Turncoat Jim Matthews: 'I wanted him (Castor) to hurt, to feel the pain'

Margaret Gibbons does a nice job of pealing away the layers of hypocrisy on the reasons Montgomery County Commissioners Joe Hoeffel and Jim Matthews enacted an illegal policy to prevent some county workers from seeking elected office.

Matthews, especially, shows why he's not fit to serve as a county commissioner. (He's already been censured by the Montgomery County Republican Committee and will probably pull an Arlen Specter and run as a Democrat if he decides to seek reelection.)

As for Hoeffel, he's clueless. The judge essentially smacked him upside the head and Joe think he won the case.

The only person looking out for Montgomery County taxpayers is Republican Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr.

This is the best part of Gibbons' story from The Doylestown Intelligencer:

Following Nicholas' ruling, Hoeffel said, "We need more ethics and less politics in the Montgomery County courthouse. This ethics policy was a good faith attempt to achieve that."

He noted that the ban on political activity still remains for employees directly under the commissioners’ supervision. These employees range from the administration’s own employees such as the chief and deputy operating officers and members of the county solicitor's office to members and certain employees in the assessment appeals board to the purchasing director.

"So we got court approval for most of our employees subject to the resolution," said Hoeffel. "It's a good day, not a bad day."

Matthews said that one of the major reasons he worked to include the district attorney’s office in the ethics legislation was to get back at Castor, his former running mate, because of Castor's attempt to use the same legislation to go after his friends in county government. This would include long time Matthews ally, county Solicitor Barry M. Miller who worked on various Matthews political campaigns.

"I wanted him (Castor) to hurt, to feel the pain," said Matthews. "He (Castor) was directing all his efforts at my friends so they could not be in politics, so I figured we could throw in the DA's office and see if he likes that."

Matthews said he will seek the repeal of the ethics legislation now that Nicholas has ruled that it does not apply to the personnel in the row offices, claiming it is not fair to other employees to have restrictions while row office employees have none.

So you see kids, this has nothing to do with good government. It has to do with two career politicians carrying out their petty, personal vendettas using your tax dollars. Montgomery County deserves better than Joe Hoeffel and Jim Matthews.

Read the full story at the link below:

PhillyBurbs.com: A Montgomery County judge has ruled that county commissioners can’t control the political activity of employees of the sheriff and district attorney.

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