Margaret Gibbons has been covering Montgomery County politics for a long time, and I should know better than to question her judgment, but I'm still shaking my head over her latest column in which she writes about a possible "grand conspiracy" to force Rob Wonderling out of the Pennsylvania Senate to make way for Bruce L. Castor Jr.In "Two GOP birds, one stone?" Gibbons speculates that Wonderling would have had a difficult time winning re-election to a third term but offers no evidence other than the generic "Democrats have been gaining ground in Pennsylvania." If that's the case, how do you explain Republicans winning special elections for vacant state Senate and state House seats in 2009? Obama is not on the ticket anywhere, so the 2008 election results don't matter.
Also, Wonderling is very popular in his district and has been gaining statewide recognition for his legislative initiatives. If he wanted a third term in the state Senate, I think he would win without a problem.
Gibbons also thinks Republican bigwigs manipulated the selection process that got Wonderling his new job as president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. The problem with this theory is that David Cohen, a Democrat, is chairman of the Chamber and had a lot of influence in the selection of Wonderling. Why would Cohen, who is close to gov. Ed Rendell, want to pick a Republican state Senator from a list of 150 potential candidates? Makes no sense other than Wonderling was the most qualified person for the job.
The rest of Gibbons' column is about how state Rep. Bob Mensch spoiled things by entering the race instead of allowing a clear field for Castor. But Mensch was the first to contact Montgomery County GOP Chairman Bob Kerns to express interest in running for Wonderling's seat. It wasn't as if Mensch waited for Castor to announce his interest and then entered the race as a spoiler. And what do you make of former state Rep. Jay Moyer entering the race? He's always been a loyal party member so why is he trying to "spoil" a Castor coronation?
Read Gibbons column at PhillyBurbs.com but take it with a grain of salt.
1 comment:
Well done on calling out Margaret’s intricately nonsensical analysis of the whys, hows and whos of Senator Wonderling's change in employment. As both his constituent and a former Democratic official I can attest that Rob is a gentleman, a visionary and a principled public servant who would have easily dispatched his next opponent in the 24th district. Without knowing the identity of the other 149 candidates for president of the GPCC, I have no doubt that Rob has the temperament, leadership skills and most of all common sense to champion job creation in southeastern Pennsylvania and help industry oil the creaky hinges of government bureaucracy. Ben Gross, Lansdale (brgross@inbox.com).
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