Leach “Taking a Step Back” From His Congressional Campaign

State Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery) is “taking a step back” from his Congressional campaign amid allegations he touched staffers inappropriately and crossed the line with sexual talk.

“Today, I am taking a step back from the congressional campaign to focus on my family and work with Senate leaders to address these allegations and fully cooperate as they are all vetted,” Leach said in a statement.

It is not immediately clear if Leach is suspending or ending his campaign.  

“I will continue to do all that I can to advance progressive causes in the Senate and represent my constituents with honor,” Leach continued.  

Leach defended himself in the announcement, saying he has  “always been a gregarious person, it’s heartbreaking to me that I have put someone in a position that made them feel uncomfortable or disrespected.”

48 Responses

  1. He needs to go seriously because for I already did withdraw my support to him for congress and i’m now going back to support to Dan Muroff for congress because for he will do a better job than Daylin, and I will support a successor for Daylin Leach in the State Senate when he does resigns or do a primary against him in 2020.

  2. ht tp://ww w.polit icspa.c om/12-15-u ps-downs/85755/

    “I also stated that I did reveal Daylin’s name two days before in my post on Dec 15th up/down arrows to see if anyone was sharp enough to catch on. (You weren’t).”

    YOU LIE [again, and again….].

    1. Robert B Sklaroff, M.D-

      Read the first letter of every line you idiot.

      It’s called an acrostic.

      1. And how many people whom you consider “idiotic” would know to read this unique post in this unique fashion…you ELITIST, anti-Jewish, faux-maven, crypto-insider???

      2. Robert B Sklaroff, M.D

        The first letter of every line is not high-end cryptography. The poster who responded did his own acrostic.

        You called me a liar. You were wrong. I did reveal Daylin’s name. I said you needed to be sharp. You weren’t sharp enough to catch it.

        You are about as sharp as a can of Play-Doh.

        1. transferred reply to a more recent posting…

          ht tp://w ww.politi cspa.com/end-citizens-united-withdraws-endorsement-of-leach-asks-for-money-back/85 837/

          …for, basically, you corroborated the point i’d been making.

    2. Democrats and Republicans will be shocked at the names
      and especially the attacks on the accusers by one very
      yellow legislator and his hatchet man. It’s a disgrace
      letting these guys collect a paycheck, but at these
      incidents will become public knowledge soon enough and we’ll
      never have to tolerate this pr*cks again.

      Let me say quite clearly that their political careers have
      ended once the story breaks in the Inquirer and elsewhere
      around the state. While I would LOVE to publicly name the
      characters who are the worst of the lot, insiders have
      heard the names and know what’s going on.

      1. Note that this was introduced in a fashion that swiped PoliticsPA without suggesting — in any fashion — that the text had a hidden-message; I complete x-words regularly [including the Sunday NY-Times], but they announce this level of analysis…a revelation glaringly omitted from this posting.

        If you invoke this type of claim to rationalize your having averred you had revealed this name 48 hours before it was published, you are telling ALL PoliticsPA readers that they are “idiots” and only you are the go-to-guy; noting your myriad errors over the past few years [documented sporadically herein], you continue to dig a punditry-grave that approaches Sydney, Australia.

        “PoliticsPA is going to need a triple down arrow when the sexual harassment scandal out of Harrisburg breaks.”

      2. Robert B Sklaroff, M.D

        If I wrote: please read the first letter of every line, that would have defeated the entire purpose. Duh.

        I set up the message so that if anyone claimed that I didn’t know a story about Daylin was coming out beforehand, I had timestamped proof I did.

        I knew an idiot like you would try to call me a liar, and wind up getting his d*ck caught in his zipper.

        The thing is, that thread was pretty dead at that point and a lot of posters didn’t see it.

        I didn’t want it to be obvious to every reader, just the smart ones (which you are not among).

        1. transferred reply to a more recent posting…

          ht tp://w ww.politi cspa.com/end-citizens-united-withdraws-endorsement-of-leach-asks-for-money-back/85 837/

          …for, basically, you corroborated the point i’d been making.

  3. It is time to go Daylin…The party is over. Please resign as soon as possible so you can protect your family and the women you have…abused.

  4. I find the actions of Aubrey Montgomery to be absolute detestable. I will no longer be supporting any candidate or the Democratic State Party as long as she is engaged with them for her self-prompting political gain. I will not finance her establishment to destroy Democratic long standing servants. Aubrey is a taker. I will use my money to fight against anyone supporting her and her firm.

    1. Anne (no last name)-

      Don’t know if you’re the same Anne who is pals with Daylin’s stooge Aren, so I’ll give you a pass for now on having a connection/agenda of your own. However, if you are THAT Anne, then you should post under your identity, so we can judge your lack of objectivity and fake vs real outrage.

