Bruce Castor: The Last Man Standing

Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. has had to put up with a great deal of ignominy at the hands of fellow Commissioners Jim Matthews and Joe Hoeffel over the past four years.

Castor was the top vote-getter in the 2007 election and was expecting to play a major role in leading Montgomery County government. Instead, Matthews stabbed Castor (and county taxpayers) in the back by entering into a back-room, power-sharing deal with liberal Democrat Joe Hoeffel.

The Matthews-Hoeffel regime has nearly bankrupted what was once one of the most fiscally-sound counties in Pennsylvania.

The Montgomery County Republican Committee censured Matthews for his betrayal and told him not to bother running for another term because the party would not support him. The Democratic Party also had enough of Hoeffel and told the career politician he would not be endorsed for re-election in 2011.

On Tuesday came the bombshell news that Matthews is facing criminal charges for a variety of alleged improprieties during his tenure as a county commissioner.

From a story by reporter Jenny DeHuff of the Norristown Times Herald

Alleging that Matthews repeatedly lied to jurors "with impunity," District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman unsealed a 69-page grand jury report detailing charges of perjury and giving false statements during a press conference Tuesday morning.

The presentment was the culmination of an 18-month investigation into the inner workings of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. The allegations are extensive, from no-bid contracts with a Matthews-affiliated title insurance company to allegations surrounding his violations of the state's open meetings laws during repeated breakfast meetings at an East Norriton diner.

Ferman identified five areas outlined in the grand jury report, including the alleged use of campaign funds for personal expenses, the county's competitive (or non-competitive) bidding process, allegations of Sunshine Law violations by two of the county commissioners, matters of expenditures through the county's open space program, and a potential conflict of interest involving Matthews and a company called Certified Abstract, which had been given the county’s contract for title insurance.

So what does Bruce Castor, a former two-term county district attorney, think of all this?

DeHuff contacted the only commissioner who will be returning in January and this is what Castor had to say about Matthews, whom he described as a "very arrogant man" -

"Jim Matthews lied to the voters, to his supporters, to his contributors, to the party – those things don't surprise me, but when he lies to a grand jury, that is a crime. My experience is that perjury cases before a grand jury are almost always successful for prosecutors. I cannot recall a perjury charge in any court that I've ever worked in or around that did not result in a guilty verdict, because it's such a rarely used charge. A prosecutor only uses it when they're sure they're going to win."

It appears Bruce Castor will get the last laugh.