The race for Montgomery County Commissioner may create a rift in the county’s Republican Party.
Montgomery County’s Republican Party doled out this cycle’s endorsements at its convention meeting Wednesday, supporting West Norriton Commissioner Steve Tolbert and Lower Merion Commissioner Scott Zelov for the County Commissioner seat. Both candidates had been approved by the party’s executive committee.
But that won’t stop Joseph Gale from running for the nomination, too. Gale, by far the youngest candidate at 25, vowed to run despite not gaining the party’s endorsement.
Whitemarsh Supervisor James Totten, who nominated Gale, insisted Gale’s age should not damage his chances. He argued that Gale “embodies the qualities that Montgomery County desperately needs.”
“We can no longer afford to squash our best and brightest by telling them to sit on the bench and wait their turn,” Totten told the Inquirer.
Endorsements for the county’s other positions were less dramatic.
The only other contested endorsement was that for clerk of courts. Rockledge Councilman Jason Showmaker nabbed the endorsement over GOP committeeman and businessman Lee Falgoust, who declined a run without the endorsement.
A candidate even withdrew from the Common Pleas Court race to prevent dispute in the endorsement process — last week, it was revealed that one less seat than expected is up for election.
Two-time candidate Maureen Coggins withdrew her name with the promise to run again when another seat opened up.
“We have to be unified as a party,” she said.
The party’s endorsements for the remainder of the county’s positions are as follows:
District Attorney — County Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr.
County Court judge — District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, attorney Steve Heckman and attorney Greg Cirillo
Controller — Hatfield Commissioner Tom Zipfel
Treasurer — Towamencin Supervisor Chuck Wilson
Recorder of Deeds — Incumbent Nancy Becker
Sheriff — Incumbent Russell Bono
Prothonotary — Horsham Councilman Bill Whiteside
Register of Wills ‚ Pottstown Mayor Sharon Thomas
Coroner — Anesthesiologist Phil Mandato Jr.
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6 Responses
Another article confirmed the point I made, supra.
Montco Republicans gear up for 2015 election
philly.com/philly/news/politics/20150302_Montco_Republicans_gear_up_for_2015_election.html#V2e3XFkEksF5Mcsj.99
@ DD:
Was referring to my having been portrayed as a “bootstrapper” NOT as a “negative”; yes, basing one’s fledging candidacy on the abortion issue is a “negative.”
Receiving votes from mostly pro-lifers is a negative.
“In computers, to bootstrap (or “to boot”) is to load a program into a computer using a much smaller initial program to load in the desired program (which is usually an operating system).”
I don’t view this as a “negative” [unless I’m missing something]; know that Joe received only 110 votes that, I’m told, arose primarily from pro-lifers.
I’m wondering if Smith still supports him following his resounding defeat Wednesday-p.m.; anybody know?
Sklaroff are you a bootstrapper
I like Joseph Gale, but he cannot depend upon the endorsement by former senatorial-candidate Smith when he failed to appear at any of the candidate-forums; this information was provided to him via e-mail after he announced his candidacy a fortnight ago and is amplified by awareness of his meager experience [and the fact that he will be injuring his future electoral prospects if he chooses to challenge the endorsed-slate, no matter how much he considers it to be flawed].