THE HISTORY OF the Delaware County Republican Party is a one-stop shop for juicy stories of political intrigue.
Prohibition-era bootleggers. FBI raids. Wiretaps. Vote buying. Macing. Shady business arrangements. Backroom deals of every sort.
But despite decades of scandals, the Delco GOP was one of the 20th century’s most successful suburban political machines, built by John J. McClure, the state senator from Chester who ran the party with an iron fist from 1907 until his death in 1965.
Today, the party is undergoing a generational change.
Andy Reilly, its first new chairman in 35 years, is a 47-year-old lawyer who never met McClure and doesn’t want to hear about old-school machine politics.
He just wants to keep winning elections.
McClure was a shrewd manipulator, but much of his success was obtained by following a simple practice – giving the voters what they wanted, whether it was jobs for immigrants, booze during Prohibition, low taxes or ensuring that predominantly white neighborhoods stayed that way.
“People were not interested in democracy,” said John McLarnon, a Millersville University history professor and author of Ruling Suburbia. “They were interested in day-to-day life: Were they going to be safe? Were their kids going to have the opportunity to make something of themselves? McClure provided that.”
Now, leaders in their 70s and 80s are ceding power to those in their 30s and 40s who were children when McClure’s “War Board” – the notorious 15-member panel that once ran the party – was disbanded in 1975.
“These young bucks that are coming up today are hard workers,” said former Springfield GOP leader Charlie Sexton.
“It’s a whole new cast of characters. The white-haired guys are sitting on the back bench. It’s a different ballgame.”
Read the full Inquirer story here
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