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McCord Stands Out; Dems Say ‘I Do’ to Gay Marriage

Supporters of the gay marriage resolution distributed these stickers among Democratic state committee attendees

King of Prussia — Rob McCord loudly supported the Democratic ticket – and criticized Tom Corbett – at the state committee meeting Friday. But he said that his impassioned address was part of his work as a party leader and not, as many in the room suggested, the unofficial launch of a 2014 bid for Governor.

“I know people say that, but I really am focused on my job as Treasurer and my re-election race,” he said. “You ask me if I know, I don’t know.”

It’s unwise to think too far ahead, he said.

“Not only is it a bad idea because you risk diminishing the value of the current office, but it’s also stupid. I’ve seen a lot of members of Congress who’ve said they want to be President, and they don’t even win re-election.”

However, in the midst of explaining that he was entirely focused on his re-election effort for PA Treasurer, a state committeeman approached McCord with a wide smile, slapped him on the back and said, “Governor!”

McCord faces Republican Treasurer candidate Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughn.

Montgomery County Democratic Chairman Marcel Groen opened the Friday evening dinner, followed by PA Dems Chair Jim Burn. Both celebrated the 2011 win of Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards, the first majority Democratic County Commissioners in the county since Reconstruction.

Read about the rousing address by keynote speaker, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, here.

Sen. Bob Casey, a former PA Auditor General and PA Treasurer, emphasized the importance of down-ballot races in light of recent GOP successes.

“We got a reminder this week in Wisconsin about how some folks want to go after something as fundamental as the right to collectively organize and bargain for wages and for benefits,” he said. “If you had said that five years ago, I’m not sure enough of us would have believed it. But that’s where we are in this country.”

He didn’t mention his Republican opponent Tom Smith by name, simply noting that he had founded a local Tea Party and lumped him in with “people who fundamentally want to take this country in the wrong direction, in a direction we should never go.”

Ed Back on Message

Gov. Ed Rendell held a book signing Saturday morning and spoke to the committee at large. His remarks included a strong defense of the President –  a departure from recent interviews, when he has questioned Obama’s leadership.

“He’s done a good job, and don’t be afraid to defend that record,” he declared. “Barack Obama will continue to make this country a better place. We can win this, we should win this.”

He also said Democrats should begin their work for Obama immediately, in the hopes of taking PA out of contention for Republicans.

“If we are strong early and we show strength and we continue to register new people, they’re gonna throw in the towel, and that will be a huge help to all of us,” he said. “If we can out-register them at a rapid pace, if we can show that we’re strong maybe they throw in the towel, maybe it’s a great year.”

Same Sex Marriage

With loud support, party members agreed to a resolution endorsing same sex marriage. Adams County Democratic Chair Roger Lund, who is openly gay, made the motion after telling the story of he and his longtime partner who were married in Washington D.C. in recent years. Their marriage is not recognized in Pennsylvania.

The resolution calls for the party to endorse “Freedom to Marry,” elected officials to co-sponsor relevant legislation, Chairman Burn to officially back same sex-marriage and for PA convention representatives to endorse it as an official platform plank at the Democratic National Convention in the fall.

The motion went to a voice vote, which by this writer’s hearing went 85 or 90 percent in favor, 10 or 15 percent against. The “No’s” came mostly from the northwest and southwest caucuses, with a few in Allegheny.

The motion passed just a few weeks after Jo Ann Nardelli, a former Democratic state committeewoman well known by people in the room, cited gay marriage when she defected from the party.

Dems also passed a resolution to acknowledge the Republican “War on Women.” They caucused Saturday afternoon to choose its national convention delegates and DNC members. PoliticsPA will publish a full list this week.

19 Responses

  1. Casey is not progressive enough – come on. If Casey would have held to what he claims to believe in we would not be dealing with this monster health care law – Casey could have stopped it. We all know that abortion is allowed in this law – so much for Casey being against abortion. Now so called gay marriage that 31 states have placed on the ballot and have been defeated. So the dems what to endorse the 2% of the population of gays and to hell with the rest.
    The democrat party of yesterday are the republicans of today. Today’s Democrates – they are the progressives ( socialists, communists) that have hijacked what was once a great party and mission. More life long Democrates are realizing this daily.

  2. I’m glad the dems are finally standing up for gay marriage. I think gay marriage is a conservative value. There is nothing more conservative then supporting two adults in a loving committed relationship. Let freedom ring!