      I don’t disagree that Aubrey is a shameless self-promoter.

      However, this story is about what she and about a dozen other women witnessed or experienced. This is about behavior by Daylin going back nearly a decade. This is about women at the 2012 DNC convention being warned to be in pairs around Daylin. This is about Daylin showing NO remorse or contrition. This is about Daylin attacking and trying to discredit his accusers, as more people, like Matt Goldfine, come out and confirm their stories.

      Daylin’s gotten away with this for years because the tolerance/threshold for this behavior was set too high. Daylin was the “golden boy” of the party and a draw for fundraisers and emcee-ing events. He espoused many key Dem values and fought for important legislation. And for that, he got a “pass” and the leadership looked the other way, and the low-level victims were dissuaded from toppling a party “icon”, and suffered in silence.

      But, NOW, there is no tolerance, especially when Daylin has established a long-standing pattern of behavior (and not a few random incidents that could be chalked up to misunderstandings, even as he tried to play them off as jokes).

      The pattern gives the story credibility. The response proves it.

      I’ve yet to hear a statement from Marcel Groen, who was the Montco Chairman during Daylin’s rise, and is currently State Party chairman (with a few clouds over his own head). Has Marcel been covering for Daylin?

      1. Two peas in a pod you and Aubrey. Both have no ethics or integrity. Both go after past clients. (After taking their money)
        Inquiring minds what to know. Is your business so Depleted you have 24/7 to watch, twist, lie, fabricate, and attack people on this site? Facts according to warped Diano. You attack all past clients. Is it true you live in your Mom’s basement?

        1. Anne (no last name)-

          1) What past clients? Sestak never paid me, so not a client. Daylin was never a client either.

          2) You seem to think that someone being a past client entitles them to immunity from all future behavior or wrong-doing or criticism?

          3) Actually, since you asked, I was up late updating my VoterWeb database with the new statewide snapshot. 54 of the 67 counties are now updated with Nov 2017 turnout data.(VAN/Votebuilder that the party uses isn’t that updated) Chester county had just come in.

          4) Actually, my commentary on this site probably gets me more business because people who agree with me know where I stand on the issues. I don’t hide behind an alias.

      2. There’s no need to drag “THAT Anne” into this. It would be patently obvious that she is not the author of the comment if you knew where she is working. Frankly, it would be outright ridiculous.

        1. Isaac L-

          I know where THAT Anne works. But, THAT Anne is also very close friends with Daylin’s attack dog, and Daylin’s team is making similar attacks on Aubrey. So, I wanted to give Anne (no last name) the opportunity to clarify if she had a connection to Daylin’s campaign.

      3. Politics is tough business and the fact is that all the personality analysis aside (what one thinks about this or that person)–the fact is that it is impossible to raise money and conduct a winning campaign in the primary and general while volleying back and forth on particular accusations. Bottom line: getting out of the congressional race is a no brainer. Gotta do it.

  5. Daylin is “the Al Franken of Pennsylvania” as it’s rather toxic for him to pretend that all of this is total BS fabricated by political hacks (like him) who “forced” women to “invent” total fairy tails of sexual misconduct. It’s not a “hyped up” controversy as he was 55 years of age (like Al Franken) when he did his misdeeds of sexual assault and/or sexual Harrassment of said victims…is the “new spin” by Daylin (and other hacks) that he’s “too young–at 55–to grasp his sexual misconduct?

    Please try to spin that story as the attacks on the Philadelphia Inquirer (a left leaning paper) are really ludicrous to be even taken as if it’s a GOP newspaper (doing a hit piece)!

    Please?

  6. My guess Daylin never re-starts his congressional race, but tries to wait out the repercussions for his state senate seat. He keeps his head down and just plugs away to his re-election in 2020. He’ll never run for higher office though.

    1. Jack-

      He’s done for the congressional race. That ship has sailed. (And, he NEVER really had a shot. The best he was going to do was lose by 10 or 15 points instead of by 20 points).

      But, Wolf wouldn’t call for Daylin to resign if Wolf didn’t want to stem the tide before more came out.

      Daylin’s response to this is even worse than some of the allegations. He’s toast.

      A likely scenario: Madeline Dean drops her Lt Gov bid and nominated by the party to replace Daylin in a special election.

      1. Except for the fact that Dean doesn’t reside in Daylin’s senate district. She has Haywood and Hughes.

      2. Probs not-

        Thanks for the correction. I heard it at the Delco party, and the people discussing it probably didn’t realize where her district was in Montco. Their thinking probably was for a woman that could replace Daylin.

        I should have checked her districts. Tim Briggs is the other name that has come up (and, yes, I did just check, he is in that district).

        1. A better choice is Rep. Mary Jo Daley and we should definitely use any opportunity to a promote a woman to this seat should a vacancy open up.

