The local Republican committee has voted and they’ve made their decision.
Paul Mullen will be the GOP nominee to replace retiring State Rep. Joe Hackett.
“I greatly appreciate the support of the committee people of the 161st Legislative District and hope to have the support of local voters on election day,” said Mullen. “My top priorities as a legislator will be to create jobs and bring new businesses to our district, ensure our schools receive the proper level of state funding, and hold the line – and hopefully lower – property taxes for seniors.”
Mullen is a native of Aston. He currently serves as President of the Delaware County AFL-CIO, Business Manager of the IBEW Local 654 and on the Delaware County Economic Oversight Board.
“Paul Mullen is an excellent candidate with deep roots in our community as an active member of the Republican party, a youth sports coach, and labor leader,” said Bob Willert, Republican Party Chair for the 161st Legislative District and Chair of the Ridley Township Republican Party. “As a longtime registered Republican and labor leader, Paul’s background reflects the broad and diverse population of Delaware County and our county party.”
The 161st district has a GOP registration edge (19,703 Republicans vs. 14,390 Democrats) but the Dems have contested it in the past. The special election is scheduled for August 4th.
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17 Responses
The Delaware County GOP was put on notice tonight, August 4, that Republicans will no longer put up with Andy Reilly, et al’s, shenanigans in giving the nomination to a RINO (AKA Democrat)such as Mullen, a union boss who has supported Sestak and Obama. Mullen shamefully wouldn’t even participate in a debate with the other two candidates or go onto certain radio programs to present his views and answer questions. The Republicans have lost big time in this election, but not just because Mrs. Krueger-Braneky won — because Delaware County has shown them that their “leadership” can no longer dictate who gets the votes of the constituents. I am a Republican and would have preferred it if the true Republican — Lisa Esler — had won, but this was the next best result. This also harmed Toomey, who should not have taken sides in this race, but instead supported Mullen. This COULD be his demise as well, because a lot of conservative supporters who worked hard to help him win his victory in 2010 (an election in which he won by only 2% points over Sestak) won’t support HIM in 2016. Congratulations to both Ms. Esler and Mrs. Krueger-Braneky for defeating this union hack who NEVER should have been nominated by the Republican party! Let’s hope that Reilly, etc., will have learned a lesson from this race.
Bzil Maf, you have it all wrong it isn’t the union workers that are destroying this country it is the GREEDY companies and the CEO’s and upper management that are ruining this country . We lose jobs because they ship jobs overseas and dump their employees here . Look at Nabisco closing a plant to ship the work to Mexico , Verizon wanting to close numerous call centers and ship those jobs overseas . You are absolutely wrong if it wasn’t for unions big business would at will have the power to take any job and do away with it in the U.S. also fire anyone for simply not liking them or some other lame excuse .
#standup2Vz
Mullen is a RINO. It is a disgrace that the Delco GOP would do this. Unions are by default Socialist/Communist with their giant rats and bullying fascist. Why are these union people which represent only 10% of this nation’s workforce,running any show? They don’t give a crap about working people or families except their own. When they say “the working man” they are only speaking about union membership! Unions are as non – American as it gets! They are no longer needed in today’s working atmosphere. They are destroying companies, destroying cities and destroying freedom. Shame on you Delco GOP. It’s time for you all to go!
Do we forget that Paul Mullen help disgrace the Penn Delco School District, his family and children not that many years ago????
Forget the word Republican; forget the word Patriot, just think CONSERVATIVE. If Paul Mullen is not conservative, as his Occupation /positions indicate along with his voting records shows, than why are the CONSERVATIVES nominating him? Are they seeking to load the conservative party with RINOs. Is Socialism their goal? Everybody better stop spending and creating new taxes to pay off voters to keep themselves in office, as most of our present elected officials seem to be doing, from the Governor on down. Are there no more Americans for America?
Mullen instructed his union to vote democrat in 2012….he claimed Romney disliked unions…therefore threatening his 13100.00 a year as union boss….goes to show even republican politicians have no backbone….
sassychick may want to face the reality that Mullen would rather resign in honorable protest than go along, like Essler apparently did, with bureaucratic demands for whopping tax increases foisted upon the residents of the district. Harumph!
Mike Honcho might want to ask Paul Mullen why he rather abruptly resigned as a Penn Delco school board director a few years back. He also might want to ask him, since he did serve for a short time, about the realities of the unfunded and underfunded mandates by the state and the feds.
Now it comes to light that the tea partier figuratively water boarded the residents of this district by voting for double digit school school tax increases. Do as I say, not as I do! This Esler character ought to push herself away from the transistor radio, where Rush is dutifully assuring her that she is the REAL Republican, and get out into her community where people like Paul Mullen are doing the actual work. Huzzah!
The GOP in DELCO is so twisted over this, a letter to the editor was written by Republican bashing Mullen and the comments are equally informative. http://www.delcotimes.com/opinion/20150603/letter-to-the-editor-paul-mullen-endorsement-is-an-insult-to-gop-voters
Lisa Esler, from a quick search of the Delco Times archives:
Supported waterboarding (torture by the CIA)
Didn’t think Penn Delco’s school district budget of $52 million ws high enough and voted to raise taxes by another 3 percent on struggling home owners?
Lost her last election effort in the 161st (as a state committee person in a GOP primary) by a 14 percent margin to Marjorie Pendergast
This move by Reilly and the new War Board shows that they are playing chess and everyone else is playing checkers. Despite the chest beating done here, people in Aston, Ridley and Brookhaven know that Mullen has been a Republican for a long time. They see him coaching their kids, raising money for families in need and volunteering his guys to repair local community centers and churches. He’ll get great support from regular Delco Republicans and moderate and labor Democrats and glide to a win in the Special. The brilliance of this move will be apparent in 2016, in a presidential turnout where this might have been a swing seat. Capitalizing on a big primary turnout in parts of the district for the Pileggi seat special election, party strength pushes Mullen to victory in a primary against the tea partiers. Then in November, with strong labor and Republican support, Mullen wins surprisingly easily and keeps the seat for years to come. Delco’s big tent party succeeds. The rest of the state GOP should learn from them. Checkers. Chess. Drop the mike.
Willert is wrong, this guy is a Dem! Sold out! Choke on this Dem, I won’t!
Wow.
Why does the Delaware GOP pretend to be Republicans? Just join the Democrats and be done with it.
I’m still not quite able to reconcile the idea of a Republican AFL-CIO President in my head.
An interesting comment was added to the news article on delcotimes.com (http://www.delcotimes.com/general-news/20150602/county-gop-picks-candidate-for-161st-district-election#disqus_thread), which should put the DELCO GOP in knots trying to deal with:
“Paul Mullen supported Barack Obama, Bob Casey, Joe Sestak and John Kane. This man is not a Republican and its time the Republicans in Delaware County stood up to the party machine. What could their motivation be in choosing a man who personifies the term ‘special interest’ and who does not support Republican candidates.”
Also of note from the same article is that a segment of the traditional DELCO GOP base is not on board with Mullen as the GOP standard-bearer:
“Lisa Elser, a Penn-Delco School Board member and founder of Delaware County Patriots, also expressed interest in the nomination, but failed to receive support from party leadership. She plans to run against Mullen as a write-in.
‘I think that the voters need a choice,’ she said. ‘I think they were denied a choice because of the endorsement.’”
It truly is sad that the Delaware County Democrats have such inept leadership that they will miss the boat here, be unable to capitalize, probably just nominate a retread from their past failures, and put in a half-hearted effort in a mid-summer special election that will result in this guy Mullen becoming a GOP icon for years to come.