  3. “We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human
    passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made
    only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the
    government of any other.” -John Adams-

  4. I’m delighted to read that the State Dem Committee endorsed “Freedom to Marry’ but disappointed since I am from the northwest that the Northwest caucus opposed the endorsement. Perhaps this lack of inclusiveness and disregard for equality and fairness explains the success of the Tea Party and GOP in the northwest.

  5. Rob McCord for Governor might work if he positions himself correctly. As Treasurer, his record on investing pension funds and record on pension reform will be important to common sense fiscal conservatives, sometimes called Tea Party, who are becoming more and more disenchanted with Tom Corbett by the day.

    “No New Taxes” and keeping spending in line with revenue are important but they are not enough.

    Corbett’s Negatives are Rising:

    Chris Lilik’s Keystone Reports http://keystonereport.com is a news aggregator (which leans right and read by every conservative in the State) has a story about Graham Spanier and his involvement in Sandusky cover up. http://www.ydr.com/sports/ci_20830408/nbc-report-focuses-spaniers-role-sandusky-scandal It is likely that whatever he knew he knew because Tom Corbett told him.

    Ten years from rape of a child to arrest is a long time and there are few Tea Party who don’t think Tom Corbett covered up the pedophilia of legendary defensive genius to protect Penn State’s billion dollar football business. Ten Years!

    If Tom Corbett’s man Dave Freed is elected Attorney General, it is likely that he will cover up Tom Corbett’s cover up of PennStateSandusky coverup.

    Furthermore, the Republicans need to be exposed for looting the Hershey Trust. When Ed Rendell rigged the perversion of the Alfred Barnes Will, destroying a man’s legacy and desecrating a piece of art, he was only partially exposed because Democrats tolerate this kind of perfidy. Tea Party conservatives are less tolerant of theft and LeRoy Zimmerman’s and, in deed, all Republican AG’s less than vigilant oversight of the iconic Hershey Trust needs to be exposed. Start here http://www.miltonhersheyforums.org/showthread.php?1822-Trust-abuses-and-sham-investigations-part-1 and The Liberty Blog here http://thelibertyblog.org/2011/12/19/hack-alert-dave-freed-not-the-guy-republican-candidate-attorney-general/ AND here http://thelibertyblog.org/2012/03/05/republican-attorney-generals-have-not-served-us-or-children-well-milton-hershey-trust-taking-advantage/

    I hope the Democrats who are clueless about the dynamics of Tea Party Voters will focus on the Sandusky and the diversion of millions and millions of dollars by Republican AG’s over the last ten years. “End One Party Rule” is a powerful message to the Tea Party Patriots and Reform Republicans. Let me see if Ds are as incompetent as Rs. Neil Oxman is supposed to be an expert in negative advertising. There is a lot of negatives to go negative about.

    Morality and honesty are not core Democrat Values, I know, but they are core Conservative and Tea Party Values and misusing Milton Hershey’s legacy to enrich oneself at expense of disadvantaged kids enrages some of us.

    “End One Party Rule” is very powerful. It is hard for Progressive Socialist to understand that centralizing and consolidating power is a bad thing and you don’ have to agree with me. But, I hope you will understand it is a compelling principle to RedState voters.

    off the subject. Charlie Gerow is a phony and too many Democrats think he knows what he is talking about. He will mislead you. Anyone close to Republican Establishment cannot be trusted to know what real RedState voters are thinking. Most of the Republican Establishment is as bad as the Democrats.

  6. Gay people need jobs, too.

    Bob Casey has never had a union card, has never gotten his hands, (or face) dirty, has never met a payroll, has never created a productive job, has never produced anything in the real economy, and has voted for every increase in the debt ceiling since he has been in office. Bob Casey is a net Tax Taker and Tom Smith is a net Tax Maker without whom government could not operate.

    Tom Smith is the, quintessential, Reagan Democrat. Bob Casey beat Rick Santorum, large part because Free Market voters knew that Rick Santorum was Union Financed and very close to Union leadership. And, Rick Santorum gave “arrogant” a bad name. Tom Smith is unpretentious, ‘unslick”, down to earth, a farmer who still farms the farm he grew up on. Tom Smith is the citizen candidate our Founders envisioned.

    Union Leadership will be out in force. Where will union workers be? ObamaCasey’s EPA is destroying the coal industry and coal jobs in Pennsylvania. Where will UMWA, of which Tom Smith was once a member and whom leadership knows well, be in November?