          But once again you are using the comments on facebook to speak on authority David and that is what is troubling about you.

        2. OverDianoTrolls-

          Nope, not using FB comments to “speak on authority”. Briggs name had come up in conversation. Mary Jo hadn’t, but she is in the district and would be good replacement for Daylin.

          1. Democrats and plenty of Republicans (at least in SEPA) love Briggs. He would be a great choice.

  7. D2:

    You are as guilty as all those who remained silent in Hollywood/D.C. when you write “my point is that his campaign ended weeks ago when everyone knew about this and knew it was coming out”; if that be the case, you should have opened YOUR mouth accordingly [recalling how y’all beat-up on JoePa, for example].

    1. I told everyone I met in politics about it who didn’t already know once I found out about a week ago. I didn’t know about any of at at the time it was occurring. If I had, I would have exposed Daylin then. I spent several days checking with people I trusted, and who knew the women, to see if this was a real scandal.

      Check out my post two days before the story broke in the Inquirer in the 12/15 up/down arrow on PoliticsPA. I spelled out Daylin’s name in the first letter of each line.

      There are a half-dozen lawmakers with similar problems about to go down. They are toast, too. The Inquirer had the story for a week but was dealing with Daylin’s lawyers and a cease and desist order. I’m not going to run afoul of libel laws when an actual news organization has the actual interviews and quotes, and ready to go to print. Duh.

      I didn’t have first hand knowledge of the details on Daylin, so I was limited as to what I could say, before the Inquirer story broke. The other legislators are going to be coming out soon. I’ve seen a short list of names from several sources. I don’t know any of them personally or the women involved, so I can only say that there is more coming (both parties and chambers).

      1. Robert B Sklaroff, M.D-

        How f*cking thick and ignorant are you?

        Why would I call the news organization to tell them about the story they have ready to go to press, when what I learned at the holiday party was that their newspaper was ready to run the story?

        All the news organizations in PA knew about the story (by the time I learned about it) and were waiting for the Inquirer to cross all the legal T’s and dot all the I’s.

        They have been filing right-to-know requests with the state government for weeks. There was absolutely NOTHING for me to call them with that they didn’t already have. Duh !

        Even if I called to congratulate them on the story, they couldn’t have confirmed it to me before it went to print.

        I guess your confusion is that you live in the Breitbart world of rumor and fake news. Or the Project Veritas world of fake and edited video taken out of context. Or where people make up medical testimony for profit.

        Please stop embarrassing yourself.

        1. you should have confirmed the effort was being made and gone-public on politicspa weeks ago, assuming you weren’t complicit in cover-up efforts

        2. Robert B Sklaroff, M.D-

          It was less than two weeks ago that I found out, so I couldn’t have come out with it “weeks” ago, like you suggest.

          It was the effort by the Inquirer had been going for weeks. Please read.

          Also, as I said, I spent last week checking with my sources to confirm it to my satisfaction. In the course of that I DID confirm that the Inquirer was ready to go with the story from a reporter friend and that they were dealing with legal issues before publication. Also, that other publications new about the story.

          I’ll leave it to the staff at PoliticsPA to comment on when they first learned about Daylin, but I’ll bet it was before I did and they had to wait for the Inquirer story as well.

          I DID state on PoliticsPA that the story was coming out in several posts last week.

          I couldn’t be “complicit” in a non-existent cover-up about a story that several dozen people knew was coming out before I even knew about the story. It was a 3-alarm fire by the time I found out, and everyone knew that Daylin’s days were numbered, and Daylin was in deep denial and planning to go down swinging. The legal battle between Daylin’s lawyers and the Inquirer had yet to play out.

          It’s so funny that you pretend that I could have fingered Daylin directly ahead of the Inquirer and their legal battle.

          But, there are plenty of GOP legislators about to be outed. Ask around and try outing them here ahead of publication by a news organization. Please.

          1. You claim “I DID state on PoliticsPA that the story was coming out in several posts last week.”

            Searched Danlin and Leach and Congress…but couldn’t find proof.

            It’s amazing how being anti-Jewish seeps into your disingenuous behavior.

          2. Robert B Sklaroff, M.D-

            You really must learn to take a reading course, and search better.

            I already stated that couldn’t out Daylin by name before the article, as I wasn’t a witness to events. However, I DID post multiple times that a story was imminent with prominent officials going down.

            I also stated that I did reveal Daylin’s name two days before in my post on Dec 15th up/down arrows to see if anyone was sharp enough to catch on. (You weren’t).

          3. YOU LIE [again, and again…].

            “I also stated that I did reveal Daylin’s name two days before in my post on Dec 15th up/down arrows to see if anyone was sharp enough to catch on. (You weren’t).”

            htt p://ww w.poli ticspa.c om/12-15-ups-do wns/85755/

          4. [spoon-fed]

            Angie L says:
            December 15, 2017 at 2:57 pm
            So when is this Inquirer story finally coming out? Why isn’t the press talking publicly about the worst kept secret in the state??
            Second worst kept secret in the state: Stack and his “parties” that he held at the Lt Guv’s Mansion. By coincidence all of the attendees were guys. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!!!

