposed several pieces of legislation to provide Lower Merion fire fighters with valuable benefits which will also enhance recruitment and retention of our volunteer force.
"As Republican representatives of the largest town in the district, we fully support Lance Rogers because he is the best candidate over the course of the entire campaign."
Leach has had an undistinguished career in the state House and is considered the most liberal member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
For more about Rogers, visit his Web site at www.ElectLanceRogers.com
5 comments:
Don't forget about the earlier article and comments:
http://tonyphyrillas.blogspot.com/2008/03/lance-rogers-picks-up-big-name-support.html
Bill Shaw's Writemarsh blog has some interesting comments about the GOP backing/endorsement question.
Here's a sampling (see below). I'm sure there's more to come on this hot topic.
Anonymous said...
Bill
As a fellow republican and friend, we all need to make sacrifices. Whether this process was fair or there is blame to cast, we should get behind the endorsed candidate. We have to stop all the shots, so I support you in the removal. Lets move forward, please. It is a new day and the only way we will grow is to do it a New Way not a negative way. The democrats do not have a Negative web site bashing each other although we all know Marcel has issues. We should start being positive, all of us. We have all had hatred in our blood because of past practice, but we need to let some of it go. This trash needs to stop. Bill you are doing a great job of promoting good politics, and yes the not so good. But I just think we should focus on Leach and hammer him. Sorry for rambling
March 12, 2008 7:13 PM
Sacrifices and integrity said...
Should one of the sacrifices Republicans make is to sacrifice their own personal integrity by supporting (after-the-fact) Ken Davis' improprieties when he FIXED the 17th District Endorsement Convention?
The only way to clean the stench off of the 17th District Endorsement Convention is to allow a FAIR Primary Race -- one in which the female candidate is not once again excluded by the Republican Party.
March 12, 2008 7:57 PM
Bill Shaw said...
Ed. Note:
Lisa Paolino, the "female candidate" that Davis excluded from the endorsement process wil, in fact, be on the ballot in a fair primary.
Exclusion from the endorsement process notwithstanding, Paolino did circulate petitions and gather the required amount necessary to appear on the ballot.
Although the endorsement was exclusionary, the primary will not be.
Hope that clears up any question as to whether or not the process will , from here forward, be fair.
B.
March 12, 2008 9:09 PM
Anonymous said...
If we sacrifice principle, what are we as a party? All factions in the Montco GOP routinely do this with impunity, then wonder why so many voters are fleeing our party. A fair - and yes, positive and issues/experience oriented - primary is indeed the only solution to this problem that Ken Davis created and others seek to whitewash for convenience.
March 13, 2008 1:13 AM
One question- why did Lance Rogers run for Commissioner and win his seat as an Independent? What does that say about Republicans in LM.............
Hmmmm more people like Lance than Lisa and will endorse him?
And yes, likeability has a lot to do with it...now Andy Lewis is backing him as well
I'm not endorsing anyone for the 17th Senate District. I'm trying to give the two GOP candidates equal access to getting information about their campaigns to potential voters. I do believe that the GOP has a golden opportunity to take this seat away from the Democrats, so I would like to see a Republican elected instead of far left tax-and-spend liberal Daylin Leach, but it's up to GOP voters on April 22 whether Rogers or Paolino is the party nominee.
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