    Tom Smith’s challenge is southeast Pennsylvania’s liberal snobs, both Republican and Democrat.

  7. Nice mention about the Marriage Equality bill. I was proud to present the resolution and more proud to see the broad support from across the state.

    FYI: You spelled my name wrong. It is “Lund,” not “Lung.” I tried to send this through the “contact us” section and the “send” button just spins and spins.

  8. I’m going to counter the liberal party on this post here. Bob Casey is a radical liberal posing as a moderate and I look forward to saying Senator Smith in less than a year. And marriage is between ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN.

  9. Casey-

    Even is Sestak wins, he never has coattails because he refuses to coordinate with the party and he undermines the rest of the ticket. In 2010, his campaign put out GOTV doorknockers with only HIS name, while other candidates put the ENTIRE ticket on theirs.

    Sestak would be a terrible (not terrific) governor. Choosing between two crappy candidates isn’t the kind of choice we need.

  10. Joe Sestak lost by a very small margin, in a GOP year. If he ran for Governor against Corbett, he would wipe the floor with him, and be a terrific governor to boot.

    There will be a number of good candidates running for governor in 2014 — Hopefully, Joe Sestak will be one of them, and can clean up the mess that Corbett is leaving us with.

  11. Bob Casey opposes everything pogressive Democrats stand for. His position on choice was developed early by his education at Catholic schools throughout his life. He is cool at best towards equality for LGBT rights, especially marriage. He is against gun control. He was elected as the anti-Santorum…as in anyone is better…and on his name.
    Rob McCord, on the other hand, is a brilliant treasurer and would make a hell of a governor. PA Is in crisis. PA dems need to get involved or we are going to lose this fall. Being a party leader isn’t about going to conventions, its about getting people out to work on the Obama campaign and our voters to the polls.

  12. James-
    Thanks for the kind words. It’s hard to say what’s worse with Sestak running: his winning or losing. Corbett’s already a disaster.

    But we already know what kind of boss/executive Sestak is. Besides being a slave driver and tyrant to his employees, he routinely violated basic minimum wage laws with his staffers, who were required to work 70+ hour weeks. He had high turnover, as quality employees with self-respect wouldn’t work for him. This also drained institutional knowledge from his office. Sestak liked to brag about how many cases his office handled, but I’ve talked to one got who told me how every time he called to check on the status of his issue, he got a new staffer because the previous staffer on his issue had quit.

    We know Sestak was forced out of the navy (unceremoniously relieved of duty) for mistreating his staff.
    I shudder to think what would happen if Sestak was in charge of thousands of state employees.

    McCord understands how to work WITH the party, and not abandon it. He’s one of the few candidates on the short list who can raise money.

    Besides, if Sestak attempts to run for gov, he’s going to have to survive an FEC investigation of his continued spending of his federal senate money as a smoke screen for a state office run. 🙂

  13. @DavidDiano – Two years ago I was saying that you were crazy in your analysis on Specter vs. Sestak. But now I must admit that you were right . Sestak was a total disaster in 2010 and the last thing that we can afford going aginst Corbett is Sestak at the top of the ticket. Tht guy is no good for the party.

    The best thing Democrats can do to win back the governors mansion is to rally round McCord and let Sestak know that we dont want him on the ticket.

    Hopefully will get the point and stay in Virginia and leave Pennsylvania alone.

  14. We’d all like Casey to be more progressive, however he slaughtered Santorum and will stop Tom Smith in his tracks. We saw how Sestak ran/pandered too far to the left and conceded the center to Toomey. (Specter owned the center and wouldn’t have gotten out flanked by Toomey.)

    I’ve been saying “Hello Gov… I mean Treasurer” to McCord for a year now. 🙂
    I think he can take out Corbett in 2014. The Dems can’t afford another Sestak fiasco damaging the party.
    Rendell is dead-on about registration. The current ratio of new registrations for 2012 is the worst year for Dems in the last 10 years.

  15. Bob Casey is anti-choice and against the freedom to marry! He is a Republican. Until his ilk are purged from the party, we will never advance our important cause. His loss this year would actually be a win. Vote choice. Vote freedom to marry. Dump Bob Casey Junior.

  16. Kudos to PA Dems for standing up for equality and unlike Republicans not yielding to the stupidity and bigotry brought forth in the world by organized religion.

    So stick that up your rear-end Jo Ann Nardelli…..you [censored]!

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