            Reply
            David Diano says:
            December 15, 2017 at 3:05 pm
            Angie L-

            My understanding is that the main legislator (there are about a half dozen) is fighting this tooth and nail with cease-and-desist or similar legal actions to try and stop the story.

            Hint #1: they aren’t going to work
            Hint #2: the harder he fights, the worse it’s going to be for him (particularly they way he’s fighting: Harvey Weinstein style)

            Reply
            David Diano says:
            December 15, 2017 at 2:16 pm
            PoliticsPA is going to need a triple down arrow when the sexual harassment scandal out of Harrisburg breaks.

            Democrats and Republicans will be shocked at the names
            and especially the attacks on the accusers by one very
            yellow legislator and his hatchet man. It’s a disgrace
            letting these guys collect a paycheck, but at these
            incidents will become public knowledge soon enough and we’ll
            never have to tolerate this pr*cks again.

            Let me say quite clearly that their political careers have
            ended once the story breaks in the Inquirer and elsewhere
            around the state. While I would LOVE to publicly name the
            characters who are the worst of the lot, insiders have
            heard the names and know what’s going on.

  8. A few hours ago, Daylin wrote the following Facebook message to Colleen Kennedy. Screenshots of it are circulating in the feeds of PA politicos.

    From Daylin Leach: “Nobody is blocking you Colleen. But you are a truly horrific monster. You fabricate insane attacks and laughable lies agains [sic] someone who was never anything but nice to you. To hell with what you do to my family, kids, the progressive movement, etc. I hope whatever it is that makes you such an unhappy person gets resolved. in a world where making progress is so freakin [sic] hard, you are just a human wrecking ball of hate.”

    So much “honor” there, Daylin.

    1. Hey Wolf Water boy Diano,
      The rest of the story.
      Facebook Quote from Colleen 12/17/2017 12:31 pm –“Going to reiterate what I’ve been saying for a long time. We owe Gwen Snyder a hefty apology for not doing right by her, and for some folks out there, not believing her despite the evidence. We also owe her a debt of graduate for never backing down, not once.”

      Memory lane-Gwen was the nut who screamed she had been assaulted at the hotel bar of the Pennsylvanian Delegation during the DNC convention. Remember her? Her alleged attacker was found NOT GUILTY. Why? They showed the video tape in court.
      Was she nuts or just a liar? She is Colleen’s hero. She screamed and cried she was attacked…

    2. Water boy-

      If the incident you’re referring to was the guy who got a little drunk and handsy, it seemed like a weak case from the news reports. It seems more “Eww” and “creepy” than deliberate/criminal act or attack. Public intoxication and disturbing the peace seemed more appropriate charges.

      However, I wasn’t there and a lot of women wanted to castrate this guy by hanging. So, Colleen wasn’t the only one who got passionate about the incident and result.

      However, none of that, nor Colleen’s colorful history justifies Daylin’s response to her. If she’s as “mentally disturbed” as Team-Daylin wants to portray her, then Daylin is attacking a mentally ill person. If she’s not, then he’s attacking a young woman for speaking her mind. And, either way, it’s completely f*cking stupid to put it in writing where she can screenshot it and show people.

      Daylin being that f*cking stupid should disqualify him from political office.

      1. New Dinao law?
        Does it read something like this? No male shall stand up and fight against a “mentally disturbed” women who is demanding to destroy your life. You must remain silent.
        No Water boy Gwen screamed she was sexually assaulted. A judge ruled she was not.

  9. Learn to read Davie. Nowhere does Daylin say he is dropping out. The opposite. He is going to force his accusers to prove their allegations. Ohhmmmm Like the Laws of our land. Remember those “innocent until proven guilty”. Not the “Me Too” rules of because I said it to be true.
    We know Davie, you will never face these types of allegations-no one talks to you or hugs you. Stop making an ass out of yourself.
    Remain silent and be thought of as a fool or open your mouth and prove it.

    1. Dip shit-

      You are a dip shit who needs to learn how to read. My point is that his campaign ended weeks ago when everyone knew about this and knew it was coming out. Daylin can “pretend” that this is temporary suspension, but the POLITICAL REALITY has been that Daylin is toast for several weeks.

      So, re-read what I wrote or have someone read it to you an explain it.

  10. “It is not immediately clear if Leach is suspending or ending his campaign”

    It was clear that his campaign and political career ended a few weeks ago when everyone knew about it at every Dem holiday party I attended. It’s just taking Daylin a little while to catch up to reality.

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